starbuk Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > everyone that says level 1 will not land you a job > - you have no idea what you are talking about. i > like how you guys make these sweeping > generalizations about the industry like you know > everything. you dont. preparing for level 1 got > me my job (equity analyst) - just preparing for it > - and also got me an interview with a bulge > bracket investment bank (made it to final round). > considering i had 0 finance classes or experience > before i started studying in december, i highly > doubt that i would have been anywhere close to > where i am now without level 1. some people do > not take the CFA exam out of context and see the > value that it really has to offer to anyone who > cares to look. i do not feel this exam will make > or break my career, but it is a way to point me in > the right direction. > > /rant. Huh…yeah. How about you have an engineering degree from MIT that you forgot to mention ? Or did this happen in the 80’s or something ?
volante99 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Hey, speaking of Wells Capital Management, does > anyone know their email format? One of their head > honchos is an alumnus, and I’d like to talk with > him, I just don’t know how to get his email… first.last@wellsfargo.com John Smith john.smith@wellsfago.com But some people will have their middle initial. I have some contacts over at Wells Fargo and might be able to get his address if you send me his name. vt2007@hotmail.com
So volante99, tell us what’s your next move. Do you have any other scheduled interview?
No, I do not have any scheduled interviews. 5 rejection letters in the past week or so (the economy MUST be picking up if I’m actually getting letters), we’re talkin’ crap local jobs
At least they have the common courtesy to send you rejection letters. When I was job hunting they just left me hanging.
In advising a number of career switchers/job seekers this year, I notice a few things that frequently come up: (1) People often don’t know how to tell a good “story” about themselves; they focus too much on the mechanics of what they’ve accomplished and done, versus explaining “how” and “why” they’ve made certain decisions in their life. Too many people approach interviews and cover letters through the lens of listing what they’ve done. A lot of people will advise you to sell yourself based on the *skills* you have, but in fact, what actually resonates more strongly with the person screening you will be the *qualities* you have. At the end of the day, people invest in people, not tactics. Just about anyone of average intelligence can be a bank teller, as the skills themselves are not nuclear physics. Why, then, do you think it is that some people get hired and others do not? (2) People highlight the wrong skills needed to succeed on the job. This is a major problem for two reasons; the first reason being that you aren’t optimizing your competitive positioning as a job candidate, and the second reason being that you come across as someone who’s not well-informed about the demands or expectations of the job. (3) People focus too much on the technical/hard skills and not enough on the soft skills. I know that on a forum like AF and in a program like the CFA, there’s a huge emphasis on analytical rigor and technical know-how. However, there are plenty of other ways to convey your competence in a conversation or written piece with someone. Have you ever had a conversation with someone where you talked about something totally far out and random, yet you came away thinking to yourself, “Wow, this guy is really thoughtful and insightful?” Well, think about what that guy did, and try to do the same for yourself. Chances are, he didn’t impress you with his knowledge of financial modeling and leverage ratios; what did he do? These are things you (and any other job applicant) should be thinking about all the time. Several people have indicated that you may be barking up the wrong tree so to speak…and while I don’t know all the intricacies of your situation, hopefully the above is some good general advice that you (and others) can apply to their job search. So often there is a major disconnect between what people tell you that you should do, versus what you should *really* be doing. The biggest tip is that you don’t *want* to do whatever everyone else is doing; being contrarian and daring to be different are what will help you stand out amongst the pack. Don’t be just another face in the crowd.
Maybe numi could help our fellow AFer for free this time since the guy cannot afford extra expenses. Once volante99 gets a job, I’m sure he will gladly pay the standard rate.
How much do you charge numi? I’ll pitch in to help volante
Haha, awww I’m genuinely touched guys, but I don’t think I’ll be needing any professional resume or cover letter work. It’s been looked over and reviewed quite a bit, and, well, you know what they say about polishing a turd… If I get into a white collar job sometime soon, it certainly wont be because of my resume, or any other conventional application process. That became clear to me very early on in the job search.
Part-Time Crook – At this point, the scope of my “free advisory” takes place primarily on this forum, as I want as many people to benefit as possible. My free time is scarce, and given the continuous increase in career consulting volume, I’ve actually had to turn some people away because I’m not able to accommodate their deadlines (i.e. I guarantee a “three-day turnaround” which means three days, not two days or one day). I also recently started advising *companies* on optimizing their candidate search and hiring processes, which has taken up a lot more time. With that said, I always consider extenuating circumstances; although these are the exception rather than the norm given how competitive my prices are to begin with, I have considered and will continue to consider special situations as they arise. storko – feel free to e-mail me if you’d like to see my overview of services. That’s kind of you to pitch in, but there’s no need. You already make a lot of good contributions to this forum; if there is any leeway I can grant to others because of unusual circumstances, I’m more than happy to do that myself.
