Can you share a little bit about your background before joining TrendUp, and the motivations leading to your application?
Basically, my whole life I was playing baseball, and after I graduated high school I made the decision that I wanted to get drafted – I wanted to play professionally. So by the time I got to college I was solely focused on baseball training and I honestly wasn’t thinking about a future career.
Once I got to the point where baseball had ended for me, I realized I would struggle to get the jobs I really wanted in finance because I didn’t have the experience. So, I needed to find something that would make me a good candidate for those even entry level jobs in finance, and to get my career started which was when I found TrendUp Now.
Can you tell us a little bit about your career after graduating from TrendUp Now?
I knew that I wanted to be in finance before I enrolled onto TrendUp, and as the course progressed I started to develop an inkling for investing strategy and asset management style work.
So, I was looking for jobs that aligned with my interests in the buy-side space, and a wealth analyst position came up which included access to portfolio managers whom I’d directly report to. I figured that this might be a good opportunity to interact with, and learn from some super knowledgeable people. I’m still working there today, and it’s still exciting to be a part of the complex relationships and strategies across the firm.
I got everything I could have possibly wanted out of TrendUp Now during the program and after graduation. I’m extremely grateful for the opportunity, and to Alex and the team.
Would you say that TrendUp helped you gain this role as a wealth analyst, and if so, how?
The main thing for me is it boosted my interviews. I don’t have a problem talking to people, but when I interviewed for jobs before, I didn’t feel confident and I almost had to pretend to be somebody. The second time around, after TrendUp Now, I felt like I could talk and be myself, but I actually had some stuff to say to back it up now.
Quite unusually, I did not get this job from networking, but I did update my LinkedIN with the TrendUp Now course and my SRP internship, which had a recruiter reach out to me, and that’s how I got this job.
Also, I put my published Seeking Alpha article on my Linkedin, and I spoke a lot with Max, the program’s lead asset management recruitment advisor. I talked with him, and he gave me some tips on my resume, and we made it was a lot more streamlined and focused on finance compared to what I had before. So, I think that really helped my LinkedIn get noticed by recruiters and eventually led to this job.
How did you get the most out of TrendUp now?
I went into it knowing that there were buy-side internship opportunities at the end of the program. So, I knew that I was going to work hard and give it my best. That was my number one priority, even though it didn’t take a bunch of my time necessarily.
To really get the most out of the program and to ensure I succeeded in the L course exams, I made sure to ask questions to the TrendUp professionals and my mentor, and to supplement my learning with independent research – this is key.
It was a great experience, and I honestly got everything I wanted out of the program. The whole time I was thinking to myself that if I do TrendUp and I get the internship then I’d get a job afterwards. It was almost too good to be true, until it wasn’t.