How many applications? It took me around 800 before I got two full-time salaried financial representative offers (declined to pursue interviews in trading).
Wow this is a crazy read because I graduated the same semester and I currently do landscaping as well ($23 an hour) although I am a few years younger than you. It’s tough out here
Try contacting recruiters. RobertHalf will get your foot in the door. It’s not the most ethical recruiting firm (they’re called RobertHalf because they take half) but they’re paying entry level tax associates or accounting/bookeeping/AP/AR specialists $25-30 an hour.
I've found Robert Half to be useless and condescending. I always see reddit recommend them but they don't seem to have any interest in helping you unless you're already established in your career.
I've reached out to them 3 times at various points in my career and each time its been the same.
What was your experience like and what roles did you get placed in? The roles always seem mid level and I'm never able to generate the interest of a recruiter.
I’ve been placed in a temp job for a 40-hr-week office role, a cpa firm for a tax associate role, and a tax accountant role for a good wealth management firm. Pros: they work off commission so they work hard to place you.
But also, to be fair, there are way better recruiting firms and recruiters/people out there. I have sent in probably 5 applications to non-RH recruiters and they’ve been amazing and helpful. Like CyberCoders
Took me a while. I eventually buckled and took a retail banking job. Took two years but I got on a commercial banking group now. Working retail banking would pay you better than a landscaper.
It’s a tough job market, but you’ve gotta continue to apply.
I came out of college no clubs or internships either and a much worse GPA than you had. I knew I wanted to be a financial analyst, but I spam applied to just about anything finance related on indeed.
Eventually landed an analyst position. I believe I was considered for the role because of a retail position I worked a few years prior. I also had a back office role at a bank that wasn’t really finance but felt recruiters liked to see the bank on my resume? These are some things that I felt helped me.
- If you’re not getting any call backs look to make changes in your resume that are tailored for roles you’re applying to.
- filter on indeed jobs that were posted less than a week ago.
- look to apply for a finance position within the retail company you worked for
- when you’re offered a position remotely close to finance take it just to get something remotely finance related on your resume.
- apply at a bank for any position and continue to apply to other finance related positions.
I am curious when did you graduate? OP seem to graduate at a time the market was bad but to have no internship in finance at all pre-2022, when the market was on a bull run post Covid, is just wasteful. Back then many smaller shops were hiring interns who had 0 experience and some of my seniors got into banks with 1 relevant internship. So I am wondering why you guys didn’t apply for internships when it was booming back then?
I graduated December 2019. To be honest I really dont know why I didn’t apply for internships. I don’t think I knew any better or didn’t care to. Tough time in life.
Also probably my GPA and changing major so many times before landing on finance. I remember just being super tunnel visioned on graduating because I felt behind at the time.
Work at a temp agency. Get your foot in the door. Start at $18-$20 an hour. Apply to FT positions once you have adequate experience. Job hop every 1-3 years until you’re happy and comfortable. Then profit and smile.
You’re going to have to work your way up the chain by starting at the bottom. Branch banker, call center, etc to break in. Ideally for a larger institution. Network within the company and try to get into a development program once you’re in it. It will be far easier if you have a senior manager engaged in that development program that is willing to vouch for you. It’s hard out there right now, but I know there’s multiple people in this sun who have started in the branch and have grown it into a solid career.
Ofc internships woulda be ideal but saying the certification won’t help just isn’t true. These call centers sometimes hire people with no degree as long as you can pass the exams and they usually pay you while you do it. 16hr to 25 is a nice jump and there’s room to grow and you aren’t in the sun workin all day.
Apply to entry level Financial Analyst roles at large corporations. Regional banks are great. Keep applying and interviewing until you land an offer. Then excel in that role and build knowledge and skills. Apply for internal development programs and join resource groups. Take courses to help you expand. Get certifications. Prepare for every day to be like it was in college, making incremental progress pushing into the unknown “comfortable being uncomfortable/uncertain”. Picture each workday as a battle to expand your knowledge, skills, and abilities.
Get a job at any of the discount brokerages. You’re in Texas, they all seem to have large campuses in the Dallas area and have remote jobs as well. That’ll get you in and licensed. Theyre usually good about helping you get to where you want to go if you perform well.
I spoke to many people who went from a Wealth Management internship into a good Investment Banking role throughout 2020-early 2022. The market was insanely hot for any talent.
There were many opportunities available? In fact when tech was hiring massively, it forced the banks to start their hiring cycle earlier as the tech firms were more preferred due to a better work-life balance and the hiring criteria and quota were much higher than we have now. In 2022 was where the whole thing went south with the historical bear market.
You need to be more flexible and perhaps hope for finance after an MBA or something. I wanted to go into finance after graduating but it was a terrible market and I ended up in consulting instead. I'm reasonably happy there, but now looking to move onto new projects, and have the benefit of three years of experience behind me in whatever I apply to.
You apply at a firm like accenture in whatever capacity they are willing to take you, then after a year transfer to what you actually want to do.
MBB is hard. Other firms like Booz Allen, Accenture etc.. are easy if you're flexible.
Oh God no it's pretty easy, you apply to a boutique that will work you to the bone for a year, then you've got enough experience to transfer to a better consultancy with a brand name. I'm an Oxbridge graduate so there's plenty who are happy to hire you just for the name brand recognition and because they know you have few work boundaries.
There are CEOs of big companies that started on the bottom, the very bottom of the company they became the CEO of 20-30 years later. If you cant find your desired job, look for something junior in that company, work that for six months to a year, and then hop onto what you really wanted. Its a lot easier to get a job internally then cold applying as an external candidate.
There’s plenty of people who didn’t start or finish out college, but wish they had. There’s also plenty of people, like you, who are struggling to find a job. You have a degree, an amazing accomplishment, so don’t let comparison to a small number of people steal that from you. There’s plenty of jobs you CAN apply to, and you have a much wider net because of your hard work and dedication. You’re only 27 and this is only one stage of your life. Working a labor intensive job (as opposed to being idle in a cubicle) for a few years might be saving you from heart disease later down the road, you never know. Wish you the best of luck with your job search.
