Stuck and need advice

Long time lurker, haven't posted much. I graduated in May 2008 from a non-target, Finance major 3.2 gpa. Been working in wealth management (MSSB, ML, UBS) as basically a sales/service assistant for a little over 2 yrs. Never wanted this position but took it figuring it would be better then nothing. I now can't stand it, I am losing my mind daily and am definitely not gaining anything from being here.

I know feel like I am getting older, and my time is slowly fading away. I want to move into sales and trading but this seems almost impossible. I have a few contacts I keep in touch with at bulge bracket firms but nothing has really come from networking with them.

I've had a couple of sales assistant and trade assistant interviews and they always come back saying the same thing. "We like you, think you'd be great at this job, you just do not have the experience with our systems to hit the ground running" or "we are unable to hire any external candidates at this time" after going through a 3 month interview process.

Its been killing my morale and I don't know where else to turn. How would I go about finding S&T information for MM/Boutique shops? Those may be a little easier to get my foot in the door. Any advice is appreciated

 
Best Response

My advice should always be taken with a grain of salt (even though I can't help but offer it, haha). I don't work in finance, so listen to those who do if their advice conflicts with mine.

Have you considered trading your own account to gain the relevant experience and signal your desire? Also, maybe working on the CFA will allow you to transfer to more analytical and research oriented forms of asset management, which would potentially allow you to move into trading, if you still wanted to. Lastly, is S&T the only thing you're interested in doing, or are there other careers (including non-financial ones) that you'd find rewarding? The last question is not to discourage you from finance, but rather to point out that you might be forgetting all the other things you'd potentially like to do. I know from personal experience, that sometimes we think we want something really bad, and after we've worked incredibly hard to get it, we realize we don't actually want it at all (since what you think you want to do, and what you actually want to do, are unfortunately, often not the same things).

 

that gpa is the problem. Can you take any summer/night classes or maybe attend b school?

"Look, you're my best friend, so don't take this the wrong way. In twenty years, if you're still livin' here, comin' over to my house to watch the Patriots games, still workin' construction, I'll fuckin' kill you. That's not a threat, that's a fact.
 

Thanks for the responses

As for my gpa, it is definitely low and not something I am not happy with (had a little too much fun in college) but at this point I am not sure there is anything that can be done. Business school would be an option however I am not sure i'd be able to get into a top program with a low undergrad gpa and weak my work experience. I also do not list my gpa on my resume and it has never come up in an interview which I am usually thankful for. I also considered my CFA but not sure how much it would really help trying to get on a sell side desk

My job now has a few problems. It is extremely boring, I am not learning anything nor is there anything interesting throughout the day. I support the advisors who sell a full range of investment products to their clients (retail, yuck). I do very mundane tasks and consider myself as almost a glorified secretary with no room to grow. I also feel the wealth management area of my company is weak and not what it once was. The one thing I do like about my job is when I do get the opportunity to speak and work with clients, its something different and you never really know what to expect.

Private banking isn't that bad, but if I moved there it would be in the same role I am now. The only difference would be catering to the ultra high net worth clients. Again being stuck with really no where to grow or advance. Do i know for a fact that I will love a S&T role? No of course not, its something that I am extremely interested in and attracted too. I have been asked what else would I want to do if I couldn't get on a desk and I really have no answer, I have no idea.

 
GutShot:
CFA definitely helps. Look to smaller shops, and research roles. A MFin program is your best bet. A one year MCommerce/MFin/etc will give you breathing room to rebrand and network hard.

Could you expand on this? Is this the plan you had in mind? Do an MSF, study for the CFA, and network simultaneously and apply to trading gigs?

 
papeete:
bobb, i meant you could trade at the PB instead of the IB.

Ahh ok. This is definitely an option

Going to school is kind of a last resort to me. I have nothing against it, I just can't really afford it. Ideally I'd want to get my foot in the door at a middle market firm. Not sure whats the best way to go about this and where I can find information on the smaller firms s&t setup.

 

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