It’s a shame that you can work hard all your life and have it taken away like this. Senseless and horrible

I work downtown now but this used to be my daily commute and I’m sure many users in this sub currently have it. It’s scary how it could have been anyone. RIP

so my friend is an unemployed ex Megafund PE associate (think Carlyle, KKR, BX) and he worked at GS, PJT, MS type place before and is a graduate of Harvard. He got pushed out, very very sharp, but refuses to go down market and is instead holding out for the right gig to preserve career equity. dumb?

I’m a new analyst and sitting in mid office, but my manager says I’ll be taking on most if not all of the responsibilities from the VP that is leaving the team. I’m being paid 70k, which is consistent with everyone in my cohort. Is it fair to ask for more compensation given that I will essentially be taking on the direct responsibilities from the VP?

Feel like all their LinkedIn and instagram posts for the past 5 years have been smut generated with AI……

TL;DR: 2 years in Big 4 technical accounting (debt/equity financings, restructurings). Hate it, low pay for the hours, no bonus, no real path to Manager without a CPA I don’t want. Spent 9 months applying and networking hard for banking/credit roles — private credit, direct lending, rating agencies, regional bank credit programs, ABL, structured finance, internal lateral, specialized recruiters, all levels from Analyst to Associate. Multiple final rounds, zero offers. Feeling pretty hopeless and want honest advice on what I’m missing.

Background: I'm a Senior Associate at a Big 4 firm in a technical accounting group focused on derivative instruments, advising companies on the accounting/reporting side of debt and equity financings, restructurings, refinancings, and instruments like convertible debt, warrants, and rate swaps. Real transaction exposure, but from the reporting side, not the deal-execution or credit-decision side.

I never wanted to be in accounting. I wanted banking out of undergrad, couldn’t land it, and took this role as a fallback. Two years in: comp is low relative to the hours, no bonus either year, and there’s no promotion path to Manager without a CPA I have zero interest in getting. I’ll likely get pushed out before that decision even comes up. I can’t do another 2-3 years of this.

What I’ve tried over the last 9 months (listing this so people don’t suggest things I’ve already exhausted):

**•** Commercial/corporate banking — wide net across analyst, credit analyst, associate, underwriting, RM, and portfolio monitoring roles  
**•** Private credit / direct lending shops  
**•** Credit rating agencies  
**•** Regional bank credit/development programs  
**•** ABL and structured finance groups specifically  
**•** Internal lateral to a due diligence group — dead end  
**•** Applying a level down (Analyst, not just Associate) — no different  
**•** Specialized recruiters, including ones who reached out to me directly  
**•** Warm referrals — one got me to a final round in corporate banking, no offer; another got me to a 4th round with a senior partner at a different firm, no offer

Genuinely asking, not venting for the sake of it: is technical accounting just a real disqualifier for banking/credit roles that no framing fixes? Is there a lane I haven’t tried? Did anyone here make a similar jump, and what actually worked — was it a different target market, a different seniority level, going back for an MBA, something else entirely?

Also weighing whether a fully debt-funded (not top 10, don’t think I’d be competitive) MBA is a smart move here or just an expensive way to delay the same problem for a few more years without knowing if it’ll land any differently with admissions committees than it has with recruiters.

Not fishing for sympathy — I’m just at the point after 9 months of consistent effort where I don’t know what lever is left to pull, and it’s genuinely worn me down. Any honest input, even if it’s “this pivot isn’t realistic, rethink the target,” would be appreciated.

Hi everyone, I am 22 and in London (UK) and have been applying to finance roles since a while now.

I would really appreciate any advice there is for me to at least get to the interviews :(

I have been sending multiple applications and have been tailoring my CV over and over just for it to be rejected.

It's getting to the point where I am losing confidence in my own skills. I can pitch myself well to a real person but I really do not know what lacks on the paper which automatically gets rejected...

Please help, thank you so much

For context, I'm an incoming Math+CS (JMC) student at Imperial College London.

My guess is that they autosend this mail to linkedin profiles with certain keywords (1st year/incoming students, oxbridge/imperial, math/cs/finance)

I had also signed up for opening notifications so it may be cuz of that too but I already got the mail for it hours before this one

Did anyone else get this? And is this a good sign?

How should I go by applying for this? Do i mention this email in the additional info section?

