I am an executive recruiter with eight years of experience. I have been writing a blog to help the unemployed and all jobseekers empower themselves and find better careers. I hope it can help you.

brooklynite · 7 months

This might help a bit

holla_for_that_dolla · 7 months

Thanks again for the help!

holla_for_that_dolla · 7 months

Usually, unless that ass can't make themselves employable through education, experience, grooming and strong interview skills.

holla_for_that_dolla · 7 months

Good questions. I think I will also address this in a blog post today.

In short, use your discretion. How well does your connection know this person? Did you ask permission to use the referee's name? If so, you should likely use the name. The weight of a reference is determined by how highly the referee is regarded by the contact.

If your first contact is by email (I'd make phone my first) then I do think a cover letter can be pasted in the email. To include a cover letter in an online application, adding it as a first page to your resume document is appropriate.

holla_for_that_dolla · 7 months

See a previous post where I answered a few questions about MS and PhDs in quants.

In short, it is quite marketable but moreso with an advanced degree. There are a lot of schools with math programs geared towards financial markets if you're looking to go in that direction. If corporate "financial analysis" is where you're looking to go, economics and hopefully some business if you're not at a true Liberal Arts school will help get you there.

holla_for_that_dolla · 7 months

June 2011 CFA Exam Pass Rates Level I: 39% Level II: 43% Level III: 51%

December 2010 CFA Exam Pass Rate Level I: 36%

holla_for_that_dolla · 7 months

Thanks for the suggestion! My mediocre web skills are telling me <title> is for the windowbar - do you think I should also describe it there or are you suggesting some sort of meta description tag thing?

holla_for_that_dolla · 7 months

I don't know specifically but I strongly believe that advanced education in math and science leads to a high paying career.

holla_for_that_dolla · 7 months

http://i.imgur.com/zF8Dt.png

The "disclaimer" contained comp info - broken down in detailed form (too detailed to disclose) from a major bank.

I don't think you're reading enough into the agreement - usually it's a blanket statement like "I authorize investigation in all statements contained here."

holla_for_that_dolla · 7 months

You're basically wrong in your approach and your facts.

Firstly, recruiters want to know your salary so they can represent you to the client an obtain you the best financial offer they can. Remember, we're paid a percentage of your salary so we have interests aligned in getting you the best offer possible.

Second, it seems as though your expectation is that "I'll get paid what the job is paying." This is also untrue. All salary offers are based in part off your compensation history.

Third, all of your information is verifiable. You probably don't even know that you're signing consent on an application for a company to check whatever they deem appropriate as part of pre-employment screening. If a company that employed you previously refuses to verify, you'll be asked to provide a paystub in place of that verification. If you fail to produce the backup, your offer will go away. Check out theworknumber.com - thousands of companies (from Goldman to McD's) use this for work and income verification.

They're not bullshitting and you're being overly difficult when looking for a new job. This is a buyer's market.

holla_for_that_dolla · 7 months

A JD is a "transferrable" degree but the problem is typically the money you spent on it not returning itself in a position other than a biglaw or similar role. Think of anything where negotiating and structuring terms is required and you probably have some skills that would be applicable in a job like that (i.e. ISDA negotiator, front office role at a PE firm, etc.). Uphill battle, however, and you need to do an excellent job of selling yourself.

There's also always politics as a fallback.

holla_for_that_dolla · 7 months

If a lot of it is paid for, then it would be stupid not to take advantage. I'd highly advise you to not drop completely out of the workforce, however. I can tell you the story of a Duke MBA grad who was unemployed for a year post-graduation and ended up working essentially the same job as pre-MBA for similar pay.

holla_for_that_dolla · 7 months

Fixed income is slowing coming back. Structured/project finance is going strong. Language skills will help you in that area as most of the investing is happening in LatAm and AsiaPac. These jobs will be very closely tied (falsely, imo) to the equities market though so we're not out of the woods yet.

holla_for_that_dolla · 7 months

It absolutely matters where your MBA is from. I see so many candidates wasting their time/money on a Fordham or CUNY MBA and they wonder why it's not getting them any additional interest. An MBA is the most diluted and overvalued degree one can obtain. I am completely serious when I say that if it isn't a top 10 school, it's likely not worth your money. You may be able to tie some class experience in and it'll sound good on an interview but it won't make you more likely to be hired and it almost certainly won't increase your earning potential.

holla_for_that_dolla · 7 months

It's a terrible waste of money. It's not well-respected nor will it provide on on a leg up in anything but (and even this is slim) the non-profit/gov't sector.

holla_for_that_dolla · 7 months

Harvard Business School

holla_for_that_dolla · 7 months

Headhunters lie. Company HR reps usually don't have any reason to. Chances are they are legitimately considering other people if they responded to you and want to keep you "warm." Good luck!

holla_for_that_dolla · 7 months

Diving your resume into experience and accomplishments is something that you can only really do when you have accomplishments to laud on your resume. But think about what you may have done that helped to improve anything about the way your company works. You caught an editing error, streamlined the copy-editing process, etc. I'm sure there's something in there you are proud of.

Don't always be so concerned about this aspect of resume/letter writing - not everyone is senior enough to have had this kind of impact so you should focus on the skills you have and simply how they made people's lives easier.

holla_for_that_dolla · 7 months

But then you have to send them back to the border for a TN visa! Once had a guy drive all the way to the border crossing south of Montreal and then have him come ALL the way back down because he forgot some documentation down here in New York...

holla_for_that_dolla · 7 months

An MBA will only return its monetary value to you if it is a top 5 or top 10 program. In reality, a CFA is much harder to attain than an MBA (think: HBS doesn't give grades or GPAs) and in my opinion, the more impressive qualification. Many roles, however, will require the MBA as a pre-req so it's really a paradox. I'd still advise you work on the CFA first but both of these can be done currently.

holla_for_that_dolla · 7 months

Thanks a lot for the feedback. I'm going to keep it black and white (though others have suggested the color) mainly because it's a serious topic and I prefer it to read like a newspaper than some Gizmodo article. Please keep coming back!

holla_for_that_dolla · 7 months

Thanks a lot for the assistance! I will look at my WP dashboard. I'm a novice web-programmer-guy but I am proud to say I did a lot of this by piecing together various stylesheets and making changes where necessary. Any comments on the overall look?

holla_for_that_dolla · 7 months

You are welcome. Right now, there is no "common." I work in a client-driven industry so my hottest openings are dictated by what the people who pay my bills tell me. I can tell you that positions in credit are coming back and hedge and private equity funds are also starting to hire again, particularly at the most senior level.

I was busier before the summer than I am after and that's not good for any of us. 4Q is typically the busiest after 1Q for hiring so we should be seeing more than we are at present. Based on some other feedback I've gotten from clients I think our second dip may have begun in August/Sept. but I certainly hope not. Employment trends are a great leading economic indicator.

holla_for_that_dolla · 7 months

College, high school, anything? Clearly you're doing something wrong here.

holla_for_that_dolla · 7 months

A resume might be a good place to start. You are, after all, a job seeker.

holla_for_that_dolla

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