The Job Search Begins (Sort Of)

After a week of job searching, I have made two observations:

#1) There are not many finance jobs out there at all.

#2)  It sucks to have “finance” plastered all over your resume right now. (BS in Finance. MBA in Finance. Diversification apparently is not in my vocabulary.)

To be honest, it isn’t like there aren’t any equity research jobs in San Francisco. They just all happen to be related to highly technical fields like biotech, pharma or semiconductors. Here are two (out of like three) equity research postings within 20 miles of my zip code in the past month:

Investment Analyst – Capital World Investors

• The ideal candidate will have at least 3 years of experience analyzing relevant investments.
• Interest and experience researching small and mid-cap investments (as well as large cap)
• MD or relevant PhD Preferred.
• He or she will value the accountability of investing money in the research portfolio but enjoy being immersed in analysis as a long-term career.

I can smooth talk my way through most of those bullet points but #3 (the part about having an MD or PhD) sinks my battleship. And yes, there are plenty of MBA/MDs applying for these jobs. Just ask my classmate Dr. Sasha why he decided to go back and finish his residency after completing his MBA.

Equity Research Associate (IT Hardware and Imaging) - J.P. Morgan

· More than three years work experience in PC, server, storage, or printer industries.
· Sales, marketing, or business development work experience.
· Deep understanding of and an interest in Information Technology trends.
· Proficiency in business writing and verbal presentations.
· Financial modeling and market sizing experience strongly encouraged.

Okay well I don’t have any sales, marketing or biz dev experience, and certainly not in the IT Hardware and Imaging industries. And do they really expect people out there to have a deep understanding of, and an interest in Information Technology trends? Good luck to J.P. Morgan finding a bunch of former computer engineers looking to career-switch into finance!

Maybe I am being too picky....perhaps I should be more open minded and set my search criteria to jobs within 50 MILES of my zip code.

Comments

[Omer]

Hey,

I really liked your blog. I am thinking about going for a MBA and was wondering after getting 140,000 poorer do you still think it was worth it? Have you been able to find any jobs? Is looking for a very specific job plus the choice to settle in California the main reason of the zero job offers?

-O

[Alexander Pan]

Dear Omer,

Thanks for checking out my blog. Was it all worth it? Well, I think it is too early to say from a financial perspective. Although I am not exactly off to a blistering start, it generally takes several years at the minimum to recoup your investment (don't forget about the opportunity cost of not working for two years).

I have not been able to find a job yet and when I do find one, you can be sure that there will be a big blog post about it! I do believe that my focus on finance jobs in the Bay Area is a huge hurdle to overcome, especially for someone without a tech or engineering background. It just means that I have to work harder at finding a job if I want to stay in SF or I might eventually have to consider expanding my geographical preference beyond the Bay Area.