Hi All, I am looking for a career advice from you people to get a job in any good Investment Bank or Financing firm. I am based in India and Master in Engineering from BITS Pilani (ranked in top10 Engineering Colleges in India) with Gold Medalist in Bachelor. After my Master I worked in Semiconductor Industry for 2 yr with one of top MNC. Then I decided to build a career in finance domain and I started my CFA charter. I have cleared Level1 and preparing for Level2. Also I am holding NCFM certification (certificate by Indian stock exchange for financial market). I am having good knowledge about Capital Market and did some kind of freelancing work for portfolio management for individual clients. Since last 3-4 months I am trying to get some kind of role in a Investment bank, not necessary in Investment Banking but even like Investment Research (Equity or Fixed Income Research), Credit Research & analysis, Quantitative analysis, Risk Management etc means anything good in any Investment bank or even good KPO who works for Investment bank. But I am not able to get any kind of role or even any interview call (except 1-2 where they later said that I am not fit for the role as they looking for experienced candidate). I have tried in all good firms here in India like JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse, Nomura and many more big KPO’s like Evalueserve, Amba Research, Aranca, Copal Partner etc. Could you guys please suggest me what to do to get a start in this field and some good salary also as you know for some profile which I saw on job portal they offer you like 2-3Lac per annum (even top US investment banks for their back office roles). ALso please tell me at thsi stage what kind of salary I would get as you know with my previous job I was getting in range of 6-7 Lac p.a. I know I am new in this domain so could manage even bit less from that range may be around 4-5Lac pa would be ok for me but with 2-3 lac and that also in Mumbai very difficult to even survive which is costly city as you know. Also would you please guide me after 2-3 yrs of experience in Finace/IB and with CFA completed what kind of salary one like me can expect. That would be helpful for me to make a future guess and some kind of encourage as well. I am sure you guys would suggest me something about how to get a job and with salary. Looking to hear something good from you guys… Thanks in advance
Are you still working now? The problem with your background is what other firms have told you. You have no experience. You have a master’s in engineering and worked full time for years not in finance. Once you go down a non-finance route, it becomes harder and harder. No one is going to pay you a high salary to teach you the job. If you really want it, and if a company will even consider giving you a chance, you must take a pay cut.
couldnt help but notice ur username : PuneCFA are u based out of Pune?
@reddevil_l3 ya I am based in Pune… @iteracom I am ready for Pay cut… but couldn’t I expect even 4-5lac in this new domain rite now. Also tell me how to get a job in this domain, any thought from your side and what is the future growth in terms in salary after 2-3 yr exp with CFA all levels cleared??
Try recruiting firms. But chances of getting into this line will be tough. Also I read sometime back on AF that you need to have an MBA (in india) to give yourself a chance to get into finance. I don’t understand why people spend 6-7 years of life pursuing BS in Engineering + Masters but after 2 years lose interest and want to pursue finance or something like this. Good Luck, mate
hey PuneCFA…to be honest, you need an MBA to break into Equity research/i-banking in India. i dont know why/how…but thats the norm. Just having CFA L1 will not get you anywhere near the type of jobs/salary that you are expecting. there are so many people doing CFA L1 in India now that they can hire someone younger with half the salary ur expecting. if you are indeed serious bout making a career in this field, appear for the CAT,SNAP,etc…take out 2 years for MBA, complete your CFA and you should ideally get your desired profile. n in case you want to apply to more firms in Pune. check these out: India Co Ventures SG Analytics ValueNotes
@reddevil_l3- where are you located currently? I know to get a job in finance in India MBA is must which is not the case in US/Europe though and even ppl from science can come easily in Quant finance. Frankly speaking, I am not in the position to spent 2 more years in MBA program at this moment because few of my friends who after 3-4 exp in IT firms gone to top b-schools in India including IIM’s have very bad experiences while trying to get jobs in finance. They were also planning to get an MBA to come in finance and during their MBA they found its almost impossible to get jobs in this area because of competition (ppl from commerce background B’Com ,CA) able to get job in finance companies during campus recruitment and even companies were targeting kind of fresher rather than an exp IT person. So all of them ended up again with a IT sector job in managerial role. Also my financial background at the moment is not so strong to pay fees of MBA program which is extensively high at the moment and even age factor comes into picture m already 26+ old. My idea was to do CFA along with some kind of role in finance/IB and after 5-6 yr exp do MBA from outside top colleges and that even Executive MBA (1-year program). So considering all points what is best way if you people can suggest me to get a start. I am open for any work in finance/IB domain and not just equity research/i-banking/M&A only. even I am ready for Quantitative research. Financial modeling, Pitch books etc kind of work even I am happy
hey …am in Pune too.
@reddevil …where u r in pune? what you do tell me about urself to other guys any other suggestion or companies names where I should try my luck?
PuneCFA Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > @reddevil …where u r in pune? what you do tell me > about urself > > > to other guys any other suggestion or companies > names where I should try my luck? Man, you’re very demanding. I won’t be surprised if you ask us to take you to an interview place next time.
Im in Prune Juice too, hollar at your boy