I’m a final year undergraduate in electrical engineering from a top ten college in India. I just gave my level 1 exam this december and i am currently awaiting its results. However i’m looking for a job that’ll give me some exposure to the financial industry, and i am facing a lot of problems, and obviously so. On the other hand I’ve already got a job in a leading consultancy, paying me well, in data analytics, and i am to join them next year. I’ve not had a chance at i-banks, because they seem to be coming only for IT roles. But i am aware that this job would not provide me with any sort of ‘relevant’ work experience. For people who ask me why i took engineering in the first place, I have no answers. But in India, i guess we’re just not provided with many other options. I’ve done a project at top indian b school on derivatives, did a summer internship in a BB i-bank ( technology ) and done a few more things like creating virtual trading games etc…( which i know counts for zilch. ). I’ve applied to a lot of i-banks for their analyst positions, just got rejected by barclays today. For some reason or the other i feel, not getting into an i-bank or somthing similar will leave me a miserable man. I took my cfa and gave the CAT ( test for the IIMs ) a miss and I feel gutted for doing that. I just felt i had a chance at making it…looking at the paper… So, as it stands, my options are 1. i continue looking for some entry level role in i-banks, do i have a realistic chance…even at this time of the year … or shd i wait for the level 1 results…? 2. i just take my current job…look for a switch later…build a good profile in a few years…and then look at gettin into a US top tier b-school 3. write the CAT next year…take it on from there… I’d be grateful to hear what anyone would have to say about what I should do. I’d be glad for any advice. Thanks
hi man…first tell me wats wrong with engineering…all u guys wanna move to finance ???..lol… on a serious note…i think ur jumping to fast…yes u have a degree from a good engineering college…a few projects …but u will need to add more than that to project urself as a “finance professional”…so dont get disappointed…continue with the cfa exams…dunno how much they count for in india…in any case i wud recommend another shot at the CAT…u must have taken a few entrance exams in ur life…i m sure if u work on it…u will master this one too…n in the meanwhile take any entry level finance job u cud get…i wud suggest go for quality over quantity …meaning…if u get a IT job at a big bank…or a business analyst role in a small KPO…i wud take the latter…ur determination willl be the key to ur success…n i can say ur determined…
well…actually…i didn’t write the CAT. Mainly because, i thought it would be an unnecessary waste of a day with the CFA level 1 exam ten days away !! and yeah i kinda turned down the IT role at the i bank…for the business analyst role at the consultancy which happens to deal in marketing mostly.
sorri i misread taht…in any case maybe u shud try out with the many KPOs which have opened shop…know a few friends doin good in some of these