Most people do not know exactly what they want to do straight out of college, but overtime you start to realize what you are good at and what you are not. Either you are self-aware and know what your skills are or your friends / coworkers start to signal to you what you should be doing in life.
I know a majority of the readers on this site are still early in their careers and do not know what they want to do with their lives. So before we walk through how to get that job you really want, you need to first understand what type of job you should be striving for. Notice how I said should be striving for. Not the job you think you should go after or the job that every one of your friends is seeking, but the job that is right for you and your specific skillset.
First you need to realize how fortunate you are
We are lucky to live at a time in our lives when there are an abundance of job opportunities. The reason millennials these days have a harder time figuring out what they want to do is because there is so much optionality out there relative to decades ago when our parents were in our very same shoes.
Our parents did not have the same problems. If your parents were born middle class or if they were immigrants, they usually did not have much career optionality. They viewed their careers as a means to provide a living for themselves and their family.
Most of us on the other hand were fortunate to be given the opportunity to choose what we want to do rather than be forced into a career path to make a living. So don’t be stressed out or anxious because you are lost and don’t know what path to take going forward. Realize that you are already well ahead of prior generations because you are in a position to be able to make your own decisions.
How do you figure out what job you should be striving for?
You start by identifying what your innate skills are. Answer the following questions about your childhood:
- What did you love to do as a kid?
- What were you good at? What were you not good at?
- What were you curious about?
- What is it about you that cause others to come to you for advice?
Growing up I knew that I was good at math, had extreme patience and a high level of curiosity. I spent countless hours by myself building large Lego sets while my brother would easily get frustrated after a few minutes. I surprisingly did not like writing or reading that much as a kid (which I blame my parents for as I did not realize the value of reading until later on in life).
I noticed that I was good at figuring out how to solve problems independently and was always generally curious about how things work. Once I started working in the real world, my coworkers would confirm my strengths and weaknesses as well.
Ultimately, by figuring out what my skills are and listening to what others said about me, I figured out what career I would most likely succeed in. I was patient, curious, analytical and loved working independently. I was not creative, not much of a salesman or an extrovert in general. I would get bored if I had to do the same thing over and over again, so needed to find a career where I was constantly learning and not doing repetitive tasks over and over again.
I ultimately decided to go into finance and am now working at a distressed hedge fund. Yes, maybe with these qualities I could have been good at being an engineer or a programmer, but I figured finance gave me the most optionality going forward.
Focus on utilizing your skills, not figuring out what your passions are
Now notice how I am not telling you to go after what career you think you would be happiest in or have the most passion for. Most people who are young and have just started their careers have absolutely no idea what they are passionate about. You just have not had enough experience to realize what you like the most!
You need to focus on doing what you are good at doing. Work in jobs that utilize your skills and maximize your strengths. You may not believe this yet, but you will become passionate about whatever you are good at.
So, the key to figuring out what job works best for you is as easy as determining your skillset AND matching that skillset with a career that utilizes that skillset.
For example, let’s say someone has good analytical abilities, is somewhat introverted, and is patient and great at figuring out things independently. Then that person should go after a career in programming, engineering, finance, research, or another similar type of field. They should absolutely not go after a job where they need to be creative or talk to people most of the time (i.e. medicine or sales).
Now I am not saying that you can’t develop other skillsets overtime, but for that initial job out of college, you should really focus on matching your skillset to a career that utilizes that skillset.
Ever firm is different and the person you work for directly has a MAJOR impact on how much you like the job. You may find a job where you absolutely love the work, but you have to work for a horrible boss. In this case, you just switch to another firm in the same industry until you find a place where the people / culture fits what you are looking for. They always say “employees quit managers, not companies,” and this is completely true.
So don’t be scared to quit your job, especially if it is not a right fit for you and if you are starting to experience signs of burnout.
To summarize:
- Figure out your innate skillset
- Major in a field that builds upon that skillset
- Find a career that utilizes that skillset
- Change jobs until you find a place that suites you best
How to get that job you really want
Now that you know the basics on how to find a career and a job that you are happy in, the question becomes how do you go about putting yourself in the best position to obtain that job.
1. Start in college
This probably goes without saying, but you should start planning your career as early as possible. If you are still young and in college, then you are in the perfect position to transition to any career path that best suits your innate skillset.
Focus on getting good grades. You have all the time in the world to study and have fun at the same time. You don’t even realize how much time you have until you graduate and work in the real world. It becomes so much easier to get that initial job out of college with a good GPA. Obtaining that first job is crucial as it helps build momentum so you can achieve bigger things down the road.
