Just graduated from a state university with finance and accounting. Not a very known school. I had 3.8 GPA. I am looking for jobs, not one reply from anywhere. I was working full time while going to school ( I am an older student). Now that I am finally done, I started looking for jobs in Finance. I was one of the best in my school and yet I feel like a reject. What am I doing wrong? Does my dual major and high GPA mean nothing? I am ready to take anything at this point but not even a single internship offer has come my way. Is it really that hard to get in?
What sort of jobs are you applying for?
Get used to it…I’m very similar- Just graduated from a State University/ 3.8 Major GPA-Finance/ 3.8 Minor GPA- Accountancy/ 2 Financial Advisor internships/ Past Level I CFA exam last June and plan on sitting for Level II exam this June. I’ve gotten a lot of interviews but can’t land anything. Today I got the rejection call from a hedge fund/investment firm I interviewed at last Thursday. I’ve interviewed at a few corporate finance places and have seen the same negative results. It sucks and is quite discouraging.
you have to apply to 100 places to get maybe 10 interviews and get MAYBE one offer. keep at it. to answer your questions YES it is this hard and most people have a very hard time to get into the industry. GPA is not enough you have to be passionate about what you are doing.
It sucks, and I’ve been there. But remember, you can afford to fail a lot - it only takes ONE success to get you in the door.
Anything but in a financial firm. At this point I am not choosy, just desperate to get my foot in. I had loved getting the opportunity to come back to school and was surprised at my high grades. Not that I was ever a bad student, but I was at a pretty low point in my life and really was not trying. Getting straight A’s was unbelievable, because seriously I would put in a couple of hours before the exam. So I thought this is either way to easy or I really love the subject matter. Fell in love with derivatives and options, didn’t know such things existed. I was so sure I would get a job without any problems. But its becoming such a struggle.
along with job search, try to get an unpaid internship at an investment firm, just to eliminate blank spot on resume. Try RIAs/wealth management.
I recently received feedback from my last interview. The guy told me the people interviewing me didn’t think I had enough passion for stock picking. I gave him a few stocks I liked and said I eat sleep and drinks stocks and business news. How can one convey his/her passion for stock picking in a better way. Any help on this matter?
Thanks for all your replies. I will just pick myself again and try. And try and try and try. Thats what I have been doing so far. I just felt so down today. I am so sorry robber09. I don’t know what to tell you. All I learnt from school presentations that impressed me was that when someone spoke about something with a strong belief in themselves, it just showed in their way of talking. They could have been wrong in their stock picks, but their way of talking impressed me and made me think they could be right. Stock picking is such a gamble. You think you covered everything and then a hidden curve hits you. You can never be 100% sure but you do have to 100% believe in yourself.
Remember that a lot of interviewing is the blind picking the blind. There are a lot of highly paid and mediocre scaredy-cats out there talking as if they are perceptive risk-takers. As proof of their brilliance, they invested in high beta stocks in a boom, and then said “who could have known,” when the bust came.
starbuk Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > you have to apply to 100 places to get maybe 10 > interviews and get MAYBE one offer. keep at it. > to answer your questions YES it is this hard and > most people have a very hard time to get into the > industry. GPA is not enough you have to be > passionate about what you are doing. why didnt you say for every 10 places you may get 1?
To have a decent shot in today’s finance job hunting, you really need at least 2 of these 3: Education from a top school, Excellent work experience, or Connections The good days of everyone landing multiple offers during the 2000 and 2006 are long over. Going for the CFA L1 exam is good, but nearly everyone is taking them these days, so it doesn’t differentiate you. It would definitely hurt if you weren’t pursing it, but it’s being a candidate is a given now. It doesn’t add real value until you pass L2 or L3
Stop applying for online jop postings. Waste of time… Calling up one alumnus from your school working in finance is going to be more valuable than blindly applying to 100 “financial analyst” positions you come across on the web.
Step 1. Turn that frown upside down!
ummm, not be be nagging, but “Step 1” is to cut a hole in the box.
guru bring the chorus in, you are not gonna be given anything in this life
+1 volante Applying to job postings and/or using a recruiting firm is worthless, it will get you no where and your interview rate will be 10% or lower. You have to apply an outside sales methodology to job hunting these days. Cold call your alumni network, ask any friends with connections to the business to get you an informational interview with someone at their firm regardless of existing job openings (preferably an analyst or PM, HR people as a last resort), get back in touch with those people you used to work with before you went to college. Anyone you can possibly come up with an excuse to call, do it. You have to be extremely visible and after a month or three of calling/informational interviewing you build a network of people who, if you impressed them, will keep and eye out for you and may pass along qualified job opportunities when they come up. These “leads” are 5x better than online postings because you’ll basically be able to claim someone from inside referrred you and you’ll become a preferred candidate. Those interviews you can’t close? I gaurantee someone else is using the process described above to get a leg up on you before you even walk in the door and that’s why you’re not getting offered. Good luck.
I would also add to Nitz25’s comment that after you call on these people you need to make sure you keep in touch with them every so often. Do not just call them once, have a conversation, then be done with it and expect something to happen. Get their personal email or cell phone and drop them a message or text every now and then just saying hi and maybe suggest a casual lunch (nothing business whatsoever). This will just keep your name appearing in front of them and reduce the risk that they forget about you.
The networking thing sounds like it is good, but I think most would immediately see through it you just want a job and be annoyed. They probably have friends and contacts from people they know who are already calling and talking. I wouldnt talk to some strange kid just because we went to the same school. If it was an intro from someone i know ok, but some unknown kid, no way.
Good add, CFAcountry. Very important to not just hit and run, which won’t develop the “network” you’re looking for. iteracom, I know the idea of unsolicited interview requests sounds pretty dumb on the surface but so do all sales practices that have proven real-world success. You won’t get callbacks form every alumnus you reach out to, but the ones you do hear from will be people who are firm believers in alma mater “nepostism”. These are the people you want to build relationships with. Most people do see through informationals as an obvious fishing technique for jobs, but it’s kind of an unspoken courtesy to grant people these types of interviews if you have some type of common connection (alma mater, work or used to work for same company but in operations/sales dept, mutual acquaintance, etc). If you come off as genuinely information-seeking, not too pushy about your obvious interest in a job, and show general intelligence and likeability; they will keep you in mind down the road. The pro-active personality it takes to manage this process as you try and get your foot in the door is a quality that online job applicants and recruiting-firm finds never get to showcase, and oftentimes becomes the difference maker.