Graduate with Economics and Finance degree with 2.2

Go spend a year down a mine and then come back here and tell us that "its the hardest job out there, back breaking job"

:edit: Meant no disrespect to anybody who stacks shelves with that comment but to say that "its the hardest job out there, back breaking job" is hugely disrespectful to a huge number of people doing other things.


This is turning into a Monty Python sketch...

Guys listen up...

The hardest work I have ever done in my life time was sitting on my **** looking into an Excel spread sheet and calculating our companies charge back model based on number of employees spread across 50+ sites with about 30+ different products using 4 different categories and calculating precisely how much each branch should pay.

Did I mention currency calculations in there??? :cheesy:

Next time they ask me in an interview what is your best achievement to date - my reply will be 08-09 chargeback model. Honest... :clap::clap::clap:
 
the job description reads graduates as the heading e.g gradaute analyst, stockbroker, assistant etc.

I'm sure there are hundreds of jobs out there that would be suitable that don't have graduate in the title perhaps even more than do have graduate in the title.

Other than being a graduate what else qualifies you to be a graduate analyst, stockbrocker, assistant etc.? Have you got those things on your CV?

What are you doing, or have done, that really makes you stand out from the crowd? Nothing you've said so far has made me stop and think "Hey, this guy has something great to offer".

When you're applying directly to a firm are you calling them to introduce yourself and find out a little bit more about them before you tailor your CV and send it to them?

Showing a bit of interest like that will make a difference - it shows you're keen to learn more about the company and aren't just applying to jobs willy nilly.

This forum is finance related and full of experienced people and well educated people who know the process of landing the dream job. I am simple asking experts for help.

That's probably a bit over optimistic. I'm not a graduate, my qualifications could barely be any less accurate in their representation of me and whilst (if I do say so myself) I'm doing pretty well for myself given the above I'm hardly an expert in "landing the dream job" as I'm not working in mine.
 
This is turning into a Monty Python sketch...

Guys listen up...

The hardest work I have ever done in my life time was sitting on my **** looking into an Excel spread sheet and calculating our companies charge back model based on number of employees spread across 50+ sites with about 30+ different products using 4 different categories and calculating precisely how much each branch should pay.

Did I mention currency calculations in there??? :cheesy:

Next time they ask me in an interview what is your best achievement to date - my reply will be 08-09 chargeback model. Honest... :clap::clap::clap:

That's a different kind of hard work though.

I'm going to exit stage left now as I don't think I can contribute anything more to this thread unless niraj shah posts his CV. There's a lot of good advice in this thread for you mate; I hope you take it on board. Good luck with the job hunt.
 
This thread is hilarious.

2.2 from Queen Mary University of london.
A levels, maths C , economics C
I have no work experience in the financial sector

- totally inadequate for any non-trivial job in the financial sector... CV rejected by HR's secretary.
 
- totally inadequate for any non-trivial job in the financial sector... CV rejected by HR's secretary.
thats want mean i need to cut my losses short and let the profits run.
 
do you think i should do some creative accounting - lie?

No, you will just fail at a later stage of the hiring process.

Also, I doubt that gaining further qualifications will be useful for you - ask yourself "Is any qualification that I'm capable of getting likely to be considered sufficiently prestigious that it will compensate for my previous academic achievements?"

My sincere advice to you would be that you should sign on for the dole, then tell the people in the job centre that you will take _any_ job vaguely related to economics / finance. They should be able to get you interviews, and you should be prepared to accept anything. Once in the job you can hope to progress within that company, or you can apply for better jobs elsewhere after 2 or 3 years. If you have some solid job experience, showing that you are competent and hard working, then that can compensate for your poor qualifications.
 
my qualifications are not that bad, i have gcses, a levels and now degree. i do not want to become superman or anything, but a job with pressure and good future income.

So you are happy paying your taxes and working hard, while i just sit on my **** and claim job seekseekers benefit.