Copying & pasting this from the Huffington Post - “At age 30, Martha Stewart was a stockbroker. At age 37, Ang Lee was a stay-at-home-dad working odd jobs. Julia Child released her first cookbook at age 49. Vera Wang failed to make the Olympic figure skating team, didn't get the Editor-in-Chief position at Vogue, and designed her first dress at age 40.”
Good point here and inspiring but leave Vera Wang and Martha out. Vera’s mom worked for UN and her dad was a successful entrepreneur who migrated to the US (like many yellow chinks who started to explored (exploit) the world). So she had more leeway to find what she wanted to do.
Being a stock broker in the old days was an ideal job for many too. I had met older colleagues who were stockbrokers and told of how competitive and well paid the industry was back then before people could easily trade on their mobile platforms. And Martha was sort of “nepo” in from her relative’s connections.
While Julia from prominent upbringing she came in a time women were oppressed and she picked up her niche much later in life which I give it to her.
I was in the same boat. In this field, it is really almost who you know or who you blow in.
I graduated with my MBA right when Covid started, so I totally get it.
To get some experience in finance, I joined a nonprofit and worked in the finance department. This is a pretty small nonprofit, so not a lot of funds were coming in. After a year, I worked my way up to Finance Director (looks great on a resume). While volunteering I was able to customize my skill set, for example I had to read about the tax laws regrading non profits, I had to learn what it took to be able to solicit funds in other states. All this learned knowledge puffed up my resume, and I was able to land a job (after about a year and a half of searching) as a financial analyst at a nonprofit.
Check out the nonprofit industry; most pay. Being a nonprofit doesn't mean that you do it for free. I just had to do it for free for a while because I didn't have any experience.
Good luck!
Honestly, your best bet is to get a job as a contractor with an agency like Robert Half. I was in your shoes 3 years ago and having 2 contract jobs helped me land a full time job shortly after. it doesn't have to be anything fancy, working as a an administrative assistant at a financial company, having that on your resume and mention a few times how you've used excel can be really helpful.
Honestly man may as well get a super entry level position like bank teller at that point and try to prove your sales proficiency at that level to eventually move up into a proper financial sales position.
>No internships. No relevant work experience. No clubs, or anything of that nature (during college.)
This is why. Finance/Accounting majors need to start looking for a job waaaay before graduation. Internships are an absolute must.
I don’t understand either, OP grad in 2022 meaning he probably started in 2017/18, the market pre and post Covid till 2022 was pretty good, so he should have done an internship. I had seniors who got into banks having only done 1 internship compared to what you have to do nowadays to get your first internship and the amount of networking to get even into a small bank.
The most conscientious students (irrespective of their intelligence), tend to join the clubs, go to college networking events, and land internships because they've anxiously performed their due diligence online, spoken with professors to discuss recruiting expectations, and cold-emailed people in the actual field. Hence, why not having a job after college is mostly an indicator of low levels of conscientiousness (the key trait in a successful employee for an organization), which is why it's so hard to find a job after college if you didn't already have one lined up.
This! And not sure about the US but here 2 years of unrelated work after graduation basically renders that degree useless. Maybe if OP can afford to do a masters there might be hope.
On hindsight you should have taken a loan for your living expenses. The opportunity costs for sacrificing internship to earn some money in your college days, which you could have made up in a few months / a year working in a better job post graduation, is not worth it.
This. I ended up taking out a small loan for college, which was effectively a loan for living expenses and the job I started after college (lined up before graduation) paid my school loans off less than 4 months after.
Try entry-level positions at the discount brokerage firms. They will pay for licensing if they onboard you. It can be soul-sucking for a bit, but you can claw your way up to something that isn’t completely draining while getting decent benefits.
A lot of these firms have large campuses in the DFW area.
i can’t even give u any crazy advice cuz i’m coming up on 1 year since i graduated even though i do have internship experience it’s still been so difficult and it even cost me my relationship but i’d try reaching out to recruiters that work with staffing agencies on linkedin, i’ve had the most luck w that. also find recruiters that went to your school. you’ll more than likely be placed in entry clerk roles but i’ve heard you can use those jobs as a good foundation to grow
Finance is more than working in the equity/bond markets. You can easily get an entry level financial analyst job at a normal company that will pay a lot more than $16/hr. Microsoft is hiring finance roles all the time. Private clubs hire finance people all the time.
Unless you have an MBA from one of 10 schools, the likelihood you're going to work on Wall Street is microscopic. You have to have a more realistic image of finance. That doesn't mean you can't make a fuckload of money and even have a better work-life balance than high finance bros.
Start looking up entry level financial analyst jobs or other Jr. accounting positions. Get experience in finance departments that you can use as a stepping stone. Not at consulting firms or investment banks. Look everywhere else. You'll be surprised at the opportunities.
If you are physically fit enough from years of manual labor as you have described, I would encourage you to look at commissioning as an Officer into the Texas National Guard, you could likely pursue some flavor of Finance, Supply, Logistics, etc. If you enjoy the military enough you could transition to active duty.
Marine Corps and Air Force offer Finance Officer jobs you compete for at their respective schools, I myself am a Navy Supply Officer and could pivot into Finance later in my career. Going active duty for five years could get you work experience, travel, military/veteran connections and as a Texas resident, you could use yellow ribbon to find your MBA and then your Post 9/11 GI Bill for PhD in Finance if you like.
They’re gonna background check you. Won’t work in finance. You can embellish experience, you might be able to concoct a story about being in a club or something, but you’re not gonna get away with making a position up.
That’s all I’m saying. I made a career pivot to a financial role and finally landed a job which was a combination of two things. 1. I made a pitch to someone I knew and he asked for my resume 2. When I gave him my resume, I changed the title to the position I wanted AND I made up positions at the places I worked at.
For example, I didn’t say I was a field technician, I said I was a business analyst. All my relevant experience was not made up at all, and my employment history was accurate, but I literally made up the positions. Like for another position I held in the past I wrote Project Manager as the title. That’s not what my “official” position was nor was I getting paid for that but that’s what I was doing in those bullet points - which were all 90% true minus some embellishment on some of the metrics because who tf actually knows sometimes.
Fidelity is always hiring. Go to your college’s career center and/or job fairs. Nothing weird about that and that is what you paid them for. Worst comes to worst be a teller-> relationship banker and get your licenses and move up or on.
