Despite the fact that I hate my job, I’m still grateful to have it. Because of it, I’ve made a bit of money, prepared myself for my next job, and I’ve met some awesome people through work.
I forget pretty often that I’m quite lucky in the whole scheme of it, so it’s a good wake up call when I stop looking at the 10 people I know from school who make more money and have better jobs than I do and think about everybody else who doesn’t have a full time job or never got to go to university.
I’m in good health and getting better. Maybe next year I’ll see some success with my personal life, since it seems my work life is all beginning to come together. Speaking of which, I took my final CPA exam today!
There is definitely intangible (or at least difficult to quantify) value associated with skills and networks you’re building at your current position. And yes, being thankful for a job (at least one that doesn’t make you want to pound your head against the wall) is a fair too…I just graduated from business school a few months ago and it is a brutal hiring environment all across the board. It’s about as bad as I’ve ever seen it, to be frank. Never seen so many unemployed or underpaid people out there. Just the other day I was in Uniqlo and one of the sales girls told me she graduated from NYU Law and was going to work at a big firm, but they deferred her a start date by a year and she can’t find anything else to do in the meantime.
These people usually get $80K pay or so for the year (50% of a normal year of $160K for the big firms)>>> so Uniqlo and $80K cash … a lot of free time for this chick … did you get her number? !
Hey lockheed10023, I was previously working at a multi-strategy hedge fund and am joining another hedge fund focused on long/short equity. I’ll be an investment analyst there. We aren’t hiring and plan to keep the team pretty lean for the foreseeable future. What kind of roles are you looking for?
Unfortunately not…I was too pre-occupied checking out the cashmere blend sweaters. I don’t miss too many opportunities but this was one of them. She was pretty decent too. Maybe it’s not too late for me to go back to Uniqlo though…
That would be an ideal role (analyst at hedge fund, asset management firm, or family office, RIA), also been looking for corporate treasury roles(any industry), but as mentioned, it really feels like 2008 again so I’m looking all over the map, looking at getting in at ground floor stuff, even though I’m getting old. I thought the mba would do the trick, it didn’t, and so I don’t expect much from cfa either, but still a good personal goal of mine I guess.
I think the things that matter most for getting into the buy-side are leveraging your networks, having some great stock ideas, and conveying your conviction for your investment beliefs as though you had the biggest balls in the room. I’m not sure which of those three things matters most.
From what I’ve seen, I think many people either (1) think too highly of their investment ideas or (2) they don’t deliver them without enough confidence. The first type of person either believes their ideas are great when actually they have no idea what they’re talking about from a buy-sider’s perspective, and because of their misplaced confidence they don’t know when to ask for feedback when they should. Basically, ignorance begets more ignorance because they just continue along their ignorant ways and they don’t recognize the mistakes they’re making when instead they should be soliciting feedback from people that are more experienced.
Then you have the second type of person, who unfortunately has been intimidated by the overall hiring environment and has been told time and time again that “it’s an employer’s market, you should take what you can get.” This gets into people’s heads and people start to panic when they’re in front of the interviewer, which ends up causing them to demonstrate lower value than they should. This had definitely happened to me when I first started interviewing for buy-side roles while I was still in business school, but eventually I had enough people tell me that my stock pitches were good enough. It was then that I realized that what I really needed was a “take it or leave it” mentality when I was in front of potential employers, as though my time was as valuable as theirs. If an employer senses you’re desperate or that he can easily instill doubt in your own investment thesis, you’re toast. However, if you can deliver your pitch with confidence and act like it’s their loss if they don’t hire you, it transforms the entire nature of the interaction.
Having a good undergrad or b-school network helps but even if you don’t have those, the networking thing is the easiest of the three things to overcome especially if you already have the other two. People that are truly passionate about investing, can develop some type of track record (either with real money or in a paper portfolio), and are generally scrappy end up getting noticed in most cases. You always hear about these random guys from no-name schools or even who don’t have college degrees somehow finding a way to make it in the industry. I’d say people in the hedge fund space can come from so many different backgrounds but the thing they all have in common is intellectual curiosity and this inherent drive to understand where value comes from. Anyway, hopefully this is helpful advice though I don’t know enough about your background and work experience to be more specific. What roles are you looking for now? Do you have prior sell-side or buy-side experience?
lockheed, if you’re serious about investing, you should post ideas here or on this website called cornerofberkshireandfairfax.com.
I’m not saying it will get you a job, but it will help you get better and sharpen your thoughts. I think if you want to be working at one of these firms…you should be good enough to invest on your own to the point where you don’t need to be working at these firms to do well…and believe me, it can be done ( Look up Allan Mecham.)
I’m thankful for my beautiful kids, a 2 year old son who’s completely changed my perspective on life, and for a healthy daughter born only a week ago, she’s beautiful and I’m looking forward to getting to know her as she grows up.
I’m thankful for having such a wonderful wife. We’re complete opposites in every way, but she’s my best friend and I love her. Despite all my faults, she manages to see the good in me.
I’m thankful for, thanks to my Australian wife, to have had the opportunity to discover the wonderful country that is Australia. Finally a country I can call home.
I’m thankful for my in-law family who have adopted me as one of theirs. My family is fucked up and in pieces so it’s been great to have the opportunity to have a second chance with a family where there is so much love and generosity.
I’m thankful for the CFA program. It’s painful and difficult but it’s what my brain was craving after being in the industry for 10 years.
