MBA trying to get in the securities industry

Hello,

I have decided to become an analyst in the securities industry. To work toward that goal, I have registered for the CFA Level 1 Examination for June, 2006. In the meantime, I am searching for a career in the securities industry in a NON-SALES capacity. Here is a brief rundown of my experience:

MBA graduate with International Business concentration
5 years credit and financial analysis experience in the mortgage industry
BA with Business major
I have no professional experience or licenses in the securities industry.

Any suggesstions of company names/ types of companies I should contact?

Any specific positions you think I would have a chance in getting? I have applied for entry-level trader and treasury analyst positions with a local utility company and insurance company (among others), to no avail.

So far, the only thing I could get is a Compliance Clerk position making $20k/year.

Pretty humbling for a 32-year old MBA graduate whose first job out of undergraduate school paid $20k/ year in 1996. My new employer is willing to pay for and sponser me for my Series 6, 7, 63 and 24 licenses. The company is VERY small and I am concerned about the advancement opportunities it will provide even if I get these licenses.

Does anyone have a suggestion on how better to enter the industry in a position that offers a higher salary?

Or am I relegated to the equivalent of flipping burgers in the security industry?

Your help is appreciated. Thank you.

20kMBA said:

Hello,

I have decided to become an analyst in the securities industry. To work toward that goal, I have registered for the CFA Level 1 Examination for June, 2006. In the meantime, I am searching for a career in the securities industry in a NON-SALES capacity. Here is a brief rundown of my experience:

MBA graduate with International Business concentration
5 years credit and financial analysis experience in the mortgage industry
BA with Business major
I have no professional experience or licenses in the securities industry.

Any suggesstions of company names/ types of companies I should contact?

Any specific positions you think I would have a chance in getting? I have applied for entry-level trader and treasury analyst positions with a local utility company and insurance company (among others), to no avail.

So far, the only thing I could get is a Compliance Clerk position making $20k/year.

Pretty humbling for a 32-year old MBA graduate whose first job out of undergraduate school paid $20k/ year in 1996. My new employer is willing to pay for and sponser me for my Series 6, 7, 63 and 24 licenses. The company is VERY small and I am concerned about the advancement opportunities it will provide even if I get these licenses.

Does anyone have a suggestion on how better to enter the industry in a position that offers a higher salary?

Or am I relegated to the equivalent of flipping burgers in the security industry?

Your help is appreciated. Thank you.

Click to expand...

I assume you've applied at all the major I-banks and the three major bond rating agencies.

You should look at hedge funds buying mortgage backed securities. It sounds like you are pretty confused about what you want to do. You say "Securities industry", but that could be one of several thousand job descriptions. None of the licensures you list (Except CFA) are going to be much help, and a few of them hinder by suggesting you are looking to be a stock-broker.

You shouldn't expect the MBA to be much help unless it is from a top school.

grasmicc said:

I assume you've applied at all the major I-banks and the three major bond rating agencies.

You should look at hedge funds buying mortgage backed securities. It sounds like you are pretty confused about what you want to do. You say "Securities industry", but that could be one of several thousand job descriptions. None of the licensures you list (Except CFA) are going to be much help, and a few of them hinder by suggesting you are looking to be a stock-broker.

You shouldn't expect the MBA to be much help unless it is from a top school.

Click to expand...

Well, see, you just mentioned several thing which illustrate my ignorance:

1) What ARE the major I-banks? Hell, I don't even know for sure what an I-Bank is. An investment bank? If so, I don't have the slightest idea what they do!
2) What ARE the three major bond rating companies? I assume Morningstar and Standard & Poor's are two. What about Moody's?
3) What's a hedge fund? Other than a mortgage, what is a mortgage-backed security?
4) I have no experience dealing with securities, commodities, bonds, annuities or any other financial instrument, other than mortgages in the capacity of a salesman (i.e., no exeperience in mortgage-backed securities, either).
4) I am NOT aspiring to become a stockbroker. Sales destroyed my life once; I will NEVER allow that to happen again.
5) The only thing I can even remotely identify as a starting point for my career exploration is the stockbroker industry, because I have absolutely no idea what opportunities are available. All I know is that they are out there, I just don't know what they are or where they are, or what it takes to get them.

My MBA is from a tier-4-ranked school, at best. I worked my ass off to get it, too. I am coming to the realization that it was a waste of my time and money. And based on the fact I don't even know for sure who the main I-banks or bond rating agencies are, or what a hedge fund or mortgage backed security is further exposes the worthlessness of my MBA. Wow. You can't believe how frustrating THAT is.

My employer did mention he will pay for and sponsor any SEC licensing I want, though. Will that make me more marketable? What if I remain a Compliance Clerk and earn Series 6, 7, 24, 65, 66 licenses and any others I can get? Will I be more marketable then? In all I counted at least 20 licenses issued by the SEC. Will getting all of them make me more marketable? Or would that pigeon-hole me into a stockbroker position?

Can anyone please recommend any books, articles, or publications which can help me better understand what opportunities are available in the world of investment-, security-, or monetary-instruments? Beacuse I have no idea how to identify what opportunities are available.

Does anyone know of contact information for headhunters who specialize in placement in the aforementioned industries? Even if they can't help me find a career, the personalized feedback would certainly be helpful.

