Professional prospects for amateur investors: Ask the Expert
A: It won't be easy, and you'll need plenty of determination and a healthy dose of luck. But if you want to give it a go, there's just one way to go about it: prepare a brilliant marketing presentation about yourself and get networking.
You have produced some very healthy returns over the past eight years, which is good. But it's not enough. Were you just lucky or do you have a convincing strategy that could work well for someone else? That's what your presentation should be about, says Philip Beddows, director at HR consultancy Rialto. "You need to give a feel of the intellectual back-up to your methodology. If you just bought highly risky penny shares and got lucky, no-one is going to trust you with anybody else's money."
With a marketing document in hand you start networking. Don't bother approaching recruitment agencies. They won't give a second look to candidates who can't tick the right boxes - and without relevant experience beyond managing your own assets, you fall into that category. "You need to approach small entrepreneurial companies directly," says headhunter-turned outplacement consultant Tony Tucker.
Some of the private client stockbrokers or even the larger networks of Independent Financial Advisers (IFAs) which manage private client funds, might be a good start. Such organisations are much more likely to give you the time of day than large investment banks or asset management houses.
Look at their websites and see how they operate and market themselves and then make a targeted approach.
Remember that to start with, you are not looking for a job - but for information that could lead to a job. This is vital, when breaking into a new sector. You don't understand the market yet, so you can't yet position yourself properly. For now, your aim is to persuade relevant people to give you 20 minutes of their time in which you can pick their brains about possible routes in for someone with your skills. Make it clear that you are on an information-gathering exercise only and stick to that in your meetings. Always ask for more recommendations of people you can speak to and you will soon find that you are building up a good idea of potential market opportunities.
If you get good vibes from an organisation, ask if you can shadow someone there for a week.
It may take several months of networking before you get a real break, but it's the best form of job-hunting you can do. Good Luck and do let us know how you get on.
Next week's question: I have just started working in equity sales at a small stockbrokerage. My performance seems very good and I enjoy the company of my colleagues. The job, however, is tedious and unengaging. I have the chance to move to a small hedge fund to program their IT back office systems. IT is not an area I want to go into but I have been told that the exposure to hedge fund operations will enable me to move into any area I like. When I first met the CFO there was a verbal offer of paying for an MSc. But now they want to organise the role as a six-month rolling contract. The pay will be lower than I am on now. Many graduates would jump at the chance to join a hedge fund, but I don't want to find myself jobless after six months.
expertadmin@efinancialcareers.com
Look
out for the Experts' answer to this dilemma and readers' comments on
Ask the Expert next week! If you would like to submit a question to our
panel of experts,