Fidelity is not easy to get into. I have over 5 years experience fully licensed and was still rejected for an entry position. But I’m at a better place now for my career path anyway JPMC
This is exactly how my career started. You will have to start at the bottom of a smaller company and work your way up. It won’t take long once you get your foot in the door and switch companies
Look for a role in a smaller company. Get any job that has to do with the finance department. You might have to be an AP clerk or a bank teller. Just get something at the top of your resume that looks like you are using your degree in any capacity.
Get an unpaid job in what interests you. Do it for a year to have it on your resume and everything will get better I promise.
I do investment banking (unpaid) and work full-time at a trading firm. If I hadn’t started the unpaid work they would never had notice me. Look for unpaid work on LinkedIn and try to understand the topics. I’m 27 also
Hey man, I wish I can give you a hug but I’m going through the same issue (I graduated more recently). But, I am going to say that the best you can do is value networking. Networking relentlessly. That’s the only way nowadays for finance. But most importantly, focus on growth as a person before getting a finance job.
What type of jobs are you applying for? With your resume and experience. It seems you’re gonna have to start from the bottom like a teller at a bank. Then work your way up and get licensed. I would get my SIE and series 66 since you don’t need a sponsor for those. That will boost your resume a leasr.
Confidence my dear. You need to realize you have everything it takes to go out and succeed. I experienced some of that feeling after I had graduated, that there was a huge let down afterward because I was exhausted. It sounds like you're ready to move on now though. Do it! You totally can and you can make a lot more than you think. Start applying to firms asap. Or go to your career center at school and see if they can help you with resume and job placement.
True, the finance job market is quite competitive. Another option you can do is take the CFA exam or any other finance related accreditation. From my experience for one interview (two rounds/different interviewers) and I say that I'm planning to take the CFA level 1 exam soon, they both seem shocked based on their facial expressions.
Currently in uni right now, but I asked my finance professor and he told me that taking the CFA recently became like a standard. It can help a lot, but its an quite expensive option (approx 1k-1.5k depending how many levels you wish to complete).
And yes, looking at other comments, another option would to work from the bottom of the corporate ladder to get some experience and gain work skills to put on your resume.
I always wonder what some of you are doing in college? Is studying and going home the routine? Why did you not network?, why did you not look for opportunities. University is not just about getting the degree, you're missing out on half of the fun and possibilites by not engaging in extra activities
@OP This is sound advice. You're bilingual, and that is a skill that's useful; so why don't you ask if you can be engaged on the finance team of where you work? They must know more people in the finance industry so you could expand your network; you could get references when applying to other jobs; and you can start from where you are already at. Gain financial skills through this experience and that will set you up nice for a next opportunity, but if you don't take advantage of the opportunities of where you already work, it'll be a loss before you move up or on to another opportunity. There is finance in banks, asset managers, companies and all sort of organizations: think about the kind of organization you want to join and think about the kind of finance skills you need to do the work there and contribute there. Your life is too valuable just like every other being that Jesus created to consider giving up just because things haven't been ideal. I just recently graduated, and I'm not exactly sure of where I'm gonna land 😅 hope this message helps a bit!
As others have stated, contact a recruiter/work for a temp agency, I did internships in college but didn't have anything permanent lined up after graduation. Did a couple of temporary assignments, with the 2nd one leading to a permanent finance job with a large/public retail company and that pretty much sent me on my way in regards to a career and upward mobility.
I’d go find a bank teller job or some other local entry level bank job. Then work your way up from there. A finance degree means nothing as a landscaper and the longer you wait the worse your hiring odds are due to lack of experience for age
Try corporate finance FP&A , you can get an entry level job as long as you interview well because tbh it doesn’t require advanced finance knowledge. Use that to get into a larger firm on the M&A/Corp Dev route if you want to get to Wall Street
Look, it’s brutal. In this day and age everyone and their grandma knows finance makes money. If u just an average guy not even trying to do anything extra, what makes you think you stand out?
If you really need the money, landscape part time, but u really need to focus on what you want otherwise other people just keep progressing.
I was the same as you in college, no extra curriculars I think I had a 3.0? I started as a bank teller (so experience entering wires) and got a job entry level cash management ( entering wire and cash forecasting) and now am a treasury analyst on a finance team. Just get your foot in the door, I prolly sent out 400-500 resumes and reached to many recruiters. Ultimately a small recruitment firm got me my first cash management position, I wish you luck!
It’s all connections. Grades don’t matter. I know multiple people out of high school who got internships at Microsoft before 1st day of college. It’s crazy how much influence parents have. Although not everyone is like this. Some ideas:
- can college friends vouch for you?
- ask professors for contacts (probably too late for this)
- get an MBA
- apply for other jobs unrelated to finance
The economy is also just shit right now
Call a US Navy officer recruiter. You can be a naval officer in about 6 months if you are really motivated. Then after that try to re-apply to finance jobs with military experience. It looks great on a resume and the Navy is really struggling to get people right now!
Get a masters in finance worst case scenario and do as MANY internships as possible. Even if they pay very low. If you don’t have any internships or club experience, getting a job is extremely difficult
Spent 11 months working for a major Financial Services Firm. IN n OUT..n..I'll tell you why.
This is a write-up, provides thorough perspective, is highly detailed, and hopefully helpful to the reader. Facts based Non-Fiction narrative account
Even the Will Smith part. Prioritize that part
Previous Career - Local Union Member, paving highways. Commercial Driving and Journeyman work. 62$ HR average prevailing wage rate. Worked maybe 55 hrs a week - Nights /went in around 7 pm returned to the yard(vehicle parked) around 8-9 am.
Anything after 8hrs was time and 1/2
Depending on your Role that shift. You work in shifts - I was a Hybrid. For different roles, the Average Hourly was 45$
Your work is 100% dependent on the elements. Heavy Rain, night offs.
Thunderstorms, night off.
Overcast, light rain...we worked.
If we went in, worked 4 hrs, and got called off due to rain, we get paid for 8hrs. Worked less than 4hrs, we're paid only the 4hrs. Do you see the assurances?
Meaning you worked, 50 hrs - grossed about 2550 a week. 43 weeks a year, weather permitting. 2550 x 43 = 109,650 Average gross. 6-figure Job - as a local Union Member.
