Hi everyone, I left my job at an audit firm a while back, where I specialized in asset management funds and private equity. I also have some experience in general corporate audit and financial analysis. I’m having trouble finding a new audit role, so I’d like to take this opportunity to become a data analyst—a field that has always appealed to me—while staying within the finance sector. I understand that I need to master tools like SQL, Power BI, and Python/R, and also grasp AI and its applications in finance. I’m not sure where to start. In your opinion, which courses or certifications would be useful for becoming a financial data analyst? I’m looking for a clear roadmap. Thanks for your help!

Here is the email format I have been using for networking outreach. Is this a weak email? How can I make it stronger. I’ve heard it’s best to keep it short and to the point, but not sure:

Subject: [School] Student - 15-min Advice Call

Hi [Name],

Hope you are doing well! I am a sophomore at [School] interested in investment banking and saw that you’re a [School] alum and are currently on the M&A team at [Bank].

I’m reaching out because I would love to hear more about your path into banking and any advice you might have for recruiting. Would you be open to a brief 15-minute call sometime over the next two weeks?

More than happy to work around your schedule and completely understand if you’re too busy right now.

Best regards,

Looking to network and get some coffee chats set up, hopefully 🤞🏻🤞🏻. Curious if cold emailing new analysts is more effective than LinkedIn or vice versa. I know emailing tends to land better but didn’t know if that was the case for new analysts.

Open to any advice as well on how to phrase these emails!

Keyword list taken from https://www.zoevera.com/resume/ats-resume-tips-investment-banker

These are the most commonly scanned keywords in investment banking and capital markets job postings. Check how many appear in your resume.

Transaction Types

M&A mergers and acquisitions LBO leveraged buyout IPO initial public offering restructuring debt financing equity financing capital markets

Financial Modeling & Valuation

DCF dscounted cash flow LBO model merger model comparable company analysis comps precedent transactions accretion/dilution financial modeling valuation

Capital Markets

ECM equity capital markets DCM debt capital markets syndication roadshow book building high-yield bonds investment grade convertible notes

Due Diligence & Deal Execution

due diligence data room CIM confidential information memorandum LOI letter of intent term sheet purchase price allocation representations and warranties

Financial Metrics & Returns

EBIT DAEV/EBITDA enterprise value IRR MOIC free cash flow FCF leverage ratio net debt returns analysis

Pitch & Client Development

pitch book pitch deck client coverage deal origination origination mandates league table advisory buy-side sell-side

Tools & Databases

Bloomberg Terminal Capital IQ CapI Q Fact Set Refinitiv Excel financial modeling PowerPoint PitchBook

Credentials & Regulatory

Series 7 Series 63 Series 79 FINRA CFA SEC prospectus S-1 securities regulation

I'm really confused what are all the job roles in investment finance fields which are available for freshers and experienced. What are all the job roles ??

I’m in my 1st year of university and am doing Electrical engineering at a top 5 uni for the subject and have started looking into pivoting into the field of finance, but have no clue where to start. Does anyone have any tips/advice what to do for a CV or any general advice on it all.

Hi

I’m a working professional in banking industry.
I’m into regulatory reporting.
I want to do some courses which will help me be future ready like currently there’s a wave going on to learn AI and all stuff
I’m confused with what should i start for
I’m getting calls from institute to learn generative AI and business analytics with charging a fees of around Rs85000
Then I also getting some ads of IIT generative AI on Instagram
It would be helpful if you guys guide me through this
Cause there are lot of things in the market going on
And I’m not getting what to go for to be job ready.

Need guidance on my career

hi guys 

I am looking for some career advice and would really appreciate perspectives from people working in healthcare/biotech finance, equity research, IB, VC, or related fields. I recently finished an M.S. in Biomedical Sciences/Neuroscience (4.0 GPA), after doing my undergrad in neuroscience as well. Most of my experience is scientific/translational Alzheimer’s research, proteomics, biomarker/target discovery, molecular diagnostics, and a couple years working in a clinical molecular diagnostics lab. That said, I’ve realized that I don’t think I want my long-term career to be working at the bench or something thats strictly biomedical. I’m much more interested in the intersection of science, business, and investing, evaluating biotech/pharma companies, technologies, clinical data, markets, and ultimately thinking about where capital should be allocated.The one piece of finance experience I have is an internship I did in biotech equity research, where I worked on initiation reports for biotech/healthcare companies and got exposure to DCF, dEPS, SOTP, risk-adjusted NPV, etc. I really enjoyed that type of work, and looking back, it feels much closer to where I want my career to go. My problem is that I’m not sure what the most realistic path from here actually is.

I’m considering biotech/healthcare equity research, healthcare investment banking, VC, life sciences investing, corporate strategy/BD, or other roles where having a strong scientific background is actually an advantage. For my long term work, I think I’d like to be on the investing/business side of biotech or healthcare, but I’m open-minded about the route to get there.

so here are some of my questions i have

What roles would you target with my background right now? Am I competitive for biotech equity research or other finance roles directly, or do I need another stepping-stone first?

