Career Path Question into, industry, continue, entering

Walex

This is a hypothetical (but converging on reality):
If I happen to work in the factories for the next year or two, what is the likelihood of me entering into the finance industry if I pass the CFA exams?
In other words, will an employer look down upon someone working in a factory rather than someone that is unemployed or, let’s say, a part-time math tutor (a possible option for me)?
The underlying question is whether to accept the guaranteed factory labor or continue on with this unemployment?
My background: MS in Quantitative Finance (middle-tier school), Quantitative Analyst Intern at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, Unemployed for ~5 months
Any help will be appreciated. Be as frank as you want. Thanks in advance!

cyber21

Wait, so you mean actually working in a factory production line? If you think it will be negative, you don’t have to mention it in your resume.

infinitybenzo

To make the transition from a factory to investments is going to require a lot of networking and meeting the right people. Your coworkers in the factory obviously aren’t going to be able to help you progress your career in the finance industry, so it’s going to make the transition more challenging.

willsucceed

Will you survive on what you’ll make as a part-time math tutor?

soverby

Well, the transition from factory to elsewhere is a bit tricky, so if tutoring is an acceptable option for you, I’d advocate that.  Investment analysis is brainwork, and so tutoring exercises that particular muscle.  It also requires a bit of entrepreneurship, which financial people generally like.
The real worry with factory work is that it will suck you in and suck the life out of you and you will never be able to break out of it.  It will mark you and many people will (quite possibly unfairly) judge you based on it.  However, if you do break out of it, many people wil interpret that as a statement of your force of will too (like the bus driver CEO).
It’s a tough choice, and I don’t envy you.  Those are just my thoughts.  Personally, I’d be most concerned about how the factory job affects my available time and energy to pursue something better.  A short stint at something because you need to pay the rent is not a huge issue.

willsucceed

Are you in the states bro?  You need to look broader - you should definitely be able to get into a back/middle office road - go to indeed and don’t search by location, just title (investment analyst, financial analyst, equity research, performance analyst, trade operations - tons of things to look for).
Unless you want to work in a factory (I worked in a factory a couple summers in undergrad and it was a great motivator for education / generally not working in a factory), I’d say broaden your search and give it another couple weeks.  If you fully dedicate a couple of days to applying for every back or middle (or front) office job you find, and making these applications tailored to the position, I’ve gotta think you’d get a shot… I haven’t faced unemployment, so don’t know that for sure and I don’t know what your personal situation is like, but damn - if you can’t get anything but factory work that represents a sad state these days…
How does a factory pay relative to a customer service or personal banker kind of role?