OT: Career advice

[Amazing Kreiderman]

It's been a year to the day, that I started my new job in Vienna. I can honestly say that it was one of the best, if not the best, decisions of my life. This job has changed my life. I had my annual evaluation last week with my manager and he put me up for promotion and to take responsibility for the 2 new datacenters in the region (Dubai and Zurich). The only downside is that there's no hockey in Dubai

 

[emodwarf]

It's been a year to the day, that I started my new job in Vienna. I can honestly say that it was one of the best, if not the best, decisions of my life. This job has changed my life. I had my annual evaluation last week with my manager and he put me up for promotion and to take responsibility for the 2 new datacenters in the region (Dubai and Zurich). The only downside is that there's no hockey in Dubai

Congrats! Sounds like some very exciting opportunities. Hope the potential promotion goes well.

 

[Amazing Kreiderman]

Congrats! Sounds like some very exciting opportunities. Hope the potential promotion goes well.

Thanks. It's looking good and I am excited about the additional travel opportunities. With the World Juniors and the draft being in Vancouver, I might be able to combine that with a work trip to Seattle now haha

 

[Vinny DeAngelo]

Hey guys!

I’ll give another update on my career situation. I’ve been working in the legal/operations department for a small AM firm for about 7 months now. I’m studying for the GMAT taking the Manhattanprep course. I plan on getting my Master of Finance and attending the best school possible, with my gmat score. I’m looking for a equity research role or something quant. Hopefully in Boston, Denver, Seattle, or NYC. I’m also looking some at Scotland considering my love of scotch and Scottish women. Lol

How are you all doing? Anyone need advice or want to vent? I want this to be an open discussion.

 

[bobbop]

So I'm at this weird place in my career.

I made a career in marketing from one angle of advertising or another. I was going for Marketing jobs mostly when I was out of work for a year. I ended up finding a Project Manager role in a Utility company through my network. If I'm quite honest it didn't work out well since I didn't have the necessary experience. However, another team kept me on for finance work starting Feb 1st. I've been doing finance work, albeit I'm not as involved as some people, do some forecasts, do some models, but it's not hardcore finance or anything. I was told a few weeks ago that they won't be extending my contract. So my question is, does having a one year detour in PM work and finance work something that would make me look disorganized if I want to go back to Marketing? Can less than 4 months of Corporate Finance work be enough to get a Corp Fin job somewhere? I wouldn't want to do PM work again. That was a horrible life experience and not something I want to revisit.

Now, this may be moot because I found out this week they MIGHT be keeping me. But I don't really know how long or if they'll know it. If I stay another 6 months to a year would that experience be enough for future Corporate Finance jobs?

I know I'm all over the place but as of this moment, I'm not sure if I'm staying or going.

Position it as a career broadening experience. When I worked for PepsiCo, we moved people all over in different departments. Most company executives who are not marketing people like someone who has some grounding in other disciplines. It's not an issue at all.

 

[bobbop]

Anyone know anything about Nashville, TN?

Just had an interview for a IT Project Delivery Manager role in Credit Risk at an international investment bank out there. Company is HQed in Switzerland. Interviewed with a guy in London for the position.

Came up out of nowhere. A PM who was working with us was let go. Connected on LinkedIn, said that it didn't matter because she was hired in Nashville. Week later, she messages me that they're looking for a PM, recommends me, and I do the application.

That usually never works for me...however,

Last week they contact me and today I'm interviewed. Don't know how to feel...

Went there often on business and vacation. Great city, party town and hockey. What more could you want.

 

[NCRanger]

Went there often on business and vacation. Great city, party town and hockey. What more could you want.

Except I got screwed out of the offer. Got the job, but the offer wasn't made. What happened is the last post on the previous page.

Stuck in the ****hole that is Charlotte.

At this point, I'm going to have to pay hundreds, if not thousands, to some "resume professional" to tweak a resume with over 20 years experience. All because this market is all about who you know rather than what you know, ESPECIALLY when you're 47 and already facing age discrimination.

 

[HatTrick Swayze]

Hey guys!

I’ll give another update on my career situation. I’ve been working in the legal/operations department for a small AM firm for about 7 months now. I’m studying for the GMAT taking the Manhattanprep course. I plan on getting my Master of Finance and attending the best school possible, with my gmat score. I’m looking for a equity research role or something quant. Hopefully in Boston, Denver, Seattle, or NYC. I’m also looking some at Scotland considering my love of scotch and Scottish women. Lol

How are you all doing? Anyone need advice or want to vent? I want this to be an open discussion.

