Options for a recent FE master's grad who can't find a job?

[ExoticArb]

I'm going to be graduating soon with a master's in financial engineering, but I still haven't been able to find a job. So far I've applied to 108 jobs (in risk, AI, research, data science, portfolio analysis, etc.) and have cold emailed about 50 funds.

Right off the bat, I'll admit that I need to network more, though I'm trying not to rely solely on that since I got 2 responses out of 72 emails sent (so it's slower moving than I'd like it to be) and I will also admit I didn't take advantage of the career office since everyone I spoke to told me they were extremely unhelpful. I can admit those mistakes, though I still need to move forward and find something.

I haven't even gotten an interview, so I'm wondering if people could recommend any easier positions to break into that wouldn't hinder me from landing a quant role in the future. In case it's helpful I included some extra info about me below but I can always provide more.

Info:
-Graduating from a top 10 with a master's in Financial Engineering (GPA: 3.4433)
-Graduated from my undergrad with majors in Applied Math and Quant Econ plus a minor in Astrophysics (GPA: 3.72)
-3.5 years of experience in Real Estate Finance
-3 months of machine learning research experience
-3 month internship at a startup working on improving their Python code.

Thank you very much!

TL;DR: Graduating with a master's in financial engineering but can't even get an interview. Are there any easier positions to break into that wouldn't hinder me from getting a quant role in the future?

 

[MikeLawrence]

Which program?
To not get any interviews is really weird, if it's a top ten. You can't even be failing all the technicals, since I doubt every position you applied to gave technicals.

Reach out to your schools career office, explain the situation, and ask them for help. That is the easiest thing you can do to improve your chances. I don't care what their reputation is, they are still better than you continuing alone.

Otherwise, keep pegging away. Good luck.

 

[ExoticArb]

Which program?
To not get any interviews is really weird, if it's a top ten. You can't even be failing all the technicals, since I doubt every position you applied to gave technicals.

Reach out to your schools career office, explain the situation, and ask them for help. That is the easiest thing you can do to improve your chances. I don't care what their reputation is, they are still better than you continuing alone.

Otherwise, keep pegging away. Good luck.

It's Columbia MFE, and you're correct that I'm not failing technicals because I haven't even gotten any yet haha.

You're definitely right and I'm going to contact them (hopefully it isn't too late with graduation right around the corner). Thank you!

 

[jarryds]

Sorry to hear you aren't having much luck at the moment. For the record, this is a horrible job market to be starting off in. Quant Finance is as competitive as ever and a lot of the sell side employers have been tightening their belt over the last few years. Sell side is responsible for a good number of QF hires and since they have cut some return offers and picked up less new grads, the rest of the openings have gotten pretty crowded.

I will also point out that this is a pretty difficult time of year to get hired in general. Companies will get a fresh budget starting Q1 next year and those who are looking to hire will start marketing openings.

It may sound crazy but 100ish applications is not that many. It is very common in QF to spend a few months post graduation for the right role. Start networking a bunch and apply to the fresh set of jobs that open up over the next month. It is a little early to be looking into other avenues.

 

[ExoticArb]

Sorry to hear you aren't having much luck at the moment. For the record, this is a horrible job market to be starting off in. Quant Finance is as competitive as ever and a lot of the sell side employers have been tightening their belt over the last few years. Sell side is responsible for a good number of QF hires and since they have cut some return offers and picked up less new grads, the rest of the openings have gotten pretty crowded.

I will also point out that this is a pretty difficult time of year to get hired in general. Companies will get a fresh budget starting Q1 next year and those who are looking to hire will start marketing openings.

It may sound crazy but 100ish applications is not that many. It is very common in QF to spend a few months post graduation for the right role. Start networking a bunch and apply to the fresh set of jobs that open up over the next month. It is a little early to be looking into other avenues.

That's actually encouraging to hear, thank you very much. I do plan on continuing to network and continuing to push but it definitely gets discouraging to get nothing back. If I can ask as well then, would an equity research position that uses Python help as something to pursue in the meantime or would something like that pigeonhole me out of the industry before I even get started?

