Getting Finance Job?

[blossom]

aiko, there is no magic bullet. If you are interested in finance, there are many ways to get there. Industrial companies hire treasury analysts, who work with banks, credit rating agencies, etc. and work on liquidity and financing deals. All public companies have Investor Relations groups, the rating agencies themselves hire analysts, even your state government has finance teams- some work with actuaries and labor unions to deal with budget issues, some actually work with underwriters on bond issues (every time your state issues a bond to finance a bridge, a new dorm for the State U, a waste treatment plant the finance team is involved), etc.

You are thinking much too narrowly if you are obsessing about your school not being a target school for major companies. Go to J P Morgan and work really hard; you can figure out your interview strategy after that. And you definitely don't need a BA in Finance as long as you have the basics on your resume- strong quant skills, some experience in a relevant field, good grades, evidence of leadership.

[aikomidori]

hi blossom, thank you so much for your advice! I knew I was looking too narrowly, but I wasn't sure what else to look at. Your advice gave me some clues that I will definitely pursue

[ellemenope]

As with many jobs, looking for the kind of work you want to do in firms or companies that aren't located in happening cities will yield better results. Think Minneapolis rather than Chicago, for example.

Even though your school isn't a "target school" for certain firms, it is very well thought of. Are there any alumni of your college working at the firms you're interested in? Be sure to count those who went undergrad to RPI and grad school at a "target B-school." They would be happy to give advice, I'm sure.

[hadsed]

I'm confused. Why are you getting a bio degree when you want to go into finance? Do you enjoy biology/science? Also, what are your motivations for working in finance? Why do you think you'll like it, and what do you think you'll like about it? What do you like to do in general?

[aikomidori]

ellemenope - our alumni are famously known for not caring about their school unfortunately! However I will definitely look for some on Linkedin and contact them.

Hadsed - i used to be a pre-med student due to familial pressure and decided against it. I would love to devote my life to finance and learn the complexities of the entire financial sector (yeah not going to happen in my lifetime, but hey!). One thing I do want to learn is the exact process, in large banks, of buying and selling risky stocks.

I have another question: do all financial engineers end up on Wall Street? What if I wanted to work for a non-wall street company instead (Boeing, GE, Microsoft)? Would my masters be a hindrance?

[ellemenope]

ellemenope - our alumni are famously known for not caring about their school unfortunately!

Not donating to your college and refusing to help a new graduate are two different things in my view. One is a behemoth who may have done nothing but give you trouble for 4 years; the other is flesh and blood human being who went through the same crap that you did.

[hadsed]

Yes. MFE's are trained basically to fill the quant position. If you wanted to do work at an aerospace firm, or something, you'd be out of luck. It'd be better to get a Ph.D in fluid dynamics (physics), or a M.Eng. in Aerospace Eng. (fluids and aerodynamics), because then you can work in both areas. Not saying that you should work in these areas, but I'm just giving an example. So you should do something computational in science/math/CS that you're interested in, and that would give you a better shot at those positions in finance as well as other areas in industry.

Still, just remember I'm only talking about quantitative analyst jobs. If you have an internship at JP Morgan already, I'm not entirely sure that a quant position is what you would be after. Typically only Ph.D's (or at the very least, people with an M.S. in CS or engineering) have the mathematical maturity and understanding to be able to work on that stuff.

[aikomidori]

@hadsed - thanks for your advice, but I still have a question: does having a MFE automatically slate me for only quant positions in Wall Street? Or can I still apply for other finance positions (not only quantitative analyst jobs) in different industries? I'm not sure if you already answered this question...but just wanted to make it clear that I'm not only pursuing quantitative analyst positions. I am open to any field in finance (including, yes, accounting :P) but I'm just wondering if the MFE will only allow me to interview for quant jobs.


@ ellemenope - I guess that definitely makes sense, I'll contact some alums

[blossom]

Aiko, you are needlessly obsessing.

Companies won't care about what your major is called. They will care about your skills- quantitative, analytical, leadership.

Take both macro and micro economics; take both financial and managerial accounting; take a course in valuation and get an A in it; if none of these courses require it, teach yourself SAS or STATA. While at work this summer get a colleague to show you how a Bloomberg terminal works.

I already posted about all the non-Wall street places that hire finance talent (your own state has an entire department filled with finance people who do everything from work with banks on new bond issues to build bridges to calculating the budget impact of raising the retirement age to figuring out how much to give in tax breaks to a Fortune 100 company that is considering building a plant. ) Multiply these folks by 50. Big cities have finance people; every research university has a finance department for both budget, research grants, etc.

You seem to think that your degree is going to get you a job (it won't) or prevent you from getting the job you want (it won't.).

[aikomidori]

guess you guys were right again! (3 for 3 )

I ended up getting interviews from the finance division

[sybbie719]

Congrats!!! I hope that everything pans out for you.

[1stgenemigrant]

Your credentials, at least academically, are perfectly suited for an analyst position for bio-related industries/sectors. You understand life science and you tie it up with your FE knowledge as it relates to the business world, you can be an analyst for mutual fund companies, the big banks, and private investment houses to run their numbers on bio-related sectors. You just have to play up your strenghts and don't get too fixated on being finance-centric. You definitely have a specialized industry that you can focus on. I personally know of a history/economics major who is an analyst for a major financial rating company. Go figure.

[ParentOfIvyHope]

Princeton has the top "Operation Research and Financial Engineering" program at an undergraduate and Phd level.
Which is a very sougth after at Wall Street or any brokerage firm for quantitative jobs. If your college program resemble this

ORFE students acquire the quantitative skills required to solve complex real-world problems. The ORFE education emphasizes the importance of mathematical modelling. Because almost all complex problems include uncertainty, ORFE students learn how to develop mathematical models with uncertainty, how to incorporate real-world data into these models, and how to make optimal decisions that improve performance or manage resources effectively.

then you should be fine for a lots of other jobs in the financial sector too.

[aikomidori]

Thank you Sybbie, I am excited as well

1stgenemigrant - thanks for the advice. Currently, I don't know all that there is to know about the finance industry so I'm hoping that working there for a few years will give me some clue. Actually, if things work out, I might not even end up in the finance industry after graduating...as ellemenope mentioned, I've learned to just go with the flow..

@parentofivyhope - my college program is definitely very similar to that (I think most MFE programs are?), but my degree will definitely not be from Princeton!!