"I have a Masters, a CFA Charter, an FRM and a CAIA. I can't get a banking job"

17 March 2025

3 minute read

"I have a Masters, a CFA Charter, an FRM and a CAIA. I can't get a banking job"

I am looking for advice. This is not my real name, but everything else here is accurate. I am in my late 30s and am highly employable, but I cannot get a job in banking and financial services.

I have a degree in financial mathematics. I have a Masters in Finance from a European school. I have passed the CFA Charter, but have let my CFA membership lapse because I can't afford the fees. I have passed the CAIA. And I have passed the financial risk managers qualification (FRM).

I am qualified to my eyeballs, but I can't find a job, and I am therefore currently supported by the state.

At this stage, I am open to almost anything. I have made hundreds of applications and I seem to have stopped receiving responses. A few years ago I was getting interviews, now I get nothing at all.

The problem seems to be that I am out of the market. I've had various quant jobs both on the buyside and the sellside, and a few years ago I relocated for a job that seemed perfect. When I arrived, though, it became apparent that the CEO at the small fund I was working for was a nightmare. I felt threatened and left within a few months of arriving. I've been locked out of the market since.

I won't switch jobs so suddenly again, but at the moment it seems that I won't be able to get a new job anyway. I'm keeping my skills fresh by conducting mathematical research of my own, and I'm staying positive, but it's not easy when no one will even respond to my applications. It seems a shame: I am highly qualified, and I know that I can do these jobs.

I have a lot to offer. I am taking this as a lesson in life, but if anyone can give me any advice I would be very appreciative! Thank you.

Photo by Jonathan Farber on Unsplash

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AUTHORMathieu Houdin CPA Australia

cv
cv08
18 March 2025
There are always people willing to help, for their own reasons certainly, but that doesn't take away the intention. You can always benefit from whatever they have to offer
take your time as much as you can afford it,
talk to people on linkedin (perhaps you've done that already but keep doing it)
go attend professional meetings/events & networking in your specific sector (quant, technical analysis etc.) and I mean in person
in terms of your own research - if you know how to publish with journals, do it, so that your time can be tracked and shown as track record instead of aimlessly 'doing' undocumented 'mathematical reaseach'. Research articles get cited, are peer reviewed by technical experts (for the most part..) and can be shown as proof you have been active, especially if the journals are reputable. There are open calls so you don't need to pay for your publication - look for those. As an example you've created a ML model in python that predicts x,y,z etc. Academic writing is a hustle and takes skill and time but it can pay off, especially in computational econ/machine learning etc and certainly keeps you fresh
You'll be OK
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an
anonymous00
18 March 2025
Those jobs are very competitive. 200 people apply for one job. A lot of people similar to you cannot get those jobs. People don't need a reason to not give you a job.
If you're that good in maths, you should know how likely you will get at least one job offer when the probability to get one offer is lambda and you've applied for N jobs. Take lambda to be about 0.1-0.01 (depending on how big your ego is) and pick a N accordingly to get a P>0.95. Act according to the N.
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Su
Sultan
18 March 2025
companies dont care about your qualifications, they are not education institutions.. they care about how much money you can make for them.... in return they give you salary ..its that simple
1 reply
On
OnLooker
18 March 2025
Qualified quants are being replaced by algorithms as you know. Apart from finance / banking, what other industries could benefit from your skills? Insurance, actuarial work, industrial analytics ... I'd recommend a pivot.
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Yo
Your friend
18 March 2025
Sir, my advice is to come to India. There are a large number of quant jobs available. Do a job here in India for 2 years, then apply for jobs in your country. By that time, you will have gained valuable market knowledge.
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