oh man, I got to share my experience with PNC bank. So, during the 2nd year in college for the summer, I thought I would apply to some jobs to make extra $$, one was a opening for a teller job at PNC. So I fill out an application, and get a call to come to PNC building. I get there that morning, and get pushed with a group of candidates (around 12) to a room with a TV and VCR. Then the PNC rep says we need to take a test. So we each get an sheet to mark our answers. The exam was made up of several sections. 1) you get like 2 seconds to look at a string of numbers, then you have to write down those numbers. 2) you get 3 seconds to look at a check a customer deposited and write down if anything was wrong or missing 3) you get asked questions like, "it’s 4:00pm and the bank is closing, but there is 3 ppl in line that came in before 4. What do you do? etc… So, I thought it was a totally piece of cake. The group of ppl I was with was mostly like middle aged women. One of the woman actually interrupted one of the test sections because “the screen is going too fast” and “she wanted to see it again”… After the test, we all get to wait in this waiting room, and now there were 2 PNC reps. People were called by either one or the other. It soon became very apparent one rep was the “you passed” and the other rep was “you failed goodbye”. When it got to me, the “you passed” rep said, “you have the wait, a senior manager is coming down”. ok… so i wait. He comes and says, “follow me”. So we walk across the building into a pure glass corner office, definitely a very senior guy. So we sit down, and I can just tell the way he’s looking at me, that I was just a young college kid. And after walking all that way to his glass office, he goes, “you didn’t pass”. I knew he was full of sh*t, so i go “yea? what’s my score?” he goes, “we don’t release that”. so I said fine, and left. I’ll never do business with PNC ever.
^ LOL…what? Is this for real? What a crazy hiring process!
Yeah I’ve got a similar job hunt horror story. Recently applied to a call center for a wireless company. Get a call from HR who told me to come in for an interview. I come in at noon, thinking it will take about an hour. They led me into a auditorium filled with about 100 desperate applicants, of every demographic (from kids in baseball caps and ripped jeans to sad looking middle aged men in expensive suits). Someone from HR shows us a power point. She told us about the job, and how would be company slaves from 7am till 12am/7 days a week, they would own us for $11.50 an hour, how we would be docked pay if we spend more than X amount of minutes in the bathroom per week etc etc, and anyone who had a problem with these conditions should leave immediately. What followed were 5 hours of interviews and 2 computer based assessment tests comprised of costumer service skills, brain teasers, and personality tests. The interviews were made up of questions focusing solely on customer service, zero questions asked on my degree, my extra curricular activities or interests. So, despite having a finance background, I had to convince them that my goal in life was to work for a call center. I didn’t leave the center until after 5pm, needless to say I was STARVING (I think this was part of the plan; during my 2 on 1 interview, they both were eating cookies!) Two weeks later I got an email rejection letter saying my qualifications didn’t match the job. FML Well, now I know what a “super day” probably feels like, though I never imagined I would have to go through that for a call center job…
volante99 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > > Someone from HR shows us a power point. She told > us about the job, and how would be company slaves > from 7am till 12am/7 days a week, they would own > us for $11.50 an hour 17 hours/day 7 days/week @ $11.50/hour? That’s $1,368.50/week on a pre-tax basis with no time to spend it. A few years there and you would have had a pretty nice bank account 
At $11.50/hour, aren’t you better off collecting unemployment and doing something interesting with your free time and/or looking for another job or learning how to invest? That’s a lot of time being spent doing a job that’s completely boring and unengaging.
I think from the amount of hours I put in I make less than minimum wage…
I’m sorry I should have been more clear, 7am to 12am, meaning you had to be willing to work any time within those hours, and management would decide what hours you would work on a weekly basis, adding up to no more than 40hrs a week. So one week they would tell you to come in from 3pm to midnight, and then the next week noon to 9pm etc…5 days work week, with no two consecutive days off
volante99 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > So yeah, got my first interview 9 months out of > college… > > Basically it’s a bank teller job. At a commercial > bank. In a Wal Mart (!). Yup. > > Anyone know what I can expect for the interview? > Fit or mostly technical? > > > This is a half serious question… > > FML I met this hot bank teller on 6th Avenue shortly moving to NYC. She was Hispanic and pretty nice to me. She even took me out to lunch at this upscale italian/pizza place on 5th avenue that was very tasty. We had wine and then also she refused to let me pay for it (twice). She knew the waiters there and they said they would put it on her bill. Was cool of her. Later that year I was talking to her about this bike race that I was doing in Massachusetts and about how hard it was to raise money from people. She was super nice and gave me a $50 donation towards the cause. Her address was written on the cause donation and I took note of it. I went to send a thank you letter to her for this donation and I received a return from sender on my envelope. I think she still works at that bank. I wonder if I will ever see her again? I guess my point is, volante99, is that I want to be a bank teller too.
you can’t just collect unemployment though, you need to be unemployed from some place.