 

[jarryds]

That's actually encouraging to hear, thank you very much. I do plan on continuing to network and continuing to push but it definitely gets discouraging to get nothing back. If I can ask as well then, would an equity research position that uses Python help as something to pursue in the meantime or would something like that pigeonhole me out of the industry before I even get started?

I wouldn't be too concerned about pigeonholing yourself at the very beginning of your career. Having a barely related job is much better than having a completely unrelated job (or no job at all). But again, this sounds like it is still early on in your job hunt - don't settle for something you aren't going to be interested in.

How relevant that position is heavily depends on the details, but generally speaking, Equity Research is cemented in fundamentals. There won't be great overlap between that and other super quanty areas (tbf this is true for most jobs in finance). I imagine most of the programming will be pretty surface level (maybe some front end models to handle CORAX and generate some of the generic equity basket optimization signals).

Sounds like you need to figure out what you want to get into. I know it's easy at your stage to just take whatever you can get, but accepting an offer won't help if it is going to put you back on the street in 3 months. Network your way around to figure out what area of QF interests you (who you want to work for and what you want to do).

 

[ExoticArb]

I wouldn't be too concerned about pigeonholing yourself at the very beginning of your career. Having a barely related job is much better than having a completely unrelated job (or no job at all). But again, this sounds like it is still early on in your job hunt - don't settle for something you aren't going to be interested in.

How relevant that position is heavily depends on the details, but generally speaking, Equity Research is cemented in fundamentals. There won't be great overlap between that and other super quanty areas (tbf this is true for most jobs in finance). I imagine most of the programming will be pretty surface level (maybe some front end models to handle CORAX and generate some of the generic equity basket optimization signals).

Sounds like you need to figure out what you want to get into. I know it's easy at your stage to just take whatever you can get, but accepting an offer won't help if it is going to put you back on the street in 3 months. Network your way around to figure out what area of QF interests you (who you want to work for and what you want to do).

I appreciate that, thank you. I applied because the description mentioned more programming than I would usually see in an equity research role but I'm not sure if it's something that they would only be using from time to time or an actual quant-heavy position.

I know there are a ton of roles out there, but I'd love to get into some kind of quant research position. The exact market isn't important though because the research process is more important and fun to me than what exactly it's looking at. While that's what I'm looking for I've just been applying to everything because I haven't gotten any responses so I figure anything is better than nothing and that I can hopefully transition once I get some kind of quantitative role under my belt.

 

[jarryds]

I appreciate that, thank you. I applied because the description mentioned more programming than I would usually see in an equity research role but I'm not sure if it's something that they would only be using from time to time or an actual quant-heavy position.

I know there are a ton of roles out there, but I'd love to get into some kind of quant research position. The exact market isn't important though because the research process is more important and fun to me than what exactly it's looking at. While that's what I'm looking for I've just been applying to everything because I haven't gotten any responses so I figure anything is better than nothing and that I can hopefully transition once I get some kind of quantitative role under my belt.

So I highlighted the "who you work for" part because that has a heavy influence in the type of work you will be doing. A quant is a quant, but a sell side QR role will look much different than a buy side QR position. Each market participant makes money different ways and will custom fit their roles around it. Networking with people from various corners of finance/QF will give you a better idea of not only the capacity you want to work in, but also who you want to work for.

Anyways - I definitely understand how fine the line between "finding something" and "finding something I actually like" is. Best of luck!

 

[ExoticArb]

So I highlighted the "who you work for" part because that has a heavy influence in the type of work you will be doing. A quant is a quant, but a sell side QR role will look much different than a buy side QR position. Each market participant makes money different ways and will custom fit their roles around it. Networking with people from various corners of finance/QF will give you a better idea of not only the capacity you want to work in, but also who you want to work for.

Anyways - I definitely understand how fine the line between "finding something" and "finding something I actually like" is. Best of luck!

That makes a lot of sense, thank you again!