They should just ration jobs - first come first serve.
 
Hi Niraj,

I'm not a prolific contributor to these forums, but you seem like a nice enough chap, so one final contribution to this thread from me.

You wrote earlier that your target is reasonable and achievable, but I think that's where the fundamental problem lies. It's certainly possible, in the same way that winning the lottery is possible, but I think you're fooling yourself if you believe it's a realistic option for you at the moment.

The sort of CVs of peoply you see applying for graduate positions nowadays are frankly incredibly good. They have the sort of CV that I could only have dreamt of having when I was their age. The few who don't have masters degrees all have a 1st or a 2:1 from top universities and frequently 4 A grades at A-levels. But nowadays that's often not enough. Many candidates will already have done an internship somewhere and will have made sure they can get a glowing reference from a director-level person there. Often they have done finance courses, or a thesis on something finance-related and frequently they've won awards for their academic work. Sometimes they will have lectured at university or undertaken special research projects for the departmental professors.

These are the sort of people you're up against for the decent jobs. You tell us you're driven and motivated by the money, but the graduates you're up against are so driven and have such a long term perspective on getting a good job and earning top money that they have not only bothered to work hard at their studies and get a good degree, but they've also done loads of extra-curricular activities which look impressive on their CVs. And they've been doing it since school. These people have a long-term perspective and they work hard to achieve it.

Quite possibly you'd argue that your academic results may not be at all representative of your performance in the workplace, but that really doesn't make any difference. In the workplace you may be the most driven person in the world, but why would a graduate recruiter take the chance when they have loads of other candidates all of whom say they're equally driven and have the CV to prove they really are.

Now, in normal times I still think you'd have a good chance of getting a place somewhere and then having the opportunity to shine and advance. But these aren't normal times. Bearing in mind London is one of the top handful of financial centres, these are the current estimates of global redundancies SO FAR from JUST the big houses:

- Citigroup - 15,000
- Merrill Lynch - 5,600
- UBS - 7,000
- Morgan Stanley - 5,000
- Lehman Brothers - 5,000
- BofA - 3,650
- HSBC: 1,800
- Bear Stearns: 1,550 (with many more to follow)
- Goldman Sachs: 1,500
- Credit Suisse: 1,350
- RBoS / ABN: 200 (with many more to follow)

Adding in the very many smaller firms, that's a huge number of people out there looking for a job - all of whom have got valuable experience on their CVs. So for every one of the 300 jobs you've applied for, think of all the other CVs they've received from people who have done the job before, have proved they can do the job, and probably have a former boss happy to tell you how good they are at it.

Now put yourself in the shoes of the recruitment agent or HR person. You've got a job position you need to fill and you've got loads of CVs from people with good experience who've done the job before. You've also got a CV from some guy with a 2:2 from QMU, a handful of dodgy A levels and a work experience in bathroom sales. Are you really going to give it more than a moment's thought? Are you seriously going to risk your own reputation recommending this person by putting forward his CV to whoever makes the hiring decision when there are so many other good candidates around?

So what would I do in your shoes? Well, actually, I think the best thing to do would be the thing you least want to do - go and do that Masters degree in something finance orientated at a good university, take care to do a dissertation related to the real world, get a paper from it published in an academic journal and make sure you get a distinction. Then nobody will care any more about the 2:2. Also, you get to be studying while the worst of the finance recession passes and by the time you're finished the jobs market might be starting to pick up.

I somehow doubt you'll do that, though, and given how fed up you sound with academia perhaps that's a good thing.

Second alternative would be to go out into the real world - ideally perhaps in a foreign country, so you get some interesting experience of another culture. Then, after a year or two of doing a tedious low paid job, perhaps going back and doing the masters then will be a much more attractive opportunity and it won't seem like such a chore.

One thing I wouldn't do, though, is to put yourself through any of the finance professional qualifications. Most of them are very dry subjects and deadly boring and without the lure of a likely interesting job at the end, I very much doubt you'll stick with them and get through the exams. You certainly don't want a failed attempt or a poor pass on your CV.

