After 10+ years working in Sales and Sales Management, I decided that I wanted a career change. I recently finished my MBA studies at a top 20 school in the US. What I learned from the program was that I love math and finance. Someone gave me two books by Apostol called "Calculus" There were intuitive and fascinating. I wish someone would have given me those books 20 years ago. Anyway, my grade in core finance was the highest in the Business School.The problem is that no one will hire me for finance. At every interview they point out that I come across as a sales person or manager, not a finance person. I have a few options available and need advice on which will be the most helpful in terms of getting my first job in Finance:1- Return to school for a year and get my MSc Finance. I was offered a partial scholarship due to my GRE scores and MBA GPA; I can get the degree for about $20K2- Get a CQF (I am comfortable with Multivariable Calculus and Probability Theory.)3- Forget going back to school and study for a CAIA (easy, study most of the material in my MBA), FRM or CFA,In other words, will having a Msc. Finance, CQF, CAIA, FRM or CFA give me a better chance of landing the first job and if so, which one(s).

QuoteOriginally posted by: curtis5After 10+ years working in Sales and Sales Management, I decided that I wanted a career change. I recently finished my MBA studies at a top 20 school in the US. What I learned from the program was that I love math and finance. Someone gave me two books by Apostol called "Calculus" There were intuitive and fascinating. I wish someone would have given me those books 20 years ago. Anyway, my grade in core finance was the highest in the Business School.The problem is that no one will hire me for finance. At every interview they point out that I come across as a sales person or manager, not a finance person. I have a few options available and need advice on which will be the most helpful in terms of getting my first job in Finance:1- Return to school for a year and get my MSc Finance. I was offered a partial scholarship due to my GRE scores and MBA GPA; I can get the degree for about $20K2- Get a CQF (I am comfortable with Multivariable Calculus and Probability Theory.)3- Forget going back to school and study for a CAIA (easy, study most of the material in my MBA), FRM or CFA,In other words, will having a Msc. Finance, CQF, CAIA, FRM or CFA give me a better chance of landing the first job and if so, which one(s).Do you want to be more specific by what you mean by a job in finance....

I am interested in:1st choice: Investment Analysis2nd choice: Risk Management

Like Escape Arist999 said, it depends on which area in finance specifically you are talking about. Investment analysis and risk management jobs are actually not the hardest to get into after MBA. On the other hand, an MBA will unlikely get you into proprietary trading, quant, etc. But there are definitely certain area of finance where they are interested in MBA grads. One trend in Asia (since I work in Asia) is that international asset management firms are increasely interested in MBA people, especially since there is a lot of business development activities here in Asia. Also these companies hire MBA for analyst positions for their funds, some hedge funds would be interested in MBAs too but not as common (hedge fund recruitments are specific and usually they look at proven record to avoid the risk of taking incompetent fresh people). A lot of MBAs go into investment banking and later on to Private equity/venture capital firm if that is the path you are interested in, some of them go into private equity after a few years in management consulting, which is a common paths for a lot of the graduates. If you have a sales background, it should not be hard to get into investment banking, business development, or sales trading in finance. I do not recommend going back to get MS Finance or CQF just for job reason, it is not going to help you a lot. If you are looking to get into the Asia markets, I can perhaps offer some advises/help.

Thanks for the helpful information!In my region, the Middle East, the most common Analyst jobs are in Hedge funds and Mutual funds. Risk Management jobs require experience and are usually found with Banks and Insurance companies. With this in mind, what do you think about getting FRM or CAIA certification?

FRM is better for risk management. You want to look at CERA for Enterprise Risk Management.