About 5 months ago I started a new job. I come from 3 1/2 years of experience doing corporate finance, so I wanted to get more into hedge funds, FA roles, front office to be exact. I found this job as a hedge fund analyst with a good Asset Management firm in the city. From the description, the job seemed like a great opportunity to learn about the hedge fund business, etc. Now that I’ve been here for a while, I feel like this job is not great. While I have learned some stuff, a lot of the work has become administrative and even though I expected some of that; I didn’t think it would be this much. To me, this job is just a paycheck and I’m not particularly fond of it. My question is: should I look for a new job? It doesn’t help that the economy is bad right now. Also, I only been here 5 months, do you think that would be looked down upon? It might look like I’m just jumping from one place to another. Another issue is with so many qualified people out there, do you think it would be possible for me to get an FA role? I don’t care if I have to take a pay cut to be frank, just want to do something that I would enjoy. Let me know what you guys think
Have you tried asking them for different/more duties that you would like? That’s what I did when I started at a HF. I was in operations and slowly got more involved with trading and financial analysis. Everyone once in awhile I just asked to help out with more things and then during my review I would bring up things I enjoyed. Now I’m a full time trader and help on the f.a. side (goal is to be an analyst eventually). how big is the fund?
If you have to ask, yes, it is time to look AND make the most of the current job (as SanFranCFA suggested). This isn’t an either/or issue. Do NOT let concerns about job-hopping deter you. It’s only job-hopping if you actually hop. Merely contacting people, getting interviews, and even getting a job offer DO NOT COUNT as job-hopping. Also, given the long chain of events needed to get a job offer, by the time you actually change jobs, your tenure in your current job will be more than 5 months. If a hiring manager responds positively to you, then it’s obvious that he/she doesn’t have a hangup over your short tenure. I think everyone needs to have an exit strategy. I have a poor track record in deciding when it’s time to start looking again, so I now believe I should ALWAYS have an exit strategy and start working on it from the get go. Remember, the key word in the term “job hop” is HOP.
I think you should ask for more roles and look for projects. If all else fails it is not hard to simple say in an interview that it was not for you.
elrecio81, I am currently in corporate finance position right now. what kind of company did you work at when you were in corp finance? did that work experience help you getting the current job?