One of my top regrets looking back is that I did not double major in computer science in addition to my finance major. Try to double major in two separate skillsets. It becomes much harder to focus on learning something different once you start working all the time.
You should be actively involved as well. Join a variety of clubs / organizations that help build upon the skillsets you already have. These extracurriculars will help explain parts of your story and your interests in interviews down the road.
2. Go after a career that leaves you with the most optionality
Most do not know what exactly they want to do right out of college, so you need to find an initial job that gives you the most optionality going forward.
Try to stay away from niche sectors. Focus on jobs that build upon basic skillsets. If you have an analytical mindset like myself, the go into fields like investment banking, consulting, corporate strategy, computer programing, etc. If you are the opposite type of person, then go into consulting, general marketing, sales, brand development, etc.
3. Start developing other skillsets on the side through personal hobbies
I wish I started working on a side hobby right after college rather than waiting a decade after. While you should focus on being the best amongst your peers at work, you should also try to dedicate 30 minutes or so each day to something completely different.
Don’t even aim for this side hobby to generate extra income. By working on something completely different than what you do at your job, you actually become more energized. Having other hobbies helps prevent burnout and makes you happier overall.
For example, I write on this blog to help others who are struggling early on in their careers (I don’t write here to generate a side income as this blog makes no money). It makes me happier as a person when I know that my sole purpose in life is not just helping my partners at my firm make money investing.
4. Learn how to sell
Despite the stigma, sales is not a bad career path to start out in if you have the innate skillset to succeed. I know of friends who have done extremely well in their sales careers because they were never the type of person to take no for an answer.
Sales is everything if you ever want to start a business on the side. You could have the best product or service in the world, but if you can’t convince someone to make a purchase, then the business will not succeed.
Learning to sell is a vital skillset for other parts of your life as well. For dating, interviews, meeting new people, etc. You will be at a significant disadvantage in these areas of your life if you can’t express your opinions / thoughts well and be a likable person.
It is the number one skillset that young adults do not fully appreciate.
5. Focus 100% of your energy on obtaining that job you want
There is a reason why both Warren Buffett and Bill Gates mentioned that the number one reason for their success is focus. Without focus, you will not be able to gain expertise in anything that you are doing. That is why is it so important to be able to start early and think about what you want to do longer-term. Being focused allows you to put yourself well ahead of your peers.
When choosing a career path, do not try to cast a wide net or have a backup option. This will only distract you from achieving what you really want. Figure out what type of career you want to be in longer-term and focus all your attention on getting a job in that sector.
I remember there were people in college who tried to go after both consulting and banking jobs only to fail because they spread themselves too thin and could not master the material enough or explain their story to do well in interviews. Same applies for bankers who want to go to the buyside – you should not go after private equity, hedge fund and venture capital positions. Figure out exactly what you think you identify with most and focus all your attention on it.
6. Network and talk to others who work in the industry that you want
Talking to others is one of the ways I figured out what I wanted to do. Early on in my career, I was overwhelmed by all the optionality and all the different paths that I could take.
I could have gone to venture capital, various startups, private equity, hedge funds, corporate strategy, etc. I was able to determine what was best for me by connecting with and talking to dozens of people in all those industries to get a sense if it is what I really wanted to do.
7. Always talk about the job that you want to everyone
As long as your firm is okay with you interviewing at other places (usually the case in banking/consulting/private equity programs), they you should make it well known to others exactly what type of role you want to transition to.
I received so many introductions to other people and interviews from my peers or friends of friends because I always talked about what the career I wanted to transition to. You never know who knows who and how helpful colleagues/strangers can be.
My first job on the buyside at a multi-manager hedge fund was from an email that my colleague received and forwarded to me. If he did not know I wanted to transition to a hedge fund, then maybe I would have never broke into the industry to begin with!
8. Find people on LinkedIn and send cold emails
I know this approach can be demotivating because the response rate to cold emails is ~5-10%, but you wouldn’t believe how many interviews I got from this approach.
Create a simple email template with one or two tailored sentences for each person and just ask to see if the firm / group they work for is hiring. Attach your resume as well.
If you have a good background and relevant experience then you are more likely to get a response.
9. Hunt for jobs on LinkedIn and other job posting websites
LinkedIn has become one of the best sources for jobs lately. Always scan for new postings in the jobs that you are interested in and be one of the first to apply.
If you don’t hear anything, send cold emails to people that work at that firm.