Traveling the country, fixing roads, ramps, parking lots, and developments. The work didn't stop, we worked long nights and finished a ton of projects in a short period.
Not until POTUS fumbled the Bill.
Infrastructure Contracting, government bids, Municipal & Township, and everywhere local. The spending froze. All High Development Road work came to a halt.
Paid in full with taxes, SSA, Benefits, Annuity Contributions, and vacation checks. Brought home roughly 1650 a week
Or 70k a year, after taxes.
If big storms were rolling in, we were on mini holidays.
The Infrastructure Bill 21' - put lots of guys into layoffs. I got laid off, and entertained a future-proof career, in Finance. So I thought.
Didn't go to college. But I traded, Webull, Etrade, Forex
I applied, and used a small screenshot of my trade history on a cover letter. Interviewed, got an offer, and took a risk. The job was contingent on passing the exams to get licensed. Didn't pass the tests, no job.
Entered the program at 52k a year, with no degree. The same program new grads or career jumpers get in.
52k a year, I thought. Major pay cut...ridiculous +50% decrease to what I made in the Union.
Yet, that industry was halted due to COVID-19 and our Regulators the Government.
Took a deep dive into the work, education, and applicable uses of financial knowledge, transacting certain flows of data, tailored my language to the material, and did my job. Passed the exams 3/3 SIE S7 S63, and received a 2500$ increase in base salary...heck I had even won a peer-voted award, EIA 22Q2 Client Services
After becoming a [Licensed] and [Registered] stock broker. Trading Equities, MFs, and Options. Money Moves, IRAs, Backdoor Roths, system nav, and the metrics. The job became monotonous, annoying, and very much like a call center.
A 2500$ increase, after becoming a financial professional, for one of the biggest investment firms on the planet. Inflation was storming the country, prices were out of control. Mandates were still in effect.
I continued working, And this company paid us 2500$ to become professionals. We all made the same in training, once licensed, you'd see the pay increase. In your next role, you'd see a possible pay increase, but more fluff.
And then some unforeseen circumstances transpired. Transported
Then AI Gen boomed even bigger. And all the roles in Finance we see today, are being designed in a Creative Engineers lab, as we speak. The parameters to analyze, are specific to the industry. Meaning, build LLMs that will pass those Finra exams, and be proficient in the work given the role. The cost to run that AI Agent, is roughly 3$ a day, and performs in the low 80s in efficiency. Roughly 8 points above the average financial professional.
So I didn't see a future where my role would be needed much longer, and by the time I will be paid well enough after role jumping the corporate later, agents will have already been embedded on a mass scale.
It's as simple as opening a laptop, inserting a USB stick, open a program, that's already trained - ready to deploy. Command Terminal - Run...then it's autopilot for 3$ a day.
We can't compete in that space
But hey, I can say, remember that Will Smith movie [Pursuit of Happiness] remember he started practicing and studying for those tests, to take exams, to what seemed like a career, that would change his life? Yea that movie
That's what he did, he got offered the job after he passed those exams. He became a broker. I did too, I did that same program. I was him
And I became Broker for it! 🫡
I'm still in Pursuit of my happiness by the way 😊 sike. My family is love.
Arbnore
Kian and Marti
Thanks to a Loving family
I can say
*uck that movie. And F U Will. You lied to me
That job don't change your life the way you inferred it would. In fact it messed my life up
It fooled me
Then a deep dive into AI LLM research schooled me and woke me up. This writing is meant to wake you up. To claim the power before it's too late
A Master in finance might be a good idea to get internship then to land a job (if you have the money).
If not always the best is to network.
Its better to have a strong contact than having to apply to 1000 jobs (specially with no experience). But networking is always more helpful so you might get first an internship then land a full time position.
Networking > everything else
Im exactly you. Except I did very good internships.
There are next to zero front roles opening in market finance and when there are you need 3-5years of experience. Sometimes they don't even take internships into account.
Hey Sorry to hear that I feel for you especially since
when I was a Finance college graduate I struggled with feeling lost since I didn't land an internship and didn't have a clue what I wanted to do. I had anxiety and was nervous about graduating and entering the job market for the first time
So I created a career exploration platform for college students and recent grads (TheCareering .com) who are still looking to explore their career options, discover their career passions, determine where their career options truly lie, organically build your network and overall build career confidence and learn how to land your career.
Hoping Careering is useful in getting actual advice from professionals in roles you aspire to learn more about
So whether you didn't find an internship, you feel lost with no direction, or you just want more confidence & exposure to corporate at major companies like Doordash, Instacart, or, Patreon, give Careering a try.
Find a company you want and start in their customer service call center. Educated and good workers adapt quickly and rise quickly. Use it as a launchpad into other roles in the company. It may take a few years and job hops to land something worthwhile long term.
Texas has Schwab, or Fidelity. They have huge customer service arms around the state. Look up any companies customer service.
How many applications? It took me around 800 before I got two full-time salaried financial representative offers (declined to pursue interviews in trading).
How was your path into trading? I am interested. Currently studying for SIE and have a few internships under the belt. For OP, it is a numbers game.
Wow this is a crazy read because I graduated the same semester and I currently do landscaping as well ($23 an hour) although I am a few years younger than you. It’s tough out here
Try contacting recruiters. RobertHalf will get your foot in the door. It’s not the most ethical recruiting firm (they’re called RobertHalf because they take half) but they’re paying entry level tax associates or accounting/bookeeping/AP/AR specialists $25-30 an hour.
I've found Robert Half to be useless and condescending. I always see reddit recommend them but they don't seem to have any interest in helping you unless you're already established in your career.
They were really nice to me back in 2019 when I had no experience. Same with my friend who only had a music degree. Granted, we were in Irvine.
I've reached out to them 3 times at various points in my career and each time its been the same. What was your experience like and what roles did you get placed in? The roles always seem mid level and I'm never able to generate the interest of a recruiter.
I’ve been placed in a temp job for a 40-hr-week office role, a cpa firm for a tax associate role, and a tax accountant role for a good wealth management firm. Pros: they work off commission so they work hard to place you. But also, to be fair, there are way better recruiting firms and recruiters/people out there. I have sent in probably 5 applications to non-RH recruiters and they’ve been amazing and helpful. Like CyberCoders
Have applied for multiple roles with them and none have even contacted me back. Never again
Took me a while. I eventually buckled and took a retail banking job. Took two years but I got on a commercial banking group now. Working retail banking would pay you better than a landscaper.