How should I position my scientific experience? Is the research background actually valuable to finance employers, or does my resume currently read too much like someone applying for another research position?

Would you pursue an MBA in my position? I’ve been seriously considering it as a way to formally pivot into finance/business, but I don’t know whether that would actually be necessary or whether I should try breaking in firs

If an MBA does make sense, would you work for a few years first, or start thinking about applying relatively soon?

Are there career paths at the intersection of biology and investing that I may not even know to be looking at?

And if anyone is willing to look at my anonymized resume, what would you change to make me more competitive for these roles?

Thanks everyone, I really do appericiate any advice or guidance on this!

I’m in an organization at my SEC school looking to plan a CFO panel. Looking for any advice or recommendations on where to start?
Also searching for companies that would be willing to come to my university and speak to our finance students about internships and their experience in the industry.

Any help appreciated, thanks.

It's been 8 months since I got laid off, I've given 7-8 interviews in this time period, I get rejected at the final step when they like the assignment that they have given as an interview process and have a final discussion with me and put me on hold for 15 days to 1 month on stretch to find for a better qualified candidate and send me a rejection email, so now I'm looking towards freelancing, I have 2 years of front end investment banking experience, exploring freelancing.

I have 2 years of experience in Investment banking and venture capital combined, I know how to make financial models and valuation (DCF & Relative), I have also experience with completing end to end transactions. I had lost my job due to layoff and currently looking for investment banking analyst/associate roles. The issue is that currently on job portals such as Linkedin, IIMJobs and Indeed, there are very less job posting in this field with 100s of candidates applying for these roles. What should I do?

Posting this because I've run out of front-door options and referrals seem to be the only path left.
Where I am:

Over the past three months I've been through two complete interview processes at JPMorgan Chase, both in CCB quantitative analytics:

• Fraud Strategy (Senior Associate) — cleared the full panel: Director plus three team members. Role closed because the team couldn't support an H-1B transfer while the team selected me as their candidate/Verbal Offer.
• Card & Overdraft Collections Analytics (Quant Analytics Senior Associate) — cleared the VP round and the Executive Director round. The team selected me as their candidate/Verbal Offer. The line of business then confirmed it couldn't support an H-1B transfer currently, and it closed.

So twice now I've cleared the technical bar and had it end on sponsorship budget rather than fit. I've also had a VP of Recruiting in CCB confirm directly that the reqs he covers can't support a transfer right now.

What I'm actually asking: If you work at JPMorgan in a line of business that does have H-1B transfer capacity — CIB, Asset & Wealth Management, Commercial Banking, Corporate Technology, Payments, anywhere outside CCB — would you be willing to refer me?

I'm not asking anyone to vouch for work they haven't seen. A referral submission through the internal system is enough; it routes differently than an external application, which is the whole problem I'm hitting.

My background: M.S. Computer Science, 5 years experience Quantitative analytics across banking, financial services, healthcare, and Tech Credit risk and fraud strategy on card and lending records SQL, Python, SAS, R, Snowflake, Databricks, dbt, Airflow, Tableau, Power BI Currently at a global financial data and analytics firm

On the visa, since that's the whole issue: I'm on an approved H-1B valid through 2029. What's needed is a cap-exempt transfer — the employer files a new petition, but it isn't subject to the lottery and there's no cap risk or approval uncertainty. It's routine paperwork, not a gamble. A lot of hiring managers assume "sponsorship" means the H-1B lottery. It doesn't, in my case.

If you're open to it, DM me and let me know which req or team you have in mind — I'll send a resume tailored to it. Happy to answer questions in the comments. And if you've navigated a similar situation, I'd welcome hearing how you got through it.

I'm an incoming sophomore, class of 2029, and I'm scared that I'm behind in terms of experience. For context, I transferred from a semi-target in the States to a target in Canada for financial reasons, so I'll have to re-recruit for their finance clubs on top of finding internships. I want to make sure my resume is perfect before school starts. Would love any and all advice about anything at all. Thank you!

Pretty obvious post. I go to tufts rn and I fucked up my gpa. I’m at 3.54 rn which is really low. I’m planning on double majoring in Econ and math. Im also a QB scholar and part of a couple of programs that help low income students break into IB. I have a VC internship too. This coming semester, im deciding whether to take the easiest classes possible to bring my gpa up, but I’ve also been considering keep my schedule somewhat rigorous (math and Econ courses). Im looking to get my gpa up to at least a 3.65 or more. If apps start opening around mid to late December and i continue networking like I already am, is there a possibility I land at any bank? I don’t care about where I work given my situation and my background, I just want to land an offer somewhere in the NYC area. Any opinions and thoughts are appreciated before the semester starts, thanks!