Hello Qian,

Thank you very much for your praise and for your question. I am not sure of how many job opportunities for which you have applied, so forgive me if you have already engaged at this level.

When I left graduate business school I sent out over 550 CVs and cover letters to prospective investment management firms. Of that 550 I received approximately 50 replies, around 40 of which were "thanks, but we are not interested," and I had 10 job interviews. From those interviews I had 3 job offers, with an additional job offer coming after I accepted my position as a research analyst at Davis Selected Advisers. As you can see that is a very low percentage of interviews, 10 of 550 or 1.8%, and the number of offers is a meager 0.54%. Also, this process took almost exactly one year. An acquaintance of mine sent examples of research every single month for two years to various money management firms before landing his dream job as a research analyst.

Your candidacy is already far ahead of mine because of your industry background and you already have your charter. In other words, it is tough, but not impossible. So if you love the investment business please know that there are rewards for diligence.

With smiles,

Jason