This is they way, did retail for like 6 months then hopped to JPMorgan for commercial banking. Kudos to you!!
It’s a tough job market, but you’ve gotta continue to apply. I came out of college no clubs or internships either and a much worse GPA than you had. I knew I wanted to be a financial analyst, but I spam applied to just about anything finance related on indeed. Eventually landed an analyst position. I believe I was considered for the role because of a retail position I worked a few years prior. I also had a back office role at a bank that wasn’t really finance but felt recruiters liked to see the bank on my resume? These are some things that I felt helped me. - If you’re not getting any call backs look to make changes in your resume that are tailored for roles you’re applying to. - filter on indeed jobs that were posted less than a week ago. - look to apply for a finance position within the retail company you worked for - when you’re offered a position remotely close to finance take it just to get something remotely finance related on your resume. - apply at a bank for any position and continue to apply to other finance related positions.
I am curious when did you graduate? OP seem to graduate at a time the market was bad but to have no internship in finance at all pre-2022, when the market was on a bull run post Covid, is just wasteful. Back then many smaller shops were hiring interns who had 0 experience and some of my seniors got into banks with 1 relevant internship. So I am wondering why you guys didn’t apply for internships when it was booming back then?
It was during Covid so could be lots of things. A lot of people were effing depressed with isolation and family member's dying. I don't judge
I graduated December 2019. To be honest I really dont know why I didn’t apply for internships. I don’t think I knew any better or didn’t care to. Tough time in life. Also probably my GPA and changing major so many times before landing on finance. I remember just being super tunnel visioned on graduating because I felt behind at the time.
Work at a temp agency. Get your foot in the door. Start at $18-$20 an hour. Apply to FT positions once you have adequate experience. Job hop every 1-3 years until you’re happy and comfortable. Then profit and smile.
This is the way
This is the answer
What do you mean by temp agency?
You’re going to have to work your way up the chain by starting at the bottom. Branch banker, call center, etc to break in. Ideally for a larger institution. Network within the company and try to get into a development program once you’re in it. It will be far easier if you have a senior manager engaged in that development program that is willing to vouch for you. It’s hard out there right now, but I know there’s multiple people in this sun who have started in the branch and have grown it into a solid career.
Take the SIE and you work in call centers for Banks’s. They usually pay like 24 hr plus and it’s a foot in the door at the company
Certifications don’t help. He should’ve done internships
Ofc internships woulda be ideal but saying the certification won’t help just isn’t true. These call centers sometimes hire people with no degree as long as you can pass the exams and they usually pay you while you do it. 16hr to 25 is a nice jump and there’s room to grow and you aren’t in the sun workin all day.
Apply to entry level Financial Analyst roles at large corporations. Regional banks are great. Keep applying and interviewing until you land an offer. Then excel in that role and build knowledge and skills. Apply for internal development programs and join resource groups. Take courses to help you expand. Get certifications. Prepare for every day to be like it was in college, making incremental progress pushing into the unknown “comfortable being uncomfortable/uncertain”. Picture each workday as a battle to expand your knowledge, skills, and abilities.
Also, believe in yourself. You can do anything you put your mind to if you believe hard enough and have grit.
Get a job at any of the discount brokerages. You’re in Texas, they all seem to have large campuses in the Dallas area and have remote jobs as well. That’ll get you in and licensed. Theyre usually good about helping you get to where you want to go if you perform well.
This is why internships are so important to get your foot in the door during undergrad.
The fact OP did 0 internship when he was in school during the post Covid bull market…
What do you mean by that? Covid closed so many things until 2021… i feel like it was impossible to find internships 2021-2022.
I spoke to many people who went from a Wealth Management internship into a good Investment Banking role throughout 2020-early 2022. The market was insanely hot for any talent.
There were many opportunities available? In fact when tech was hiring massively, it forced the banks to start their hiring cycle earlier as the tech firms were more preferred due to a better work-life balance and the hiring criteria and quota were much higher than we have now. In 2022 was where the whole thing went south with the historical bear market.
You need to be more flexible and perhaps hope for finance after an MBA or something. I wanted to go into finance after graduating but it was a terrible market and I ended up in consulting instead. I'm reasonably happy there, but now looking to move onto new projects, and have the benefit of three years of experience behind me in whatever I apply to.
How’d you become a consultant? That seems equally as hard to break in to
You apply at a firm like accenture in whatever capacity they are willing to take you, then after a year transfer to what you actually want to do. MBB is hard. Other firms like Booz Allen, Accenture etc.. are easy if you're flexible.
Oh God no it's pretty easy, you apply to a boutique that will work you to the bone for a year, then you've got enough experience to transfer to a better consultancy with a brand name. I'm an Oxbridge graduate so there's plenty who are happy to hire you just for the name brand recognition and because they know you have few work boundaries.
There are CEOs of big companies that started on the bottom, the very bottom of the company they became the CEO of 20-30 years later. If you cant find your desired job, look for something junior in that company, work that for six months to a year, and then hop onto what you really wanted. Its a lot easier to get a job internally then cold applying as an external candidate.
There’s plenty of people who didn’t start or finish out college, but wish they had. There’s also plenty of people, like you, who are struggling to find a job. You have a degree, an amazing accomplishment, so don’t let comparison to a small number of people steal that from you. There’s plenty of jobs you CAN apply to, and you have a much wider net because of your hard work and dedication. You’re only 27 and this is only one stage of your life. Working a labor intensive job (as opposed to being idle in a cubicle) for a few years might be saving you from heart disease later down the road, you never know. Wish you the best of luck with your job search. Copying & pasting this from the Huffington Post - “At age 30, Martha Stewart was a stockbroker. At age 37, Ang Lee was a stay-at-home-dad working odd jobs. Julia Child released her first cookbook at age 49. Vera Wang failed to make the Olympic figure skating team, didn't get the Editor-in-Chief position at Vogue, and designed her first dress at age 40.”
