what job are you headed to next

Hi Jstewar,

Im currently working for Bloomberg in a sales role, and would be very interested in getting into either a Hedge Fund or PE firm but have a few questions as to where that would lead me. If I was to enter a PE firm as an analyst for example what would be the next move? And do you think that would be easy enough to do? Ie getting into a PE firm?
 
shadefx...I've been working for this company for over fourteen years and have been interested in the pension investment group for quite a while. I took a chance and contacted the CIO a few years ago and told him about my interest and asked for his advice. He said that the CFA designation was important and suggested I pursue it even though there weren't any opportunities in his group at the time. Towards the end of last year, a couple of people left the pension group. I think my discussions with the CIO gave me enough pull to get an interview and that's often the best you can hope for...at that point it's up to you to get the job regardless of where you went to school, etc. The day I started this job there was an opening in public markets and one in alternatives. They decided (for whatever reason) to place me in alternatives.

Perhaps because of my engineering background I've kind of ignored networking and thought of it as often nothing more than blatent self-promotion. However, I approached it as asking for advice rather than asking for a job in the beginning and then striking when the opportunity presented itself.

As far as qualifications, I have an MBA with a focus on investments and finance and undergraduate and graduate degrees in engineering. The only specific investment experience I had at the time I started this job was as an independent advisor to a handful of clients.

Dave
 
Hello dave,

Your networking approach is very interligent. I think i have to use that same method for future employment. Am a very shy female immigrant but solid academically (honours in Finance and Economics), i will be gratuating May 07 and plan on taking my CFA Exam in June or Dec 2007. I really love to work in any investment industry but scared i would not get in cause i suck when it comes to networking....

Only if academics were everything....lol...
 
Hi Sugar. I enjoyed the engineering field too where it was usually much more a matter of what you knew than who you knew, personality, etc. However, networking is important to varying degrees in every field. It helped me to have the perspective that I believed I would be a good hire for an organization so I wasn't just asking for something from them but offering them a lot in return.
 
londoner...from what I've seen, it's tough to get into a better known PE firm simply because there's a lot of competition. To my knowledge, if you're able to hire on as an analyst or associate you typically put in a couple of years and are then sent off to b-school. Once b-school is complete you return to the PE firm as a VP. If you're still in college you might seek out an internship to see if a PE firm is where you'd be happy.
 
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