Need serious career advice. PLEASE help.

gonna get to the point:

  • Finance major graduating in April
  • Canadian non-target school and a mediocre GPA (unworthy of putting it on resume) - however, I excelled in all my finance courses and taught myself TA & financial modeling during my free time.
  • Have no formal experience in anything related to finance - therefore, I can't make an informative decision on what I'd like to do.
  • I have a very strong sales and customer service experience, and I excelled in various call leads jobs.
  • very confused on career options and not sure where to start and what types of jobs to apply to.

I spoke to a six professors and professionals in my network for advice and I got two main conflicting feedback:

  • some suggested that I do some reflection and decide exactly on what I want to do and then draft a plan on how to get there (e.g. certifications, potential employers, where and who to network with)

  • others suggested I do everything I can right now and just enjoy the journey. They suggested I take CFA level 1 in December and do the CSC, which is a license to sell mutual funds - an easy version of CFA Level 1 - legally required to become an adviser in Canada, and to apply to all jobs possible and then figure out what I want on the way.

Right now I am erring towards the second advice because the more reflection I do, the more I fall into paralysis by analysis. I am thinking of just doing the CSC asap so I can step into the financial services world as an investment adviser/financial services rep and then keep my other options open by pursuing the CFA and networking.

Only thing I'm afraid of, and that is according to one of my professors, that being dubbed as an advisor will make it harder to break through other finance and management careers.

any feedback would be great. Thanks.

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