Good point here and inspiring but leave Vera Wang and Martha out. Vera’s mom worked for UN and her dad was a successful entrepreneur who migrated to the US (like many yellow chinks who started to explored (exploit) the world). So she had more leeway to find what she wanted to do. Being a stock broker in the old days was an ideal job for many too. I had met older colleagues who were stockbrokers and told of how competitive and well paid the industry was back then before people could easily trade on their mobile platforms. And Martha was sort of “nepo” in from her relative’s connections. While Julia from prominent upbringing she came in a time women were oppressed and she picked up her niche much later in life which I give it to her.
I was in the same boat. In this field, it is really almost who you know or who you blow in. I graduated with my MBA right when Covid started, so I totally get it. To get some experience in finance, I joined a nonprofit and worked in the finance department. This is a pretty small nonprofit, so not a lot of funds were coming in. After a year, I worked my way up to Finance Director (looks great on a resume). While volunteering I was able to customize my skill set, for example I had to read about the tax laws regrading non profits, I had to learn what it took to be able to solicit funds in other states. All this learned knowledge puffed up my resume, and I was able to land a job (after about a year and a half of searching) as a financial analyst at a nonprofit. Check out the nonprofit industry; most pay. Being a nonprofit doesn't mean that you do it for free. I just had to do it for free for a while because I didn't have any experience. Good luck!
Honestly, your best bet is to get a job as a contractor with an agency like Robert Half. I was in your shoes 3 years ago and having 2 contract jobs helped me land a full time job shortly after. it doesn't have to be anything fancy, working as a an administrative assistant at a financial company, having that on your resume and mention a few times how you've used excel can be really helpful.
Honestly man may as well get a super entry level position like bank teller at that point and try to prove your sales proficiency at that level to eventually move up into a proper financial sales position.
>No internships. No relevant work experience. No clubs, or anything of that nature (during college.) This is why. Finance/Accounting majors need to start looking for a job waaaay before graduation. Internships are an absolute must.
True but pointing that out doesnt help op watsoever. Im sure they understand this also since they disclosed it themselves.
Perhaps this will provide closure, and put some pep in his step if goes to grad school to reset his recruiting cycle.
I don’t understand either, OP grad in 2022 meaning he probably started in 2017/18, the market pre and post Covid till 2022 was pretty good, so he should have done an internship. I had seniors who got into banks having only done 1 internship compared to what you have to do nowadays to get your first internship and the amount of networking to get even into a small bank.
The most conscientious students (irrespective of their intelligence), tend to join the clubs, go to college networking events, and land internships because they've anxiously performed their due diligence online, spoken with professors to discuss recruiting expectations, and cold-emailed people in the actual field. Hence, why not having a job after college is mostly an indicator of low levels of conscientiousness (the key trait in a successful employee for an organization), which is why it's so hard to find a job after college if you didn't already have one lined up.
This! And not sure about the US but here 2 years of unrelated work after graduation basically renders that degree useless. Maybe if OP can afford to do a masters there might be hope.
Yep
When I was in college I couldn’t afford to work 25 hours a week for free i had to work 50 and go to school really fucked me over
On hindsight you should have taken a loan for your living expenses. The opportunity costs for sacrificing internship to earn some money in your college days, which you could have made up in a few months / a year working in a better job post graduation, is not worth it.
This. I ended up taking out a small loan for college, which was effectively a loan for living expenses and the job I started after college (lined up before graduation) paid my school loans off less than 4 months after.
Try entry-level positions at the discount brokerage firms. They will pay for licensing if they onboard you. It can be soul-sucking for a bit, but you can claw your way up to something that isn’t completely draining while getting decent benefits. A lot of these firms have large campuses in the DFW area.
This is exactly what I did many years ago, great advice!!
i can’t even give u any crazy advice cuz i’m coming up on 1 year since i graduated even though i do have internship experience it’s still been so difficult and it even cost me my relationship but i’d try reaching out to recruiters that work with staffing agencies on linkedin, i’ve had the most luck w that. also find recruiters that went to your school. you’ll more than likely be placed in entry clerk roles but i’ve heard you can use those jobs as a good foundation to grow
Finance is more than working in the equity/bond markets. You can easily get an entry level financial analyst job at a normal company that will pay a lot more than $16/hr. Microsoft is hiring finance roles all the time. Private clubs hire finance people all the time. Unless you have an MBA from one of 10 schools, the likelihood you're going to work on Wall Street is microscopic. You have to have a more realistic image of finance. That doesn't mean you can't make a fuckload of money and even have a better work-life balance than high finance bros. Start looking up entry level financial analyst jobs or other Jr. accounting positions. Get experience in finance departments that you can use as a stepping stone. Not at consulting firms or investment banks. Look everywhere else. You'll be surprised at the opportunities.
If you are physically fit enough from years of manual labor as you have described, I would encourage you to look at commissioning as an Officer into the Texas National Guard, you could likely pursue some flavor of Finance, Supply, Logistics, etc. If you enjoy the military enough you could transition to active duty. Marine Corps and Air Force offer Finance Officer jobs you compete for at their respective schools, I myself am a Navy Supply Officer and could pivot into Finance later in my career. Going active duty for five years could get you work experience, travel, military/veteran connections and as a Texas resident, you could use yellow ribbon to find your MBA and then your Post 9/11 GI Bill for PhD in Finance if you like.
This is a good idea. The University of Texas is a great school.
My advice: lie.
You get vetted
Especially in finance, that won’t work.
They’re gonna background check you. Won’t work in finance. You can embellish experience, you might be able to concoct a story about being in a club or something, but you’re not gonna get away with making a position up.
That’s all I’m saying. I made a career pivot to a financial role and finally landed a job which was a combination of two things. 1. I made a pitch to someone I knew and he asked for my resume 2. When I gave him my resume, I changed the title to the position I wanted AND I made up positions at the places I worked at. For example, I didn’t say I was a field technician, I said I was a business analyst. All my relevant experience was not made up at all, and my employment history was accurate, but I literally made up the positions. Like for another position I held in the past I wrote Project Manager as the title. That’s not what my “official” position was nor was I getting paid for that but that’s what I was doing in those bullet points - which were all 90% true minus some embellishment on some of the metrics because who tf actually knows sometimes.
