Minnesota Center for Financial and Actuarial Mathematics
MCFAM
Career Development Services
Laurie Derechin, Executive Director MCFAM
8-30-2011
MCFAM Career Advancement Services
• Career path development process begins your first year
 Workshops/Events
 Individual career coaching meetings
• If want individual support you must participate in
MCFAM’s Career Workshops
 You cannot receive individual career coaching if you do not participate
 Check Website for Career Workshops this year
http://www.math.umn.edu/mcfam/career-workshops/
• To sign up for individual career coaching sessions
 Email Laurie to set up appointment – lderechi@umn.edu
 It usually takes two weeks to get an appointment
This Morning’s Agenda
• Career Development Planning
 First Step: Assessment exercises
 Who are you? personality, skills, values
 What did you learn about your career interests from this?
• Steps/Resources MCFAM Career Development Services
• 2011 and Beyond Career Landscape
 Variety Job Types – think broadly about your quant skills
 US Opportunities
 Global Opportunities
 Many resources to help you get there……
Career Development Planning: Assessment
• For successful career/job search, know your:
 Core Personality Characteristics
 Core Skills
 Core Values
•Once you know more about yourself easier to:
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Define career path(what type of job/what type of company)
Target prospective employers
Write your resume/cover letters
Prepare for job interviews
• John Holland PhD; Theory of Career Choice
“Discover who you are, what your skills & values are, find a career
that fits you”
Career Development Planning: Assessment
• Holland Personality Types
 R - Realistic: mechanical know-how, stamina to work
outdoors, likes working with things and tools
 I - Investigative: explores ideas and analyzes; inquisitive,
precise, abstract thinker; likes working with data and ideas
 A - Artistic: skill in music, art and/or communications;
values aesthetic qualities and relates to world through their
medium (music, architecture)
Career Development Planning: Assessment
• Holland Personality Types (continued)
S - Social: enjoys helping others and the community;
sensitive to others’ needs; cheerful, scholarly and verbal
E - Enterprising: likes to persuade and influence others
in areas of business or politics; self confident, social;
skilled at leadership and public speaking
C - Conventional: likes an organized and detailed workplace;
skilled in finance, mathematics; likes working with data; views self as
practical and organized
Career Development Planning:
4 Assessment Exercises
Take 30 minutes to complete the following assessments
Be honest with yourself – but don’t overthink it!
• Core Personality Characteristics
• Core Skills Inventory
• Core Values Assessment
• Understanding your Career Interests
Career Development Assessment
Putting it all Together
Developing your Holland Code
• At bottom of form:
 Mark down first letter of occupational theme that best describes your personality
(R=Realistic, I=Investigative, etc.)
 Mark down first letter of second highest theme
 Mark down first letter of third highest theme
 String them together to get your Holland Code:
For example, if your interests rank in the order of 1) Artistic, 2)
Investigative, and 3) Social, your Holland code would be AIS.
Career Development Planning:
Group Exercise/Next Steps
• Get to you know your Classmates
 Split into 8 groups and compare your notes
 Did you find out anything surprising?
 Does it give you any clues about what you want to do in your career?
 Keep this worksheet; bring it to your first career coaching meeting
with Laurie
• Next Steps
 Briefly jot down your top 7 peak accomplishments (work,
school, personal). Bring with you to first meeting with Laurie
Main Steps
MCFAM Career Development Program
2011-12 MCFAM Career Workshops:
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Skills/strengths assessment
Resume and career fair preparation – month of September
http://www.math.umn.edu/mcfam/career-workshops/
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Interviewing basics
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Critical networking techniques to land a job
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Networking and referral techniques for informational interviews
2011-2012 Individualized Career Coaching – With your coach:
• Discover in more depth career areas that are a fit for you
• Perfect and delve deeper into workshop techniques
• Get Mock interview practice and in-action support on networking/referrals
Consider many job types within Financial Sector:
 Banks – Quantitative risk analyst, credit analyst, analytics manager, model
validation analyst
 Insurance Companies – Asset liabilities management (ALM), hedging,
investment actuaries
 Investment Banks – Investment analyst, research analyst
 Wealth and Capital Management Firms – Investment, market and
research analysts
 Consulting Firms
 Trading Firms – Commodities trading, foreign exchange trading, equity
derivatives etc., research and risk and market analysts
 Financial /Treasury Groups/Supply Chain - Fortune 500s
Financial analysts, data mining and predictive modeling analysts
Your Career Path: Think Global
Global Opportunities
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Not only US market
 China, Singapore, London, Dubai, Brazil Very Hot Emerging Markets
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If you are at the entry level, great place to start your career
Hedge and Equity funds
Investment Banks
Trading
Risk Management
Financial Modeling and Quantitative Roles
• Recent Article in the Economist:
 Ever more jobs in finance are migrating to growth markets, particularly in Asia
Apr 14th 2011 | HONG KONG AND NEW YORK | from the print edition
http://www.economist.com/node/18560501?story_id=18560501
Variety of Resources/Experiences
MCFAM Career Development
Many Ways to Get Exposure, Experience, Support:
• Workshops on Career Development
• On-going Career Coaching Meetings
• Friday MFM Seminar (watch schedule)
• U of MN CSE Career Center
• Professional & Student Association participation (PRMIA, FMA, IAFE)
• Projects, volunteer, part time work, internships
• Career Fairs/preparation – See MCFAM Events
http://www.math.umn.edu/mcfam/events/
We Have Just Begun to Explore the Career Landscape
• Email Laurie lderechi@umn.edu to set up career coaching session(s)
starting 10/1/11 to begin setting up meetings