I would advise you to do a lot of networking with people in the ER industry (not within the MSF program bubble) to make sure the path is right for you. MSF is a great degree and can definitely get you where you want to go (ER especially) but make sure it is also where you WANT to go. The reason I say this is because I have several friends (just finished a FT MBA) who came into school wanting to do ER but ultimately decided against it after talking to people in the industry. The shift to passive investing is having a seismic impact on ER.

The last thing I would urge you to figure out what "something quant" is and then determine if an MSF will give you a competitive footing to go for it. Understanding that is a bit outside my wheelhouse, but basically...is an MSF enough of a quant background (it may be, undergrad major may also play a role) or are the firms hiring Math/Stat/Comp Sci kids for the jobs you want? I know a bunch of people who went back to school with vague plans and took out a ton of debt only to realize that the degree didn't help them as much as they thought it would.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

Position it as a career broadening experience. When I worked for PepsiCo, we moved people all over in different departments. Most company executives who are not marketing people like someone who has some grounding in other disciplines. It's not an issue at all.

Thanks, I wish I learned more at the position than I have. Half the time I spent trying to survive a role I wasn't suited for. Thankfully I likely won't look for those roles anyway.

 

[CommaSynapse]

Been working in higher education here in New York for a few years now after completing my BA in English. I enjoy working with students, but the bureaucracy is killer. Nice thing is that my master's is being paid for, so I'm finishing what I started with English. From there, I'm not too sure. I've done okay with teaching college students previously. I might look into branching out to something in finance or psychology after all this plays out, but getting closer to 30, I'd have a lot to learn.

Any thoughts?

 

[smoneil]

Been working in higher education here in New York for a few years now after completing my BA in English. I enjoy working with students, but the bureaucracy is killer. Nice thing is that my master's is being paid for, so I'm finishing what I started with English. From there, I'm not too sure. I've done okay with teaching college students previously. I might look into branching out to something in finance or psychology after all this plays out, but getting closer to 30, I'd have a lot to learn.

Any thoughts?

I work in higher ed English, but the job market is dismal. Teaching, psych and finance are all wildly different directions. What are you most interested in doing?

 

[sbjnyc]

I would advise you to do a lot of networking with people in the ER industry (not within the MSF program bubble) to make sure the path is right for you. MSF is a great degree and can definitely get you where you want to go (ER especially) but make sure it is also where you WANT to go. The reason I say this is because I have several friends (just finished a FT MBA) who came into school wanting to do ER but ultimately decided against it after talking to people in the industry. The shift to passive investing is having a seismic impact on ER.

The last thing I would urge you to figure out what "something quant" is and then determine if an MSF will give you a competitive footing to go for it. Understanding that is a bit outside my wheelhouse, but basically...is an MSF enough of a quant background (it may be, undergrad major may also play a role) or are the firms hiring Math/Stat/Comp Sci kids for the jobs you want? I know a bunch of people who went back to school with vague plans and took out a ton of debt only to realize that the degree didn't help them as much as they thought it would.

I'm not sure there is more passive investing now as a few years ago but algorithmic trading is replacing a lot of traditional equity related jobs. My company goes in and out of public equity but it is either domestic index management or targeted international markets. I'd be much more likely to suggest fixed income research but that requires a lot more of a quantitative background. A good credit analyst is worth a lot and may possibly be among the last finance jobs that will be automated away. I'd also suggest taking CFA exam part 1 if you haven't already.

 

[Vinny DeAngelo]

I'm not sure there is more passive investing now as a few years ago but algorithmic trading is replacing a lot of traditional equity related jobs. My company goes in and out of public equity but it is either domestic index management or targeted international markets. I'd be much more likely to suggest fixed income research but that requires a lot more of a quantitative background. A good credit analyst is worth a lot and may possibly be among the last finance jobs that will be automated away. I'd also suggest taking CFA exam part 1 if you haven't already.

My job had me take the CFA Investment Foundations Certificate and I passed that easily(not that it’s hard by any stretch). I planned on doing the GMAT then the CFA level 1 since I wasn’t planning on applying for this falls class but rather next falls.

 

[Amazing Kreiderman]

Except I got screwed out of the offer. Got the job, but the offer wasn't made. What happened is the last post on the previous page.

Stuck in the ****hole that is Charlotte.