10. Upsell your experience on your resume
In your first job out of undergrad, you will likely be doing a ton of menial process related tasks where you don’t really learn anything. However, every now and then you get to work on a project where you learn a ton and build upon certain skillsets.
Even if you did not work on one of these projects directly or had limited exposure, you should still bend the truth and upsell your involvement on your resume and in interviews.
Learn as much as you can about these projects to the point where you become an expert and can talk about it in interviews. All that matters is convincing the interviewer that you learned a ton.
Do HF analysts need a strong grasp of derivatives/ options if they are in a Fundamental group? Or is most of the risk management done by someone else/ the PM? Talking about Multi-Manager funds. Thanks!
No not at all. Would be good to know the basics of options, but PM usually puts on those trades. Usually PMs don’t use options unless there is conviction during a company’s earnings release. Can lose a lot of money with options and given risk limits at the multi-managers, usually not worth it.
Thanks so much! Great to know and looking forward to your next article!
What do you think is the most important skill to learn for an incoming HF analyst at MM platform? VBA, big data, something else?
Depends on what type of investing style you are doing. If you are in a quant role, then obviously programming/statistical analysis is an important skillset. For fundamental investors, it does not matter much. You can pay for services that aggregate big data, so you don’t need to learn any skillsets really aside from traditional investing/finance.
The most important skillset in my opinion is being able to learn from your mistakes and to know how to handle failure. At a MM, you will be wrong 47% of the time if you are good. You only need to be right slightly more often than not to make money at a MM. So you need to know how to deal with being wrong, because for most people they quit when things get tough and no longer are motivated.
Hey,
nice read. I think we have some common skills. I am very curious, analytical and I have good problem solving skills. But I am a bit more a salesman and in some cases impatient. I also get bored if I had to do the same thing over and over again and I am not creative. I have great communication skills and interpersonal skills and i think i have the ability to clearly and concisely articulate complex ideas. I love to talk to people and i like to work both independently and within a team. My former coworkers, teachers and my family and friends have confirmed my strengths and weaknesses.
Is a career in Banking or at a HF right for me? What job in Finance or outside of Finance would suit me?
You should definitely not go into the HF industry if you love talking to people and have great interpersonal skills. The HF role is very introverted. You are basically reading filings all day long and every now and then you get on the phone to talk to management teams and other people in the industry. You need to be extremely patient as well and think through things yourself to be successful.
Your skillset would be great in banking. Once you are a VP and up, your role starts to become more of a salesman role and you start talking to clients more often. If you are able to articulate complex problems clearly, then this comes in handy when talking to management teams about solving financial / strategic problems of their business.
You can also go into sales. Sales has a bad stigma attached to it, but there are definitely people who make a ton of money doing it. If you can sell products well, then there is no ceiling on how much you make and you can create a business out of it as well.
Do you have any advice for someone looking to break into the MM HF industry? I am a senior at a non-target and tried to recruit IB but it looks like all spots are full. What other career paths can lead to a MM HF?
Get into equity research. A ton of MM hire sellside equity research guys. Network with buyside folks while you are there (easy to do since you are constantly talking to people on the buyside who want your research).
Hi, thank you for this great post and for clarifying things up. I appreciate it very much. I am a 27 yr old student at European university. After graduating in math/ finance from university I will be 30 y/o. I want to become a PM. I love research, investing and math. I like getting to dig into companies and understand what makes them tick. I like to understand the competitive dynamics, understand the needs of advertisers, understand user behavior. I like to think about markets in-depth and thinking about catalysts / what move the stock in the ST. I get my inspiration from philosophy, sport methodologies, various scientific studies and the arts. To me macro is very interesting and complex. The ability to understand how the world economies are intertwined, thinking through what instruments will be impacted, and the complexity of keeping it all together is a great. I think active managers are more alive than ever. All these retard quant shops keep pushing prices around based on a simple formula, and it creates opportunities for those who know better. Is a career in HF right for me? Am I too old?
A question arises though what is the next big thing for investment management? What I’m trying to ask is, for an ambitious future investor who wants to manage other people’s money, what investment strategy has the most potential in the next decade, what are the trends? towards passive investing. So, this brings the question – what strategies in the hedge fund world do you see succeeding in the future?
Believe trends are beginning to move back towards active management. After a massive 10 year bull market, greatest opportunities could be in distressed investments. But there are multiple ways to make money in this industry and so the question should not be about what strategy is the most successful, but what strategy you think you will be good at depending on yor skillset. Quant versus fundamental investing is all about what skillset you have.