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Sprinter
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Joined: October 21st, 2012, 11:05 am

cqf graduate not finding a job

May 28th, 2014, 5:41 am

hi,I completed cqf in 2012. I am a qualified actuary and a computer engineer. I am jobless for a long time. I have tried contacting recruiters, getting in touch with cqf and actuarial alumni, applying directly to employers. There hasn't been a single interview. I don't know whats wrong with my resume. can recruiters out there reading this post help. I am applying for jobs full time. I sit all day long browsing careers portals and employer websites and apply. Please message me if you can help or would like to have a look at my resume.Thanks.
 
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eh
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Joined: March 2nd, 2010, 9:26 am

cqf graduate not finding a job

May 28th, 2014, 2:09 pm

I know a lot of actuaries. All are doing well. General insurance (reserving and broking) seems to have a healthy job market.
 
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QuantCentral
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cqf graduate not finding a job

May 29th, 2014, 1:23 am

It sounds like you have the right background for jobs related to Variable Annuities Hedging in large insurance firms, such as this role at Manulife: http://manulife.taleo.net/careersection ... B-12380Did you apply for these jobs?
 
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traderjoe1976
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cqf graduate not finding a job

May 29th, 2014, 4:34 am

You are a qualified actuary and a qualified CQF and a qualified Computer Engineer. These are different fields. Do you actually have any experience in any of these fields? What is your location? Of these three fields, the easiest to get a job is in Information Technology. Second would be Actuary. Toughest would be as a quant. Why don't you apply for IT jobs in Banks and then get a few years experience and then try to move into more quantish role.Risk IT area requires people with IT as well as quant skills, so you could fit in there.
 
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Sprinter
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cqf graduate not finding a job

May 29th, 2014, 10:38 am

Thanks for you replies.I looked for jobs in structuring, trading, quant areas but realized without experience of working in a live environment those were hard to get. So I recently started applying for actuarial programmer and quantitative developer roles and as you said risk IT should be fine to get into an institution and then maneuver later into a front office trading floor based role. I have programming experience and should do well at a risk/IT, quant/IT, or an actuarial/IT role but there hasn't been interest in my resume. may be I need a specialist finance IT recruiter to get me through to his/her clients.I have also been browsing lately through strat roles and from what seems from job specs a strat role should suit my profile requiring programming, modeling, risk, understanding positions and exposures, and hedging methods. The requirements are not very specific for these roles - masters/phd, programming skills, understanding of financial products, and a few years of finance industry experience.
 
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Marco72
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cqf graduate not finding a job

May 29th, 2014, 7:21 pm

I understand you did the CQF, but what skills do you actually offer?
 
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ppauper
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cqf graduate not finding a job

May 29th, 2014, 8:14 pm

QuoteOriginally posted by: traderjoe1976What is your location? indeed ?
 
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Sprinter
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cqf graduate not finding a job

May 30th, 2014, 1:46 am

My skills come more from education than experience. I have worked in a software firm, market risk, asset management. I started as a programmer after graduating and am trained as a programmer. programming comes to me instinctively. though cqf has taught me advance concepts in mathematical finance my maths grounding has been during the actuarial exams. I understand quants are phds in mathematics and technical sciences and it will be hard to get into a core quant role. similarly trading jobs require markets book running pnl experience unless there is an associate role with general finance industry experience required. from my experience of applying for jobs jobs requiring specific experience are tough to be interviewed for. So I apply for jobs requiring lesser number of years of experience and I write in my resume I am willing to take a few steps back to get into a right role. I can be a good fit for credit roles with most of the credit modeling based on actuarial methods and cqf covers credit risk and credit derivatives in detail. market risk is interesting if the role involves modeling and quantitative work. but what most market risk analysts do is generating reports, monitoring limit breaches, entering records in systems, issuing warnings to traders, and arguing with traders over limit extension requests and breaches. My skills direct me to a developer role in a quantitative space and may be later maneuver to a role closer to money.I am based in Asia and require a work permit to work at a financial center east or west.
 
