Just got my finance degree.....Advice please (mortgage, insurance, sales)

[hamiltonra25]

So I will officially have my finance degree on May 16th. Its from a highly reputable smaller school in Wisconsin. I will hopefully be relocation to Chicago in the summer. However I have a question for any finance graduates, or professionals. What jobs should I be looking at. I know there are consulting firms, financial analyst. But im hoping for some insight as to other ENTRY LEVEL positions you know of. Thanks!

[Randomdude]

Originally Posted by hamiltonra25

So I will officially have my finance degree on May 16th. Its from a highly reputable smaller school in Wisconsin. I will hopefully be relocation to Chicago in the summer. However I have a question for any finance graduates, or professionals. What jobs should I be looking at. I know there are consulting firms, financial analyst. But im hoping for some insight as to other ENTRY LEVEL positions you know of. Thanks!

Make sure you stick to good cities. I ended up in the accounting field, because there are no finance jobs in Norfolk, VA.

[8 SNAKE]

Originally Posted by hamiltonra25

However I have a question for any finance graduates, or professionals. What jobs should I be looking at. I know there are consulting firms, financial analyst. But im hoping for some insight as to other ENTRY LEVEL positions you know of. Thanks!

I have a degree in Finance, but my advice doesn't hinge on that or any other particular degree. Forget about what fields other people tell you to go into or what's hot right now. Figure out what you are interested in and go in that direction. You will be much happier and more successful if you do this.

[StealthRabbit]

I would avoid the "Entry Level" thought process.

As mentioned above "find your interest and pursue it" Thus.... I would look to a smaller operation or consulting so you can get wider exposure to a variety of possible specialties.

If you have to work in a big firm, be very flexible and offer to work special projects and travel and 'off-shift'. That again gives you broader experience and will pay better dividends for future employ.

In your early employ you really want to stretch yourself. Move around if you have to, but try to commit at least 2 yrs to each company, tho you may hold several positions within that company during those 2 yrs. Don't brown nose, just be good at what you do, and the 'decent' bosses will be grateful and reward you with $$ and opportunities. Referrals and networking are very important in the finance field. Integrity, desire to learn, excellent customer service skills, and solid talent will be your assets in the future.

I would look to small commercial banks, insurance, and real estate investment firms in addition to consulting (anything doing valuations). You will be a much more valuable consultant once you get some depth of experience.

[hamiltonra25]

Thanks for all the advice really appreciate it. Hopefully like janb mentioned I have been looking at consulting firms, because i have a feeling once we start to pull out of this downturn, companies are going to use consultants to make sure they arent making wrong moves....hopefully. I guess the other thing is that im so green, i truly dont know what makes me happy yet. Sure ive crunched numbers for bond valuation along with stocks, but who knows if thats what i really want to do. Exciting yet different time period.

[Repubocrat]

I do not mean to discourage you but your first job will probably be a crappy one. When I graduated with a B.S in Economics, I was hoping to land a gig right out of school doing financial analysis but it is extremely hard to break into financial analysis without experience or without knowing someone. So, although I never planned to work in mortgage or sales, the experienced I acquired in sales and mortgage led me to a better job. I am still nowhere where I want to be but at least I got into a solid financial company and I am hoping to eventually get out of sales and go into a more analytical job. I am also using their tuition reimbursement program to get a MBA in Finance but even a MBA with limited experience does not mean much. I have many friends with Finance degrees and years of work experience who are working as temps because they cannot find a job. One of them has 15 years of experience in Finance, a MBA from the U of Minnesota and he has been working as a temp for 2 years now. With the current economic situation, I would be happy if you can find ANY job!!

[hamiltonra25]

You make a valid point. I guess i should have stated that I live in Chicago, therefore we might have a few more jobs that Minneapolis or St. Paul. However I do agree that it seems nearly impossible to get into ANY analyst job without having experience

[StealthRabbit]

Are you taking your CFA this June? That is a long process, but probably essential for good positions. I hear they are only allowing a 40% pass rate, so you will likely get bumped a few times, which can drag the process out several years.

[nate14ri]

Network, network, network. I graduated from a top business school in the Northeast in 2007. I now work for a large financial services company out of Boston doing financial analysis. Even when I graduated, with a favorable job economy, the competition was FIERCE. Lots of qualified candidates out there. I got my job through an old roomate in college who forwarded on my resume and got me an interview. I got the job and later found out I was the most qualified. (I had done alot of internships throughout high school and college). I feel this track would help even more so during these tough economic times. But if you do land something, stick with it, more often then not something better will be right around the corner...

[hamiltonra25]

Originally Posted by janb

Are you taking your CFA this June? That is a long process, but probably essential for good positions. I hear they are only allowing a 40% pass rate, so you will likely get bumped a few times, which can drag the process out several years.

Ill be taking the CFA in December. Level one allows it to be taken twice a year June and December, secondly they do not limit how many applicants pass. If you score above the magic number (believed to be around 75-80%) youre in. It just so happens that roughly 40% of the people will pass