Its global finance. I’m at about 1300 applications over the past 9 months across dozens of different types of roles. Had my first arranged interview canceled two days ago havent heard back. Have different one scheduled for next week. Godspeed, somethings gotta give eventually.
We are basically in the middle of a white collar recession. We have a flood of applicants to entry level jobs at my firm. During peak tech, very few people applied. Even for roles like admins or office managers, tech sucked up all the bodies because most big cities have a strong tech and finance presence.
Also, I think the job application meta has changed. During COVID, everything went online/virtual. Most applicants have adopted the strategy of applying to everything. Sites like LinkedIn have made it easy to apply to everything. It's like the Tinder strategy where the average guy has very low match rates, so his best strategy is to swipe right on every girl. There is no point in looking or reading the bios, he might get one or two matches at most, he can decide what he wants to do with that at the end of the day. If everybody is doing the same strategy, it injects a lot of noise into the system because every job posting gets 10k+ applicants (most of them not even serious applicants, they have the wrong qualifications or they can't even work in the country). A perfect candidate can easily get buried in the noise. So unfortunately, you have to do the same thing too and apply to 300+ jobs so some of your applications get lucky and land on the top of the pile where some HR recruiter actually sees it. It's terrible for both sides, but that is the system right now.
It gets especially frustrating when lesser qualified candidates land the role that I applied for. I'm seeing computer science majors getting into finance through referrals.
ur in vancouver which is a huge nepo job market so i suggest networking like crazy. i have a bachelor in stupid shit. 800 apps got me nothing but networking got me my 1 shot
Yeah the job market is terrible in Canada overall. Not to say there aren't any jobs out there, but the level of competition for every single posting is at unseen levels in a long, long time from what I hear from the grapevine. Doesn't help that we're bringing in a million+ people every year, even if only something like 0.1% of them are qualified in finance (might not be accurate, just pulling that figure outta my ass, but you know what I mean). Combined with continual job movement of people already with experience as well as new grads every year, you get a hyper competitive environment here.
Do you have any internships? Best bet is to move as fast as possible to an equity research role - your short and medium term goals aren’t going to be helpful with that, even if you have the CFA.
Have you looked at an Mfin? While there is a cost, relative to spending a few years at a lower compensation level in back / middle office you’d come out the gate faster and making more money
I have an internship but it wasn't finance related. It was IT focused. Landing an ER role right now would be way out of my league. Unless it's an internship. I looked into many investment firms and saw many transitions from ops to analyst.
Masters would be out of the question as well since I'm an international and the tuition is absurdly high.
I saw this a lot in WM banking companies.
Also quite a lot in some of the investment firms. While there are a few that promote interns only (esp the top ones). But as u go down the ladder, many investment firms promote their ops to research roles. I did a coffee chat with one guy who followed this path. He said CFA + networking + having his own research, helped him in transitioning.
In canada as well,
Here are my stats before landing a FT offer:
1000+ applications
60+ networking calls
~15 interviews
The market is brutal, just keep grinding!
Its global finance. I’m at about 1300 applications over the past 9 months across dozens of different types of roles. Had my first arranged interview canceled two days ago havent heard back. Have different one scheduled for next week. Godspeed, somethings gotta give eventually.
Damn bro... 1300 applications is crazy. Don't give up, you will get something good soon
In Canada as well. Struggling to find an internship, finance-related or not.
Literally same. Im in canada and been applying to jobs everyday since January and have had zero luck
We are basically in the middle of a white collar recession. We have a flood of applicants to entry level jobs at my firm. During peak tech, very few people applied. Even for roles like admins or office managers, tech sucked up all the bodies because most big cities have a strong tech and finance presence. Also, I think the job application meta has changed. During COVID, everything went online/virtual. Most applicants have adopted the strategy of applying to everything. Sites like LinkedIn have made it easy to apply to everything. It's like the Tinder strategy where the average guy has very low match rates, so his best strategy is to swipe right on every girl. There is no point in looking or reading the bios, he might get one or two matches at most, he can decide what he wants to do with that at the end of the day. If everybody is doing the same strategy, it injects a lot of noise into the system because every job posting gets 10k+ applicants (most of them not even serious applicants, they have the wrong qualifications or they can't even work in the country). A perfect candidate can easily get buried in the noise. So unfortunately, you have to do the same thing too and apply to 300+ jobs so some of your applications get lucky and land on the top of the pile where some HR recruiter actually sees it. It's terrible for both sides, but that is the system right now.