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Sprinter
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cqf graduate not finding a job

May 30th, 2014, 6:27 am

I have applied for graduate associate roles, entry level analyst roles, and even support roles such as trader's assistant. There are no interview calls. The usual response from the recruiters is their clients' are not willing to sponsor visa. I am sure if interviewed I can convince the employer of my capabilities - if interviewed i.e. I have tried looking for jobs locally where I am based but the market is not developed and there are no jobs where I can bring to use my skills. There are cash traders and sales people and the related risk, middle office and back office. With only a handful of traders and sales people jobs are hard to get by and any opening created is quickly filled from within the close knit markets community. There are a few actuaries here but they mostly work on traditional insurance side such as reserving and financial reporting if asked they require several years of insurance experience which I don't have. So being a mid career to junior individual I am stuck with not getting a technical job at a financial institution due to lack of specific experience and perhaps overstudying my way into education bypassing experience with having the knowledge and ability to work but not the experience to show.
 
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ashkar
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cqf graduate not finding a job

May 30th, 2014, 9:29 am

Without experience, academic knowledge counts for very very little in finance except at graduate programs. For trading related jobs, its not your intellectual capacity that people doubt, but its more of the behavioural ones such as team fit, training cost etc. They would rather have a fresh grad through the established grad programs.Saying that you are willing to take few steps back in applications is not good. It just comes out as desperate - may work for cheap IT jobs but never so for revenue generating business ones.
 
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katastrofa
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cqf graduate not finding a job

May 30th, 2014, 10:50 am

CQF and no job? Ask for your money back.
 
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Sprinter
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cqf graduate not finding a job

May 30th, 2014, 5:44 pm

hi ashker,behavioral aspects can be assessed by means of psychometric tests and many other modern day examinations. and of course by interviewing. but thats not the case here. my behavioral traits can only be assessed if I proceed to the testing and examination phase. and to your second point there are several middle aged phd graduates who join banks, funds as traders many having their first experience as a trader. there are people moving from risk, product control, back office to the trading floor after several years of experience. So I don't think the only way to get to a trading desk is through a graduate program. team fitting and getting along well with colleagues is a natural aptitude unique to individuals' personalities. there are hardly any who can't fit in unless the problem is with work or with the employee hired on an unrelated role to his skills. from my experience large employers focus more on technical skills and the ability to perform work and personality traits can be observed without specific address. I think the problem here is with the resume not reaching the right hands. for example to the recruiter dealing with clients or to the hiring manager at a firm. the initial screening staff I think are more decisive and look for a match in experience requirement rather than the overall skill set of the candidate.
 
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traderjoe1976
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cqf graduate not finding a job

May 30th, 2014, 6:15 pm

You should keep applying online for the next 3 years. By that time the reality will occur to you. The companies don't want to waste a lot of time and money to train anyone. They want to hire people who already have five years experience doing the same job which they are hiring you to do. You should first get five years of experience in your home country in the area which you want to work in. Then do an MFE from a school like Berkeley or Princeton. After that, the banks will want to hire you. Right now, you are just pushing a lot of useless scraps of paper in the face of the recruiters and asking for a job where you will be trained and get visa sponsorship. It is good to be optimistic, but after 3 years of wasting your time applying for jobs, you will realize that all you have are useless scraps of paper which someone suckered you to pay good money for.
 
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Sprinter
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cqf graduate not finding a job

May 30th, 2014, 6:51 pm

there was discount on the price tag. so no money back guarantee. mfe after cqf? are you doubting the credibility of the cqf curriculum. there are many graduates with unrelated experience who get jobs. so its probably not being based at a financial center and not knowing the right people.
 
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bearish
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cqf graduate not finding a job

May 31st, 2014, 2:33 pm

While you may not like his tone, I think TJ was offering helpful advice. You are in a deep hole and you are still digging. Even if there was nothing wrong with you in 2012, you are now carrying the label of "long term unemployed" which loosely translates into "unemployable". Off the top of my head, I can't say that I have ever met any CQF graduates, and this is certainly not the right forum to pick on its credentials, but I don't think it has quite the same placement power as the major MFE programs. But more to the point, stop being a full time job hunter and start doing something (anything, really) useful!