At this point, I'm going to have to pay hundreds, if not thousands, to some "resume professional" to tweak a resume with over 20 years experience. All because this market is all about who you know rather than what you know, ESPECIALLY when you're 47 and already facing age discrimination.

To be honest, that happens more than people realize. One of my former managers said something years ago that always stuck with me: "A successful career is 50% timing, 40% luck and 10% skill."

A lot of positions higher within organizations are backfilled internally even though there are laws to avoid that. Transparency is just a farce.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

Except I got screwed out of the offer. Got the job, but the offer wasn't made. What happened is the last post on the previous page.

Stuck in the ****hole that is Charlotte.

At this point, I'm going to have to pay hundreds, if not thousands, to some "resume professional" to tweak a resume with over 20 years experience. All because this market is all about who you know rather than what you know, ESPECIALLY when you're 47 and already facing age discrimination.

If you're going that route, go the route of a consultant, bro. I'm working with a consultant, I haven't applied anywhere yet so no results yet but I'm loving the process we're going through and he knows his shit. He's extremely smart an attentive. Hell of a nice guy. It's possible he doesn't have too many clients yet so maybe he'll be less attentive with time. But all in I'm paying $1,300. But you can choose services a la carte. I'd recommend splurging and just doing the whole thing if you can. The amount of money you'll make by possibly cutting down months of unemployment will make the $1,300 worth it. If I did the math right let's say we do Charlotte (I know you don't want to be there but just for simplicity), if you expect to be making $100k a year, after NC income taxes, Charlotte income taxes, and Federal income taxes you will be in the green if you just start a job 6 days earlier than you would have with no help, the line is at about 41.76 hours for a 40 hour work week, so after 42 hours you made back the $1,300 and more.

If you want to know the math, you can check it yourself:

Federal income tax for $100k a year: 24%
NC Income tax: ~5.5%
Charlotte Income tax: 5.75%
Total: 35.25%

1,300/(1-0.3525)=~2,007
100,000/~2,007=~49.8
52/~49.8=~1.04
~1.04*40-~41.76

Anyway, long way to go about telling you that this pays for itself in Charlotte if you make a decent but not ridiculous amount of money.

And to show how attentive he is, he surprised me today by remaking my resume. When I used a consultant to help me get into business school due to ethical reasons they could only help me and they couldn't do the resume themselves, here no such ethical dilemmas exist and it was an amazing surprise. I'll take a look at it of course and will have to customize it to roles but I was shocked.

Here's the link, if anyone is interested you can check it out too. Wehnered.com - Supercharge Your Career and Unlock Your Greatest Potential.

 

[darko]

To be honest, that happens more than people realize. One of my former managers said something years ago that always stuck with me: "A successful career is 50% timing, 40% luck and 10% skill."

A lot of positions higher within organizations are backfilled internally even though there are laws to avoid that. Transparency is just a farce.

While there are laws to stop it, it'll continue to happen because it's near impossible to prove it.

And yeah it happens lot more than people think.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

While there are laws to stop it, it'll continue to happen because it's near impossible to prove it.

And yeah it happens lot more than people think.

Are these laws in the US? I honestly don't think this needs to be regulated, you're not discriminating against anyone based on their age, gender, sex, or sexual orientation. You're hiring someone who has shown that they are a fit for the position better than any interview can prove. Unless I'm misunderstanding what "backfilled" means, what the hell is wrong with filling positions internally? I know it sucks for people outside of the organization and I'm looking for work now so this will hurt me, but I don't see why this should be against the law or is in any way unfair. I guess my mindset is highly Capitalistic.

 

[darko]

Are these laws in the US? I honestly don't think this needs to be regulated, you're not discriminating against anyone based on their age, gender, sex, or sexual orientation. You're hiring someone who has shown that they are a fit for the position better than any interview can prove. Unless I'm misunderstanding what "backfilled" means, what the hell is wrong with filling positions internally? I know it sucks for people outside of the organization and I'm looking for work now so this will hurt me, but I don't see why this should be against the law or is in any way unfair. I guess my mindset is highly Capitalistic.

It's all about equal opportunity. I work for a Yank company annd they make a big deal about equal opportunity..... then they fill the positions internally.

I'm all for filling positions internally. It just sucks when you are on the outer and I've been there more than a handful of times.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

It's all about equal opportunity. I work for a Yank company annd they make a big deal about equal opportunity..... then they fill the positions internally.

I'm all for filling positions internally. It just sucks when you are on the outer and I've been there more than a handful of times.