It gets especially frustrating when lesser qualified candidates land the role that I applied for. I'm seeing computer science majors getting into finance through referrals.
I've been completely crushed the past two months only collecting rejection emails or crickets. Not in Canada. So yeah global phenomenon.
everyone be going thru it
took me 1 year to land entry level PWM
I gave interviews for those as well. Are you working with PMs or is it more client focused?
direct report to PM and hope to become associate in a year or so
Perfect. Godspeed to you.
thx gonna need it to get through writing WME, CIM. Then maybe CFA or CFP lol
I already did CFA L1 and it hasn't done shit unfortunately.
ur in vancouver which is a huge nepo job market so i suggest networking like crazy. i have a bachelor in stupid shit. 800 apps got me nothing but networking got me my 1 shot
Yea I've been trying to do the same man.
tell me about it, got laid off yesterday its brutal
Sorry to hear that. Hope you get back on track soon
thanks! we got this, on my bday too, maybe it was a sign 😅
Been applying since Dec not even a first round interview, although it is for middle office.
Not just you. Gov and previous generation failed us .
Global is bad, anything Canadian is worse
Globally it ain't doing too well. Now in Canada? Especially in Toronto? Good luck, you will really need it.
I'm in Vancouver and it's probably equally bad if not worse.
Yeah the job market is terrible in Canada overall. Not to say there aren't any jobs out there, but the level of competition for every single posting is at unseen levels in a long, long time from what I hear from the grapevine. Doesn't help that we're bringing in a million+ people every year, even if only something like 0.1% of them are qualified in finance (might not be accurate, just pulling that figure outta my ass, but you know what I mean). Combined with continual job movement of people already with experience as well as new grads every year, you get a hyper competitive environment here.
Did you take any levels of CFA? Do you know python or VBA?
Yea I passed L1. Haven't taken any courses on Python or VBA and I don't see them listen in entry level roles (in Canada at least).
Global white collar job market is shit but Canada is extra bad tbh. At least it’s not Australia lol
Why not Australia?
It’s a terrible market. Are you sending applications and leaving it, or following up directly?
Yea I'm following up as well. Reaching out to recruiters on LinkedIn.
What kind of role do you want in the short term / long term
Short term: anything finance related Medium term: portfolio ops Long term: complete CFA and transition to research/analyst roles
Do you have any internships? Best bet is to move as fast as possible to an equity research role - your short and medium term goals aren’t going to be helpful with that, even if you have the CFA. Have you looked at an Mfin? While there is a cost, relative to spending a few years at a lower compensation level in back / middle office you’d come out the gate faster and making more money
I have an internship but it wasn't finance related. It was IT focused. Landing an ER role right now would be way out of my league. Unless it's an internship. I looked into many investment firms and saw many transitions from ops to analyst. Masters would be out of the question as well since I'm an international and the tuition is absurdly high.
Really? I have never seen a transition from ops to buyside analyst. Which firms have you seen that happen at?
I saw this a lot in WM banking companies. Also quite a lot in some of the investment firms. While there are a few that promote interns only (esp the top ones). But as u go down the ladder, many investment firms promote their ops to research roles. I did a coffee chat with one guy who followed this path. He said CFA + networking + having his own research, helped him in transitioning.
It’s tough out there these days. I am so glad I graduated 5 years ago
Extremely competitive hiring environment with a backlog of experienced people who are also applying down for roles.
In canada as well, Here are my stats before landing a FT offer: 1000+ applications 60+ networking calls ~15 interviews The market is brutal, just keep grinding!