For context, I'm currently a freshman at my state school which is a non-target but has a decent business school. A couple upperclassmen I've seen have had internships their sophomore summer like S&T at BB and IB at a very good BB. Do they just recruit freshman year and move their grad date up a year to not automatically get screened out and apply to roles made for a year ahead? Or is there something else? How is this possible since most of things I've seen are for the junior summer recruiting timeline.

I'm wrapping up an engineering technology diploma in Calgary and heading into a business degree. Finance and accounting are both on the table and I'd rather hear it from people in the seat than from a program brochure.

1. What does a normal week actually look like early on? How much is building models, how much is pulling and cleaning data, how much is meetings?

2. How much of the work is forecasting and taking a view on where things go? I'm strong at organizing and documenting and much weaker at calling which direction something moves, so I'm trying to figure out whether that's a dealbreaker or something you learn.

3. What kind of person does well in finance, and what kind washes out?

4. For anyone who considered accounting and picked finance (or went the other way) — what made the call for you?

5. What do hours actually look like in a normal week, and how bad do the busy stretches get?

6. Once you're in, how competitive does it feel internally — is it collaborative, or are you measured against the people beside you?

7. What's the realistic way in? Should I be aiming for internships starting second year, or is there something else that matters more?

If you got any advice I would love to hear it please let me know!

I’m 24 and I’ve been at my current job for about two and a half years — it’s actually been a great experience overall. I have been doing fund accounting. I have a great team, solid pay, and a hybrid schedule that gives me flexibility. The problem is, it’s just not the career path I ultimately want to be on, altho it’s not necessarily a bad path. I keep going back and forth wondering if I’m being dramatic about wanting to leave a good, comfortable situation.

I recently got a new offer at a firm that’s fully in-office, five days a week — a step down in terms of flexibility — but it’s more portfolio management and will include underwriting/deal
exposure and the type of work I want to build a career in long-term.

Would really appreciate some outside perspective — has anyone else faced this kind of “good job, wrong direction” dilemma? How did you decide whether it was worth the tradeoff? Am I just being dramatic? lol

Finance undoubtedly comes with long hours, and as someone who is active and not currently working, I wonder if people can actually manage to go to the gym and get sleep while working long hours that come with it.

Hey all,

I received an offer for a Treasury Compliance Analyst I position. The starting pay is $25 an hour/$52k a year. The position is in Pittsburgh, PA. I declared my major late in college, so unfortunately I did not get any finance internship experience, just a quick summer internship that was basically marketing analytics.

Does this seem like a fair starting salary for an entry level position? I tried to get some more data from Gemini and it was saying it was on the lower end of the range.

Also would it be beneficial for me to try to negotiate for a higher pay? With my lack of experience and my job search lasting about 6 months with barely any interviews or good offers, I certainly don’t want my offer rescinded because of money.

So I’m around 6 months out of school and have settled into my job. However, I’m underpaid and underutilized at a company that doesn’t really understand or value the worth of internal finance people outside of accounting. Consequently, I’m hoping once I have hit the 1 year mark to find something more engaging and better paying.

I have been told the best route to this is intensive networking but I have no idea what I’m doing. I went to a strong regional school so I’ve already tapped that but I suspect I’ll need more.

Does anyone have any feedback or advice on how I should go about this?

hi all! i have an incoming technical interview (fixed income and markets) with pimco for an account associate role. grateful if there are any pointers or advice from the community! thank you so much!

Hello does anyone know timeline for blackstone summer internships I just applied for their internal audit practice with big four experience. Looking for anything that helps get more details on the process. Thank you!

Hi,

Im in my fourth year of studies at a british medical school graduating in 2029, and applying for spring weeks this year.

As part of my curriculum I intercalate in another degree in my fourth year and was therefore wondering whether I should put my start date as 2023 (original start date) or 2026 (intercalated degree start date) as I’m not sure if the 2023 might disqualify me.

If anyone could advise I would appreciate it alot!

hey folks
neuro phd currently doing a postdoc in nyc and targeting biotech ER associate roles, particularly science-heavy teams that hire phds without prior sell-side or consulting experience.

my background is primarily research, with additional startup operating and early-stage private investing experience. sie cleared and working towards series 63 (working towards x y z wouldn't matter for the resume but personally been investing in biotech and pretty used to w conference calls, reading 10q/10k, financial statements and such). learning modeling/valuation slowly in free time. still primary strength is science, clinical trials and regulatory. in general, appreciate biotech as a business (some shenanigans aside)

I am trying to strike right balance between showing scientific depth and making resume relevant to biotech equity research

would really appreciate feedback on:

-whether the research section is too much or too little technical or appropriately differentiated for biotech ER

-whether the venture/investment section reads credibly and adds value

-whether anything important is missing for a phd-to-er candidate

-overall one-page formatting, hierarchy, and what you would cut or emphasize

if you were screening this for a biotech ER associate role, what would make you hesitate?

