What is the biggest detriment to my finance now is the fact that I am still on the job-hunt. Why is this a detriment?
I want to find an entry-level job in the finance field. Entry-level for a number of reasons, the main ones being lack of any formal education (except for one accounting class) and lack of any experience. I do possess analytical skills from my previous position as well as my research while in college. I self-study on my own. I can tell you what P/E is, the difference between growth and value stocks, the difference between mutual funds and ETFs, and calculate any number of statistics with any number of statistical packages. I know how to create financial statements, type about 75wpm, and create smashing slideshow presentations.
However, the biggest barrier that I have to overcome is that fact that in order to gain experience, you need to have experience. Strangely, even for entry-level positions, they desire experience.
Let me give you an example:
I know someone who applied to a position listed as a entry-level human resources assistant position. This person has a Bachelors Degree from a good university in Psychology and previous intern experience as a human resources assistant. This was all listed on the resume. She was called in for a interview and after waiting for 2 weeks on tenterhooks, she received an e-mail stating that she did not possess enough experience for this postion.
Now, let me ask you: if this person did not have the experience, why would she have been called in to interview in the first place? And if this was an entry-level position, why would she need so much experience in the first place? And lastly, that was an awfully long time to wait when they could have just sent an e-mail the next day stating the same thing.
How do you gain experience? You get a job. But, who will hire you if you don’t have experience? Therein lies the Catch-22.
And the job search goes on.