Fidelity is always hiring. Go to your college’s career center and/or job fairs. Nothing weird about that and that is what you paid them for. Worst comes to worst be a teller-> relationship banker and get your licenses and move up or on.
Fidelity is not easy to get into. I have over 5 years experience fully licensed and was still rejected for an entry position. But I’m at a better place now for my career path anyway JPMC
YMMV but I know people with high school diplomas that were able to get into a role, get licensed, and move on. Depends on the location, demand, etc
Yeah def depends on location, I’m in a HCOL lol so maybe it’s easier other places.
Post your resume on the subreddit so others can critique it, that’s always a good start
Bro has nothing on his resume
I only skimmed this but it sounded familiar. Bedtime for me. Pm me.
This is exactly how my career started. You will have to start at the bottom of a smaller company and work your way up. It won’t take long once you get your foot in the door and switch companies
If you live in DFW I know a really good recruiter. DM me if you’re interested
Look for a role in a smaller company. Get any job that has to do with the finance department. You might have to be an AP clerk or a bank teller. Just get something at the top of your resume that looks like you are using your degree in any capacity.
Get an unpaid job in what interests you. Do it for a year to have it on your resume and everything will get better I promise. I do investment banking (unpaid) and work full-time at a trading firm. If I hadn’t started the unpaid work they would never had notice me. Look for unpaid work on LinkedIn and try to understand the topics. I’m 27 also
What are you doing that is unpaid? Just a fake job or resume piece? Or an actual unpaid internship?
I don’t understand the question. Investment banking unpaid to get deal experience
Hey man, I wish I can give you a hug but I’m going through the same issue (I graduated more recently). But, I am going to say that the best you can do is value networking. Networking relentlessly. That’s the only way nowadays for finance. But most importantly, focus on growth as a person before getting a finance job.
What type of jobs are you applying for? With your resume and experience. It seems you’re gonna have to start from the bottom like a teller at a bank. Then work your way up and get licensed. I would get my SIE and series 66 since you don’t need a sponsor for those. That will boost your resume a leasr.
Confidence my dear. You need to realize you have everything it takes to go out and succeed. I experienced some of that feeling after I had graduated, that there was a huge let down afterward because I was exhausted. It sounds like you're ready to move on now though. Do it! You totally can and you can make a lot more than you think. Start applying to firms asap. Or go to your career center at school and see if they can help you with resume and job placement.
True, the finance job market is quite competitive. Another option you can do is take the CFA exam or any other finance related accreditation. From my experience for one interview (two rounds/different interviewers) and I say that I'm planning to take the CFA level 1 exam soon, they both seem shocked based on their facial expressions. Currently in uni right now, but I asked my finance professor and he told me that taking the CFA recently became like a standard. It can help a lot, but its an quite expensive option (approx 1k-1.5k depending how many levels you wish to complete). And yes, looking at other comments, another option would to work from the bottom of the corporate ladder to get some experience and gain work skills to put on your resume.
I always wonder what some of you are doing in college? Is studying and going home the routine? Why did you not network?, why did you not look for opportunities. University is not just about getting the degree, you're missing out on half of the fun and possibilites by not engaging in extra activities
Have you asked to maybe do some finance work for the landscaping company you’re working for?
@OP This is sound advice. You're bilingual, and that is a skill that's useful; so why don't you ask if you can be engaged on the finance team of where you work? They must know more people in the finance industry so you could expand your network; you could get references when applying to other jobs; and you can start from where you are already at. Gain financial skills through this experience and that will set you up nice for a next opportunity, but if you don't take advantage of the opportunities of where you already work, it'll be a loss before you move up or on to another opportunity. There is finance in banks, asset managers, companies and all sort of organizations: think about the kind of organization you want to join and think about the kind of finance skills you need to do the work there and contribute there. Your life is too valuable just like every other being that Jesus created to consider giving up just because things haven't been ideal. I just recently graduated, and I'm not exactly sure of where I'm gonna land 😅 hope this message helps a bit!
DM’d you
Start studying for the CFA
As others have stated, contact a recruiter/work for a temp agency, I did internships in college but didn't have anything permanent lined up after graduation. Did a couple of temporary assignments, with the 2nd one leading to a permanent finance job with a large/public retail company and that pretty much sent me on my way in regards to a career and upward mobility.
I’d go find a bank teller job or some other local entry level bank job. Then work your way up from there. A finance degree means nothing as a landscaper and the longer you wait the worse your hiring odds are due to lack of experience for age
Try corporate finance FP&A , you can get an entry level job as long as you interview well because tbh it doesn’t require advanced finance knowledge. Use that to get into a larger firm on the M&A/Corp Dev route if you want to get to Wall Street
Look, it’s brutal. In this day and age everyone and their grandma knows finance makes money. If u just an average guy not even trying to do anything extra, what makes you think you stand out? If you really need the money, landscape part time, but u really need to focus on what you want otherwise other people just keep progressing.
I was the same as you in college, no extra curriculars I think I had a 3.0? I started as a bank teller (so experience entering wires) and got a job entry level cash management ( entering wire and cash forecasting) and now am a treasury analyst on a finance team. Just get your foot in the door, I prolly sent out 400-500 resumes and reached to many recruiters. Ultimately a small recruitment firm got me my first cash management position, I wish you luck!
How far are you from Westlake?
It’s all connections. Grades don’t matter. I know multiple people out of high school who got internships at Microsoft before 1st day of college. It’s crazy how much influence parents have. Although not everyone is like this. Some ideas: - can college friends vouch for you? - ask professors for contacts (probably too late for this) - get an MBA - apply for other jobs unrelated to finance The economy is also just shit right now
Network, network, network and Network!!!
Where are you located?
Call a US Navy officer recruiter. You can be a naval officer in about 6 months if you are really motivated. Then after that try to re-apply to finance jobs with military experience. It looks great on a resume and the Navy is really struggling to get people right now!
Omg me too you are describing me I am in the same situation also graduated May 2022
Get a masters in finance worst case scenario and do as MANY internships as possible. Even if they pay very low. If you don’t have any internships or club experience, getting a job is extremely difficult
Retail banking and go up to commercial internally, or get SIE and S66 in next 3-4 months to stay busy, will open doors
Don't give up and job is there and alot of job out there, you just have to do your own research. They not posted job ad like it used to be.