One final story before I sign off, to give you a taste of graduate recruitment in the city. It's quite old and you may well have heard it before. No doubt it's apocryphal, but it's got a ring of truth about it.

There were two traders who drew the short straw and were tasked one year with helping out with the graduate recruitment process. One of the first tasks they had to do was to sit down together and wade through some of the hundreds of CVs which had passed the HR department's initial vetting process to work out who they were going to invite in for interview.

The two of them got to the meeting room set up for them by HR, and there on the table was a thick pile of CVs for them to read through. One of the traders went over to the pile, picked up about half of the CVs and threw them straight in the bin.

"What are you doing? You can't do that." said the second trader.

"You wouldn't want to employ someone who was unlucky, would you?" replied the first.
 
my qualifications are not that bad, i have gcses, a levels and now degree.

I think you are wrong here. I went to school with people who got Cs in A level maths, and they were pretty useless at maths. That was ~20 years ago but I don't believe standards have improved since. I also went to University with people who got 2:2s and most were either thick or lazy or both. Unfortunately for you, the people making the hiring decisions in the financial world have similar attitudes to me. You are simply up against too many people who, on paper at least, offer employers a better chance of getting what they want.

So you are happy paying your taxes and working hard, while i just sit on my **** and claim job seekseekers benefit.

I'd want you to set realistic expectations (the people in the job centre will help you with this), go to every job interview they suggest, and try your hardest to get a job as soon as possible. Then I'd be happy.
 
I was told not to apply for Oxbridge as I didn't manage to get 10 A* at GCSE, even though i was predicted 4 A's at A level. It's completely arbitrary - first thing they'll look at is your basic qualifications (GCSEs in this case), if they're not good enough your application gets shredded.

It's the same for decent jobs in finance, they won't even bother looking at your degree (which probably isn't good enough anyway), they'll scrap your CV the moment they see your A levels.
 
Personally i think that doing a professional qualification would add more value rather than doing a maters degree. University education is boring and a waste of time e.g lectures. And I will be studying the same stuff and theory again. And masters is harder than a degree. I do not have the money or the time. I do not mind studying for imc or sii units or even an CFA.
I think I need to start work because i need to start building up work experience and contants in the financial sector.

And I think there are a very few people out there with straight A levels ans 1st degrees. I think a lot of people must be lying. I went to a good school in London and I can say that straight A are rare and only the few geeks and nerds get A's and these guys lack communication skills and would fail in the interview stage.

The financial recession will last two to three years and the worst is still to come. I will be in the same position next year and with a 2.2 in a master or something with no work experience. Therefore I am acting now to change the future before its too late.

I believe when my luck does change, I will be very well off. I am having to suffer now for the future will be bright - it will be orange.

I think and can land a job in this month (august) and i am going to land that mother****ing job no matter what it takes, someone out there is looking for a person like me and all I need to do this find that person, that company that is going to change my life.

WATCH THIS SPACE, BOYS!!!!
 
Niraj, may I say that your views and comments seem to be perfectly balanced, despite what others have said.

It is clear that you have chips on both shoulders.
 
And I think there are a very few people out there with straight A levels ans 1st degrees.

You still believe this after 300 rejections?

A friend of mine got his job as an analyst at an IB because he got talking about skiing with his interviewer - a shared passion - this is the ONLY thing that separated him from the competition (incidentally he got 3 A's at A Level and a 1st in Economics from a good uni).
 
I think that there are very few people out there with straight A levels ans 1st degrees

Niraj,

To put things in perspective- of my close friends who I went to university (Warwick) with, almost all had atleast AAB and some with 5A's at A-Level. One guy that was rejected from cambridge with 5As at A-level. And of those, the 4 or 5 guys I know going into to work in the 'dream jobs' in the city graduated with firsts in physics, economics or maths. Their CVs list amongst other things, expeditions around the antarctic, volunteer work in africa and playing sport at international level.

