Career advice please!

[mp200053]

hi, i am currently at the university of Reading studying land management, investment and finance in property and have just finished the 1st year. i am very much interested in the investment side of the course and would like to work in finance in the future, possibly property fund management. i have a few questions:

1) i read in another post that they did a Certificate in Securities and Financial Derivatives with the Securities and Investment Institute. would you recommend me doing this?what benefits does it have? do people at uni do these certificates or mostly graduates trying to get work?

2) should i be doing any background reading on topics such as mutual funds, stocks and shares bonds etc? i currently read up on financial news on the bbc website and FT.

ALSO PLEASE CAN U RECOMMEND ME TO ANY BEGGINNERS BOOKS RELEVENT TO ME?

thanks for you help!write back please!

 

[mp200053]

i also just read a post on the IMC. would u recommend me doing this as i want to get into fund management? or is it too early to do as i have only just finished my first year at uni?
thanks!

 

[Victor90]

As i understand most of these certificates do not require a uni. degree and i do not think any uni has it on their shedule. I think it would increase your chances, but it still depends on many other things. You can at least try to take it, the only harm it could do is that you learn alot of things about the market.

 

[Victor90]

ALSO PLEASE CAN U RECOMMEND ME TO ANY BEGGINNERS BOOKS RELEVENT TO ME?

Im not sure if you mean about funds, the market or what.

For the market i would start with:

Amazon.com: The 10 Essentials of Forex Trading: Jared Martinez: Books

And then i would learn about Technical Analysis:

Amazon.com: Technical Analysis: The Complete Resource for Financial Market Technicians: Charles D. Kirkpatrick, Julie R. Dahlquist: Books

And if its fund management you intrested in i would recomend SII own student book for the certification in fund management:

An Introduction to Fund Management

 

[mp200053]

thanks for the reply! so to clarify, would u recommend me to do the imc or sii as i want to get into fund management? and also is it worth while to me to do it at this stage of my student learning (just finished first yr of uni)?
also, any advice on how to get into property fund management any other advice will be much appreciated! thanks!

 

[mp200053]

any more advice pleeease!

 

[Kingwizz]

I warn you, from advise others have given me. Jobs "In the City" (i,e the big money funds etc.) are probably the most competitive jobs in the world. Whilst Reading is a good Uni, realistically these employers are going to be looking for you to have straight A's at A-level, Healthy Work Experience, and a top 10 Uni (The higher the better). The days of getting a coffee job at a fund & working your way up are gone. It is too competitive. Not saying you have left it too late, because where there is a will, there is a way. If you do want to go into a property fund (i,e an investment one) then you need to start working you t!ts of now. That's the truth.

Realistically (To have a good chance of getting an interview), you'll need a 1st from Reading, & probably a Masters etc. You'll need work experience (Bearing in mind this is extremely hard due to the fact most funds only give 6 places a year). Also for one of the big funds (i,e big bonus etc.), a good extra-curricular life, i,e travelled a lot, been around & got experience in other sectors, sports etc.

I apologize if I have lost track entirely & not answered your Question,



I hate to sound demoralising, but this is the truth. I'm also trying to get a job in the city (More towards Hedge-Fund) & I've been working my B0ll0Ck$ off.

 

[mp200053]

thanks for the reply kingwizz. hav u recently just graduated then? hav u done any qualifications such as the imc or sii? which are the ones i shud be doing and should i do them now or after uni? also, you said i should be workin my t!ts off now, what should i be doing? obviously it's too late to get an internship now, i will start applying in september.
any advice will be much appriciated!
write back please! thanks

 

[Kingwizz]

No problems. When I say working, basically this involves getting the best possible results from Uni & finding any work experience you can. In terms of the imc & sii, I would recommend that you persue these after you have done a degree & possibly a masters. This is because you maybe able to be sponsored through them by a firm & also it means that if they are not what you are looking for you haven't wasted your time. I am not overly familiar with property side of fund management & so cannot really give advice on what you should be taking etc. I am lucky in the sense that I have family with experience in the sectors relevant & hence have been guided in the right direction & had contact with people who can recommend me. I am in the summer before uni & am doing work experience with a fund manager (Very lucky, 6 places from 100s of applicants) & have done work experience with an execution broker aiming for a maths degree with a masters in financial or quantitive mathematics. For more information I am sure there is a careers advice department at reading. One other route which helped me is to visit a specialist website such as Finance Jobs UK: Investment Banking Jobs, IT Jobs in Finance & Accounting Recruitment in UK , then search the appropriate job category. Then they will have the requirments for the position & so you can get an idea of what you should be aiming for. Sorry if this did not fully answer your question.

 

[Hedonism]

Being a University of Reading (icma) graduate too (currently doing my MSc in london now) I believe if you have had a solid secondary school and get a good degree (2.1 and above) you should be fine in entering the finance sector with what you are studying. Try to choose finance & investment electives (and mathematical) in your second and third year. Also join the Finance & Investment Society at the ICMA Centre and get involved the annual portfolio management competition (speak to someone- when I was there they were open to other departments if you spoke to the right people)!

For qualifications do a bit more research- you may find that you want to wait till the last year of uni to do the CFA and you also get exempt from some FSA exams if you have a degree in a related field so you can wait till then. I wouldnt rush into these advanced qualifications at the moment.

Keeping updated on your financial news is always important (although I admit when I was at uni myself I would get lazy and forget to do so for extended periods but it happens). The best way is if you have the funds start your own investment portfolio or open a trading account (I had and still have both). This will give you something to play with and seeing as it's your money you a likely to read up on whats going on and do more research.
If you want to know which texts to read,simply google a known institution and they usually have recommnded texts at most levels which you can borrow from the library and read (start with an introductory corporate finance book though before delving into complex things like options or hedge funds)

Hope this helps.

M



Make sure you start applying for internships this september (earlier the better) and liase with the students in the ICMA Centre (they get a lot of career support) or you could even arrange to speak with one of the staff there.

Qualification wise