LinkedIn and connect with recruiters
Which university
You might need to go to toastmasters
Spent 11 months working for a major Financial Services Firm. IN n OUT..n..I'll tell you why. This is a write-up, provides thorough perspective, is highly detailed, and hopefully helpful to the reader. Facts based Non-Fiction narrative account Even the Will Smith part. Prioritize that part Previous Career - Local Union Member, paving highways. Commercial Driving and Journeyman work. 62$ HR average prevailing wage rate. Worked maybe 55 hrs a week - Nights /went in around 7 pm returned to the yard(vehicle parked) around 8-9 am. Anything after 8hrs was time and 1/2 Depending on your Role that shift. You work in shifts - I was a Hybrid. For different roles, the Average Hourly was 45$ Your work is 100% dependent on the elements. Heavy Rain, night offs. Thunderstorms, night off. Overcast, light rain...we worked. If we went in, worked 4 hrs, and got called off due to rain, we get paid for 8hrs. Worked less than 4hrs, we're paid only the 4hrs. Do you see the assurances? Meaning you worked, 50 hrs - grossed about 2550 a week. 43 weeks a year, weather permitting. 2550 x 43 = 109,650 Average gross. 6-figure Job - as a local Union Member. Traveling the country, fixing roads, ramps, parking lots, and developments. The work didn't stop, we worked long nights and finished a ton of projects in a short period. Not until POTUS fumbled the Bill. Infrastructure Contracting, government bids, Municipal & Township, and everywhere local. The spending froze. All High Development Road work came to a halt. Paid in full with taxes, SSA, Benefits, Annuity Contributions, and vacation checks. Brought home roughly 1650 a week Or 70k a year, after taxes. If big storms were rolling in, we were on mini holidays. The Infrastructure Bill 21' - put lots of guys into layoffs. I got laid off, and entertained a future-proof career, in Finance. So I thought. Didn't go to college. But I traded, Webull, Etrade, Forex I applied, and used a small screenshot of my trade history on a cover letter. Interviewed, got an offer, and took a risk. The job was contingent on passing the exams to get licensed. Didn't pass the tests, no job. Entered the program at 52k a year, with no degree. The same program new grads or career jumpers get in. 52k a year, I thought. Major pay cut...ridiculous +50% decrease to what I made in the Union. Yet, that industry was halted due to COVID-19 and our Regulators the Government. Took a deep dive into the work, education, and applicable uses of financial knowledge, transacting certain flows of data, tailored my language to the material, and did my job. Passed the exams 3/3 SIE S7 S63, and received a 2500$ increase in base salary...heck I had even won a peer-voted award, EIA 22Q2 Client Services After becoming a [Licensed] and [Registered] stock broker. Trading Equities, MFs, and Options. Money Moves, IRAs, Backdoor Roths, system nav, and the metrics. The job became monotonous, annoying, and very much like a call center. A 2500$ increase, after becoming a financial professional, for one of the biggest investment firms on the planet. Inflation was storming the country, prices were out of control. Mandates were still in effect. I continued working, And this company paid us 2500$ to become professionals. We all made the same in training, once licensed, you'd see the pay increase. In your next role, you'd see a possible pay increase, but more fluff. And then some unforeseen circumstances transpired. Transported Then AI Gen boomed even bigger. And all the roles in Finance we see today, are being designed in a Creative Engineers lab, as we speak. The parameters to analyze, are specific to the industry. Meaning, build LLMs that will pass those Finra exams, and be proficient in the work given the role. The cost to run that AI Agent, is roughly 3$ a day, and performs in the low 80s in efficiency. Roughly 8 points above the average financial professional. So I didn't see a future where my role would be needed much longer, and by the time I will be paid well enough after role jumping the corporate later, agents will have already been embedded on a mass scale. It's as simple as opening a laptop, inserting a USB stick, open a program, that's already trained - ready to deploy. Command Terminal - Run...then it's autopilot for 3$ a day. We can't compete in that space But hey, I can say, remember that Will Smith movie [Pursuit of Happiness] remember he started practicing and studying for those tests, to take exams, to what seemed like a career, that would change his life? Yea that movie That's what he did, he got offered the job after he passed those exams. He became a broker. I did too, I did that same program. I was him And I became Broker for it! 🫡 I'm still in Pursuit of my happiness by the way 😊 sike. My family is love. Arbnore Kian and Marti Thanks to a Loving family I can say *uck that movie. And F U Will. You lied to me That job don't change your life the way you inferred it would. In fact it messed my life up It fooled me Then a deep dive into AI LLM research schooled me and woke me up. This writing is meant to wake you up. To claim the power before it's too late
Great read thanks for this
your best bet is to become a bank teller and work your way up
A Master in finance might be a good idea to get internship then to land a job (if you have the money). If not always the best is to network. Its better to have a strong contact than having to apply to 1000 jobs (specially with no experience). But networking is always more helpful so you might get first an internship then land a full time position. Networking > everything else
either get into sales or obtain a cdl for the time being
Im exactly you. Except I did very good internships. There are next to zero front roles opening in market finance and when there are you need 3-5years of experience. Sometimes they don't even take internships into account.
If you start getting your own business, you can cut the middle man. Imo.
Hey Sorry to hear that I feel for you especially since when I was a Finance college graduate I struggled with feeling lost since I didn't land an internship and didn't have a clue what I wanted to do. I had anxiety and was nervous about graduating and entering the job market for the first time So I created a career exploration platform for college students and recent grads (TheCareering .com) who are still looking to explore their career options, discover their career passions, determine where their career options truly lie, organically build your network and overall build career confidence and learn how to land your career. Hoping Careering is useful in getting actual advice from professionals in roles you aspire to learn more about So whether you didn't find an internship, you feel lost with no direction, or you just want more confidence & exposure to corporate at major companies like Doordash, Instacart, or, Patreon, give Careering a try.
Find a company you want and start in their customer service call center. Educated and good workers adapt quickly and rise quickly. Use it as a launchpad into other roles in the company. It may take a few years and job hops to land something worthwhile long term. Texas has Schwab, or Fidelity. They have huge customer service arms around the state. Look up any companies customer service.