Need help with career :(

Hey everyone,

Any advice would help me out here. I'm really lost and frustrated and could use some honest clean advice because I feel people are too afraid to give me the truth. I currently work in an insurance auditing position with a P&C insurance carrier. Despite the decent pay, I hate the job. It's absolutely terrible. I've been at my current position about ~3 yrs. I graduated undergrad 8 years ago with a major in Political Science (I know, useless), but put off getting my MBA to take care of a sick family member.

I figured out that I enjoyed finance about 4 years ago and went back and got two associates in Finance and Accounting at UCLA Extension. I've passed Level II of the CFA, Level I of the CAIA, and am eligible to sit for the CPA. I have a rather decent network and have reached out to them for help, which has landed me a number of interviews with buy side firms and banks. However, I have not been able to land the job. Recently I interviewed with a mid level brokerdealer/ IBank and I thought I rocked the interview only to get a rejection email a few days later.

So be straight with me here. I'm currently 31 years old. I live in Los Angeles, but am willing to relocate. I would LIKE to get a job as an analyst for a buy side firm, but how realistic is that? Should I just go back and spend $120k on an MBA? My undergrad was not a target school but it is respectable and my GPA is pretty good >3.65. Or should I keep on trucking with the interviews and the submissions?

 

Great! Your getting actual interviews! Keep going to them and have a good very specific story to what made you choose this new career path.

Going in for an MBA is a great way to grow your network- you might want to check out the B-school section of the forum.

**How is my grammar? Drop me a note with any errors you see!**
 

My opinion would be this:

Prioritize CPD in the following manner:

  • Get your CFA charter, attend events and network efficiently.
  • Consider CPA following that
  • Final option of a target MBA

If you are consistently getting interviews (not just first round), it's a matter of time until you click with a position/firm. I would also allocate some spare time to developing effective pitch material/ generating research ideas. Should help to develop the required technicals, whilst learning more about the investment process.

Good Luck.

 
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