Thanks!

You don't say how long you've been looking, but sometimes, especially when changing careers, you have to take a few steps back before you can move forward again.

Mister Darcy said:

You don't say how long you've been looking, but sometimes, especially when changing careers, you have to take a few steps back before you can move forward again.

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I have been looking for about a month. Unfortunately, I have to agree that one must make certain sacrifices when changing careers.

In any event, could I please get feedback on who the top I-banks are and any publications or websites I can research that will give me better insight as to what opportunites are available in the securities/investment/annuities/mortgage-backed securities/whatever-the-hell-else-related industries?

Thank you very much for your feedback!

Top investment banks -

Lehman Bros, Goldman, UBS, Merryl Lynch, Morgan Stanley, Banc of America, Bear Stearns, Nomura (they are a couple others, but it's hard to remember them all off top of head).

Top US Credit Rating agencies -

Fitch, S&P, Moodys.

Good website to research this stuff - Vault.com.

For the record, I completely disagree with the other poster. There are very few industry's where "starting at the bottom and moving up" actually works. In most industry's, you need to "Start at the top, stay at the top."

In truth, if you were really interested in doing this stuff, you needed to go to a top undergrad (not an Ivy necessarily, but close), do an internship at one of the places listed above, then after graduation spend a couple years as an analyst at one of the companies listed above. THEN you go to top-20 business school and get an MBA, and directly out of business school you move into an associate position with one of the companies listed above. You can replace the time with the major banks for time at a hedge fund if you want.

This is an extraordinarily competitive industry and requires a very solid educational background. There are very few people who do anything other than the traditional path.

To give you an idea why it is competitive - my first job out of undergrad was at a hedge fund. My base salary was 46K and my target bonus was 1.5 times that (total target comp. = $115K, first year - I dicked around a lot and my actual bonus was much smaller, but that's another story). There were 4 other people on the investment team. They all had base salaries around 100K. Their bonuses the year that I left were - 150K, 750K, 1.5 Mil, and $7.5 Mil. None of them were over the age of 35. The guy who ran the fund (owner) made over $60 Mil the year that I left. I mention this not to brag (I never came anywhere close to their comp., and I was essentially driven out of the job because I wasn't able to keep up), but to show you that there are a LOT of people who are going to be interested in going into this industry, and to help you intuit how competitive it is.

Vault.com will have more answers for you.

Thanks!

Well, I guess it's back to square one. Your insight is appreciated.
BTW, how many hours did you work in a week? Did you work reasonable hours like 40-50, or crazy hours like 60+?

grasmicc said:

Top investment banks -

Lehman Bros, Goldman, UBS, Merryl Lynch, Morgan Stanley, Banc of America, Bear Stearns, Nomura (they are a couple others, but it's hard to remember them all off top of head).

Top US Credit Rating agencies -

Fitch, S&P, Moodys.

Good website to research this stuff - Vault.com.

For the record, I completely disagree with the other poster. There are very few industry's where "starting at the bottom and moving up" actually works. In most industry's, you need to "Start at the top, stay at the top."

In truth, if you were really interested in doing this stuff, you needed to go to a top undergrad (not an Ivy necessarily, but close), do an internship at one of the places listed above, then after graduation spend a couple years as an analyst at one of the companies listed above. THEN you go to top-20 business school and get an MBA, and directly out of business school you move into an associate position with one of the companies listed above. You can replace the time with the major banks for time at a hedge fund if you want.

This is an extraordinarily competitive industry and requires a very solid educational background. There are very few people who do anything other than the traditional path.

To give you an idea why it is competitive - my first job out of undergrad was at a hedge fund. My base salary was 46K and my target bonus was 1.5 times that (total target comp. = $115K, first year - I dicked around a lot and my actual bonus was much smaller, but that's another story). There were 4 other people on the investment team. They all had base salaries around 100K. Their bonuses the year that I left were - 150K, 750K, 1.5 Mil, and $7.5 Mil. None of them were over the age of 35. The guy who ran the fund (owner) made over $60 Mil the year that I left. I mention this not to brag (I never came anywhere close to their comp., and I was essentially driven out of the job because I wasn't able to keep up), but to show you that there are a LOT of people who are going to be interested in going into this industry, and to help you intuit how competitive it is.

Vault.com will have more answers for you.

Click to expand...

I worked from 6:30 AM to 7:00 PM, with liberal breaks. I think that adds up to around 55 hrs/week. That being said, I was essentially fired because I was working too few hours.

The other individuals I worked with worked between 60 and 70 per week, which I understand to be normal.

Update!

Well, I quit my job. My employer was insane who told me in the exit interview that he wished he was able to have played enough head games with me to the point that my will to leave would be destroyed.

The guy thought flourescent lights gave out subliminal messages. Oh yeah, and the day he hired me, he said that a secret society of Jew bankers run the world. I should've not even have taken the job.

The weird thing is the guy is loaded, yet he's a waste of skin, IMO.

How is the job market in Chicago? I'm going there to look for a job once I take my CFA and (hopefully) pass.

I'm thinking Bank One, the CBOE and other such institutions should offer significant opportunity. Thoughts?