Patching holes in resume (for financial career)

[Isura]

I've recently become very interested in investing and the financial markets. I would like to pursue a career in the markets: trading, or long term investing (not sure which I like more). From what I understand it is hard to start a career in either field without a large amount of capital, so I guess my route would be to get an entry level position and move up. My problem is that I have no official financial training or experience.

I graduated 2 years ago with engineering and math degrees (gold medal in math). I then started a masters in pure math, but am currently on a leave of absence to play poker (I can go back anytime if necessary, 8 more months to finish the program). I would rather not go back to the math program since I didn't enjoy the theoretical studies that much. I was on a research/academia path during undergrad and the last year, so no work experience except for in research labs (I have decent programming skills). So I'm not really sure how to go about making my resume look good enough to attract at least interviews.

- Do I mention my grad school career, even though I kinda dropped out?
- Would applying for a masters in quantitative finance or economics/finance be a good approach? I've heard that is not too related to trading (trading is what I really want to do).
- Do I mention poker on the resume? What about in interviews?
- I do a lot reading, but its not formal training to so I get the feeling that my resume will just get passed over.

Any suggestions or experiences would be appreciated.

[GeorgeF]

I suggest you make a list of financial professions. Then get a list of professional/trade organizations. Then attend their meetings. Then talk to people. Ask them what you should put on your resume.

As to the resume I suggest you be honest.

An alternative approach is to get any job you can in the prospective companies. For example if you cannot get insurance finance, go for insurance underwriting.

[kimchi]

Used wisely, I'd think poker can be an asset on a finacially slanted CV. I believe one of Richard Dennis' Turtles was a (semi) pro poker player, which heavily influenced his decision to include him on his turtle programme.

I'm sure you could sway the poker experience towards some relevance to maths and risk/financial management.

[john kane]

i had no work experience whatsoever. the only reason i got interviews for the graduate trading program with jp and lehman's was becuase of online poker. although unfortunately they required actually knowing about trading for the interview.