My CV isn't quite so impressive (although still reasonable) and I have taken the route suggested to you by others on this forum, and that is to get a job that will allow you to gain experience of the industry and transition into that dream job in future. I've been working in IT for an asset management firm, and from experience if you show the desire to learn and move up from that role it will get noticed and you will get your chance.

My advice, take any related job you can, work hard, ask alot of questions and show a desire to learn. Don't just expect somebody to offer you a great job before you've done something to prove yourself. Good luck!
 
Would have to agree with most of what's said.

I work in the investment banking industry and mediocre grades at best is not going to get you an interview. There is a credit crunch on - so hiring is at a minimum (if at all) and HR is going to take the creme of the crop.

However I still think there must be some fundamental problems with your CV to get so many rejections, because grades aren't everything and a good CV with poor grades is more likely to attract my attention than a first class honours with an unreadable CV.

Listen to the advice here. You seem to be looking to blame everything and everyone but yourself.

BTW I got a Desmond (2:2) and have had no problems finding work in the banks. However I started outside banking and moved in once I had good experience and references behind me.
 
Personally i think that doing a professional qualification would add more value rather than doing a maters degree. University education is boring and a waste of time e.g lectures. And I will be studying the same stuff and theory again. And masters is harder than a degree. I do not have the money or the time. I do not mind studying for imc or sii units or even an CFA.
I think I need to start work because i need to start building up work experience and contants in the financial sector.

And I think there are a very few people out there with straight A levels ans 1st degrees. I think a lot of people must be lying. I went to a good school in London and I can say that straight A are rare and only the few geeks and nerds get A's and these guys lack communication skills and would fail in the interview stage.

The financial recession will last two to three years and the worst is still to come. I will be in the same position next year and with a 2.2 in a master or something with no work experience. Therefore I am acting now to change the future before its too late.

I believe when my luck does change, I will be very well off. I am having to suffer now for the future will be bright - it will be orange.

I think and can land a job in this month (august) and i am going to land that mother****ing job no matter what it takes, someone out there is looking for a person like me and all I need to do this find that person, that company that is going to change my life.

WATCH THIS SPACE, BOYS!!!!

I think that there are very few people out there with straight A levels ans 1st degrees

IMHO you have an inflated view of your self and very much a deflated view of other people...
 
All you guys seem to say that the world is made for the poeple who get As and 1st. The poeple i come in contact, which is a lot of poeple have avarage grades. Say BBA levels and 2.1 degrees. Yes I did got CCB and I missed Bs by 1 or 2 % and the same with my degree. All i want is a job i am not after IB or anything, just a suitable job in the financial sector. Once I have work experience and a few professional qualifications l am moving out of this country and work for IB or hedge funds in saudi arabia, dubai or someother country.

By the way by CV has been done up professionally where i had to pay money. So its not my CV, its the grades and the work expereince. I don't understand how i can have work experience when you sacrifice work for education or take a year out. I have not put in any extra cirrumcular stuff, its got nothing to do with doing a job. Yes I use to run for my school and i use to be the fastest person running 100m. What has that got to do with doing a task, unless i am applying to be a runner. I am well traveled - again nothing to do with doing a job or task.

And my main piont i am trying to say this when money, yes money is involved the playing field becomes even, meaning people like me would be a right good compettion for these straights As and 1st. When you are studing there is no financial gain or loss only the grades you get. if money was involved when things might have been different. Believe me.

I am applying for every reasonable places for an average person. At the end of the day you are asking to become someones slave and get bossed around for low pay. these companies just want labour.

These jobs are not dream jobs working for IB boring. I wanted to sign up for the RAF and become a fighter pliot, imagine the speed and g forces your body goes through.

Two poeple from my uni have got into ib they are few of whom got As and 1st.

I believe anyone can do any job they have to be determined and persistant. Survival of the fittest.
 
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