I’m a CFA Level 3 candidate and got the master degree of finance from UC riverside two years ago. I have been working for a non finance-related company for two years, because of my immigrant status and sponsorship.
Now I want to find a job in the investment industry (prefer equity researcher and financial analyst), but I can accept any job that can at least open the door for me at the investment industry.
I know my weakness for the job applying process very clearly—limited social network resources. Because of that, it’s even hard for me to get into the first round.
I’m thinking about finding some volunteer jobs (finance-related) for people who have extensive experience and resources in the financial industry already and build a relationship with them. Then they probably will use their resources to offer me a job opportunity or at least a interview opportunity.
I don’t know know how to find a volunteer job that will worth my time. Cause I don’t get paid, so the quality of employer very be super important.
What do you guys think about this idea or you guys have better suggestion for me?
“I know my weakness for the job applying process very clearly”
I think the weaknesses are more like:
Non prestigious university degree
No relevant experience
Require visa sponsorship
With that being said, your idea of finding entry level unpaid work is not a bad one. You have other hurdles to overcome as well, but that is not a bad thing to do.
Yes! These probably are more like my biggest weaknesses for job searching!
Do you have any suggestion for finding a entry level unpaid work. For example like any platform or website you can recommend or other ways that I can know and get close to the potential employer.
Keep building your network and reach out to people. When the jobs come around, and opportunities open up - reach out to them again. Having them know you, an your capabilities will make it easier to bring you in for interviews.
All companies use some email: First Name.Last Name@company.com - don’t be afraid to shoot some cold emails and drum your network up a little bit in the area.
Well, you need a plan and marketable skills, first of all. You can’t call people and say “hey I want to do any work”. You have to present some kind of project that will add value to the company. As an example, there are a lot of small funds or market making companies who don’t have good pricing or risk systems. So, if someone comes in and builds them a position and risk aggregation system, that would be a high value project.
Second, you need to call a lot of people and handle a lot of rejection. The success chances are probably 1%. So, if you make 100 calls, maybe 1 person will give you something to do. 79 will say, sorry, but no thanks. 20 will say, FU go die. Don’t take it personally. That is how it works.
Third, know who to target. Don’t call a bunch of bankers at JPM. They have their own resources and most of them can’t even make hiring decisions. You need to target small establishments, like 5 people or fewer. Go stalk people on LinkedIn or something to find them.
Finally, there’s a high probability you’ll fail no matter what you try. Dreams don’t come true because you want them to unfortunately. However, I do think there is a path to “success” for almost anyone. It just doesn’t have to be in this sort of finance field. Most successful people who don’t have the right professional profile for this kind of thing start a business or something.
My first finance job was with a CFA charterholder who owned a <5 person firm. When you don’t have a finance background, bypassing the HR dept and talking directly to who you’ll be working with is key.