I don't think you're really owed anything to be frank. Nor am I owed anything. I guess they can interview outside the company but I can be the best interviewer in the world and that's still a million times less valuable than someone who has been working at a company even for a month showing what he/she can do. Equal opportunity means that if you're black you won't be discriminated against. I don't think it necessarily means that random dude off the street is entitled to something. I know I'm being harsh but that's just my philosophy on life. And as I said it'll likely hurt me as I'm out of work now and will probably be out of work again before I retire.

 

[darko]

I don't think you're really owed anything to be frank. Nor am I owed anything. I guess they can interview outside the company but I can be the best interviewer in the world and that's still a million times less valuable than someone who has been working at a company even for a month showing what he/she can do. Equal opportunity means that if you're black you won't be discriminated against. I don't think it necessarily means that random dude off the street is entitled to something. I know I'm being harsh but that's just my philosophy on life. And as I said it'll likely hurt me as I'm out of work now and will probably be out of work again before I retire.

Not race related. Field related and also not random guy off the street. I work in fuel industry and say someone from Caltex was going for a job with BP for a promotion . They'd have awfully tough time breaking in.

But I'm with you, I'm all for hiring internally.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

Not race related. Field related and also not random guy off the street. I work in fuel industry and say someone from Caltex was going for a job with BP for a promotion . They'd have awfully tough time breaking in.

But I'm with you, I'm all for hiring internally.

Sorry "random guy off the street" was a bit flippant. But relatively speaking it's a random guy off the street compared to someone who has worked with you.

I don't get one thing. If you have an opening and are filling it internally doesn't the guy that filled it leave an opening? You can move people around but there will still be an opening to fill if none get eliminated, right?

 

[darko]

Sorry "random guy off the street" was a bit flippant. But relatively speaking it's a random guy off the street compared to someone who has worked with you.

I don't get one thing. If you have an opening and are filling it internally doesn't the guy that filled it leave an opening? You can move people around but there will still be an opening to fill if none get eliminated, right?

But then those openings are filled by people from outside who know someone on the inside haha.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

But then those openings are filled by people from outside who know someone on the inside haha.

Eh, people make networking this horrible practice. Some people for sure are well connected due to being born on the 3rd base. But for most people networking is a skill and a job in it of itself. It's not like you just luck into connections. A huge part of business school is networking. I'm absolutely brutal at it and avoid it like the plague. But as someone who knows the process it's not as easy or lucky as a lot of people think.

 

[Cassano]

Finishing up my 16 month SE internship soon. Great experience - but I'm excited to get back and finish up school.

The way that my school has its internship program set up is that you need to work at the same place for 12 or 16 months. This is good - you don't really get the full developer experience if you're only there for a few months - I understand that. However, I feel I missed out a bit on other areas I have interest in... I was stupid early undergrad years and didn't really settle for work experience thinking this 16 month one would be sufficient.

So I took some machine learning courses online and created a few projects throughout the year to keep up on the side. I applied to a bunch of places for the hell of it and was offered a research position on a deep learning project for Autonomous driving this upcoming semester.

The issue is that I wanna graduate asap since I have a more advanced full time position available at the company I did my internship at right after graduation. Financially that is a no-brainer, but I also wanna see how this research position can play out... Also may lead me to a path of pursuing grad school, which I'm a bit iffy on.

Would appreciate some advice.

 

[Amazing Kreiderman]

I don't think you're really owed anything to be frank. Nor am I owed anything. I guess they can interview outside the company but I can be the best interviewer in the world and that's still a million times less valuable than someone who has been working at a company even for a month showing what he/she can do. Equal opportunity means that if you're black you won't be discriminated against. I don't think it necessarily means that random dude off the street is entitled to something. I know I'm being harsh but that's just my philosophy on life. And as I said it'll likely hurt me as I'm out of work now and will probably be out of work again before I retire.

When people talk equal opportunity, they usually envision equality of outcome and that's just not the same. I completely understand why companies hire from within because they are already part of the organization, easier to train and there is a lower risk with regards to the person being a good fit etc since the company has a pretty good picture of what that person can do and who that person is. In my experience, there are 2 types of jobs that are filled externally: Jobs at the bottom and jobs at the top.

Jobs at the bottom because, and I mean no disrespect, anyone can usually do it.
Jobs at the top, because it's all about image. A billion dollar company will hire a CEO from outside rather than promote someone from within. Partly because of the experience, but also to have a recognizable face for your brand. Investment companies and banks do this a lot with former politicians.