Hi all, I'm about to go into my final year at university and start applying for graduate roles, so I'd really appreciate some feedback on my CV. I know I don't have any spring weeks or internships, so I've spent this summer doing projects that demonstrate more technical skills. I'd be grateful for any feedback on the content, format or overall competitiveness of the CV, and anything you think I could improve. Thank you for taking the time to have a look, I really appreciate it.

+ recently pointed out in a comment, I am in fact graduating in 2027 as I recently transferred to the shorter course. This has now been changed on the CV

Hello!

I am a qualified chartered accountant who has been working in different types of industry (automotive, clothing, F&B and appliances) mostly within FP&A - around 8 years experience.

Recently I’ve been thinking of working for a fintech company and what that will look like even if I need to start at a much more junior role.

Has anyone made this change before and does the work look any much different?

Thanks!

Hi all, I am wondering if I am getting good experience or not.
I am a FPA analyst at a mid sized private equity backed company( high growth) doing manufacturing finance.
Started full time a few months ago and I have become the point person for all capex. Of course my manager still helps me but we have a goal that I will become the sole person by late 2026.
Other than that I am building financial models from scratch to make focus factories, basically treating every building as its own. I have been making models to track overhead, headcount, rev by lines, etc and will later be making P&Ls, balance sheets and make reporting packs for each. I will present to senior leadership on a monthly basis for these.

I also help out with costing, learning how we produce price points and learn our whole process from the ground up.

I now “own” multiple models for monthly reporting and populate them on a monthly and weekly basis.

My boss has also told me I will be a big part of the budget process as we will start this very soon.

Still early in my job and wondering if I am getting good experience as it is or should be asking for more.

TC: 82k in LCOL

Anything helps!

This is probably off the beaten path for this subreddit but just want to solicit your thoughts. Trying to keep this as generic as possible to protect identities. Basically what the title says. We both work in finance in NYC. She is in hf rate sales at a major Wall St. bank. This week she and a client are working out together at some lifting class. I want to support her and her career in sales but I feel like this is an affront to our relationship. For context we are both attractive young folks with a lot going for us. This trader is at a prominent HF and like 30 with a family but I can’t help but feel uncomfortable about the whole thing. Am I overreacting?

I'm 21 living is Australia, and I feel bloody stuck. Three days a week I work as a casual admin and broker support person at a business brokerage, and the role is set up to eventually move me into becoming a broker there. I study full time, majoring in finance with an HR component. Alongside that I run a small business converting old analogue tape to digital, which has grown steadily over the last year. I also pick up casual bar shifts at a resort on a rotating roster.

A SaaS startup recently reached out about a customer success and implementation role. One of the founders is a close friend of mine, and he put my name forward with the other founders. The role was originally meant to be full time. They've since agreed to consider three days a week for me. Pay is around $40 an hour, with bonuses tied to targets and the likelihood of performance shares later on. The company is growing fast, and my friend thinks getting in now, before things really take off, would pay off long term.

My hesitation is mostly about the brokerage. The general manager and director have put a lot of time into developing me there. I'm learning a lot, and there's a real path toward becoming a broker in the business myself, eventually moving to a subcontractor arrangement instead of a wage. I feel like I owe them something after what they've invested in me. I also genuinely enjoy the work itself.

Taking the SaaS role properly would mean reworking my schedule quite a bit. Days at the brokerage would probably drop from three to two, and I'd let the resort shifts go entirely. Slowing down the tape business for a while would likely be part of it too, at least until I settled into anything new. On top of full time study, I'm worried about how much time would actually be left for my girlfriend, my family, my friends, and any chance to travel.

I need to give an answer by the end of this week. If I commit to three days at the SaaS company, I go into a final interview against one other candidate who sounds like a solid fit for the role too.

Keen to hear from anyone who's been through something similar, weighing an early stage opportunity against a role that's already invested time and trust in you. Any thoughts or questions are welcome.

Hello, I am an incoming junior and am looking for a financial analyst summer internship. I am looking for advice for on my resume and where I should be looking for internships. All advice is appreciated!

*I didn't include my gpa because I am at a new university and my previous one was considerably low