I’m 38. I need a real job so I can get my charter. Investing has been a hobby (obsession) for me for the last 7+ years but I’ve never worked in the field. Am I even employable? What would you do if this were your resume? Put eagle scout first? help… ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Joe Blow, CFAlmost XXXX California Ave. Los Angeles, CA (666) 867-5309 Objectives: Obtain required experience to become a CFA charter holder. Learn new things. Improve investment returns of myself & others. Financial Experience: 2005 – 2007 Passed levels 1, 2 and 3 of the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) exams on first attempt and in minimum possible time. 2006 – current Research contributor and member of Value Investors Club, a buy-side equity research exchange for deep value and “special situation” investment ideas developed by Gotham Capital hedge fund in New York City. $5,000 award winner for investment idea submitted in July, 2006. Experience (non-financial): 1992 – 1995 XXXX & Co., New York City, NY Staff composer at one of the largest commercial music companies in the U.S., Work is still being broadcast on network television 1996 – 1998 Freelance CD-ROM Developer, New York City, NY Specialized in Lingo™ coding for content developed in Macromedia Director, Developed CD-ROM and online material for Ziff-Davis, MTV, Bombardier, IBM 1998 – 2005 XXXXXX Music, New York City, NY Owner of a music company and digital recording studio on 5th Avenue, ASCAP listed composer of 39 national television advertising campaigns Developed, produced and recorded award winning independent jazz records Education: The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, December, 1991 Bachelor in Business Administration, Marketing Graduated in only 3.5 years while working full time. 3.5 GPA in core subject matter Deal Maven Online Training, www.dealmaven.com, November, 2006 Received Level 1 Certificate in Applied Financial Modeling Learned Wall Street’s “best practices” for financial model building with Excel Other: Deeply familiar with AAII’s Stock Investor dataset; in use for screening & custom field development Developed unique monte carlo simulations in Excel to model music royalty assets that deterministic financial planning methods cannot handle. Programming experience: Hypertalk, Lingo, and some Visual Basic for Excel Eagle Scout
I’m by no means an expert, same problem myself, but I’d suggest an MBA perhaps if you really want to break into investments. You have a very interesting resume, and I think would have a very good chance of breaking into a respectable B-School. Mind you the NPV of a $50,000+ MBA or MFin would be lower at your age, but hey, you have a solid 20 years of work I assume, so it could still definetly be worth while. I’m beginning to think more and more, that even though we all know that MBA’s have generally no more knowledge about the field than a CFA charterholder, it’s absoluetly required now to work in research or management. It’s really quite sad
I would think you could network your way to a new position. Are there some members of the investment club that could assist you? They have seen your achievments in action and can provide a positive reference.
One of the best resumes I’ve seen. However, you should really put “Eagle Scout” and your deep familiarity with AAII’s Stock Investor dataset at the top of your resume (even above that fancy “objective” section) to show that you are a real winner. Only then will the top employers be willing to “hyperTalk” to you.
virgin, I feel for you. I’m in a similar boat (advanced in the CFA curriculum, late 30s, passionate about this stuff, a lot of applicable skills but little direct experience that someone can point to that says “he did it there, let’s have him do it here”). I’m rooting for you. I think networking is the primary way to do it. Maybe you can find U.Texas/Austin folk in the alumni database to talk to you. You might also consider Wealth Management as a target area, where being older can be an advantage, since it makes clients feel you are wiser, and implicitly more knowledgeable. Private Wealth Management doesn’t have as many of those astronomical salaries, but it still pays decently, and the hours tend to be fairly humane. And you get to socialize with lots of rich folks. Finally, when you send out your resume to places, why not send out samples of the best work you’ve done for the Value Investors Club and/or a research report to show folks what you can do (maybe you do this already). Also, put a summary of the key takeaways at the top, so that people don’t phase out before they get to the good stuff. As I see it, your key takeaways are * Awards for investment research in Value Investors Club, * Completed all CFA exams for Charter, * Knowledge of investing databases (AAII), * Programming experience (Visual Basic, HyperTalk, Lingo/Macromedia). And don’t compete with me for the jobs I want, okay? (joke) 
Are you a member of NYSSA in New York? If not, you should be. Or wait, you’re in LA now… there must be a LA CFA chapter there.
just to add to what bchadwick indicated above , since you have a lot of experience in the Music industry maybe you can put together a research report on a company in that area … From the above you it seems like would do well covering the media/entertainment sectors …I would leverage that in your resume .
hi virgin - fellow traveller… email me at ashley@investing101.com.au to talk offline…
What is your user name on VIC? I’m interested in reading some of your prior posts?
Get rid of the Eagle Scout and online training…To get into finance you want to come across like you eat tire irons for breakfast not that you still live with your mother. Try an internship in the sales department…if you can sell you will be promoted in no time.
First, I would seriously consider an MBA. If nothing else, it puts you in to the recruiting pipeline, which is where most people get their start. Without it, any entry is going to be very junior and will make you seriously rethink the whole question. In conjunction with this (or in place of it if an MBA is untenable for you), network the hell out of your contact (both primary and extended) base and try to find a way in that way. At the very least, you’ll be making those contacts that could come in helpful in the future. Second, polish up the resume… if you’re going after any analyst type job you need to demonstrate how you already come equipped with the analytical skills for the job. When applying for jobs for which I don’t have direct experience, I place a big section at the top of the resume with my skill sets and some accomplishments/achievements to demonstrate (e.g. “In depth knowledge of investment analysis - CFA Charter candidate; VIC Award winner 2006, etc”). Put the work experience closer to the bottom of the page and try to gear the experiences you’ve had towards the profession as much as possible, without overstating anything, of course. You can drop the Eagle Scouts thing, but having something personal in there doesn’t hurt… just make it more recent and interesting so that you have something to talk about in the interview. Finally, pray like hell, cause it’s a really really competitive and tough market to enter. Good luck!