How do I get from "What does your day look like?" to "When can I start?”

Win,
I'm going to an event tomorrow where I will be meeting a lot of people who work in private wealth management. I may research that subject first so I have a few questions/comments ready. I am meeting Tom tomorrow. I will ask if he can put me in touch with the friend he mentioned to me.

I am getting a better idea now of the importance of understanding the day to day aspect of a person's job.

I think at first I was predominantly worried about how to talk about myself and how to approach people, and which people to even start approaching. I feel more confident about the first two now. Now I have to start unraveling problem number three. I must admit that I don't understand how to get from "What does your day look like" to "When can I start?” However, I do see that it will be easier to cross that bridge if I have some more information. It may so happen that I really don't like what people who work in private wealth management do or the people who do it, or maybe it will be great . . . I don't know.

The steps as I see them are:
1. Learning to talk about myself.
2. Learning to approach others for information
3. Identifying who to speak to
4. Approaching them

5.
6.
7.
8. Getting a job

I don't know how many steps there are between 4 and "getting a job" but I assume there are a few. I'll be working on it pretty steadily until we meet again.

Best,
Celia


Good thoughts, Celia! You are definitely headed in the right direction. How did you know that there were just three missing steps?

5. Learning about what you are interested in (as you allude to)

6. Developing the expertise so that you would be considered as a viable candidate competing against others who have direct experience

7. Unearthing and pursuing other opportunities like the ones you have found enticing and generally pursuing the areas you want to be employed in. This will involve some parts of gaining credibility through your discussions with people in the field so that you are increasingly referred to hire ups who are in a position to hire you, and some parts of approaching employers as a viable candidate through networking, ads, recruiters and letters.

Throughout this process, you may have offers of forwarding your resume or even employment. You will want to weigh the risks of taking a job about which you know little versus the security of having a job!

Win

Hi Win,
Thank you. I'll keep these things in mind. From your list, I see #6 as the next big challenge, immediately followed by the second to last sentence in your email. I find that very confusing but will cross that bridge when I come to it. It will take years to develop the expertise my competitors have so I find that part very discouraging. That is something I will want to clarify along the way.

I'll keep you posted.
Best,
Celia

Celia,
Don't confuse experience with ability to handle what comes at you. They need someone who CAN DO the job. Going for candidates who have done the job before is a good rule of thumb, no more.

Win