| Where Do You Belong in Financial Services? A Quiz Is taking a job in the financial services industry the right move for you? If so, in which sector of the industry would you fit best? This quiz, while highly unscientific, should help you find out. (But, first, grab a pen and jot down your answers.) 1. Which of the following best matches your life philosophy? A. Party time! Excellent! B. I work to live, not live to work. C. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. D. He who dies with the most toys, wins. 2. Which of the following television shows do you like best? A. The Jerry Springer Show B. Ally McBeal C. Anything on CNBC. D. I'm too busy to watch television. 3. How important is vacation time in your career decision? A. I need my summers free to work on my tan. B. I can go to the tanning salon after work, but I still want four weeks off. C. The standard two weeks' vacation is fine by me. D. Doesn't matter to me; I'm going to be working too hard to take much time off. 4. What's your favorite restaurant? A. Taco Bell B. Red Lobster C. That tasty ethnic place downtown D. That hip new fusion restaurant with the excellent wine list 5. What kind of car do you think fits you best? A. Pickup truck. With shotgun rack. B. BMW 300 series C. BMW 500 series D. BMW 700 series 6. Which of the following best describes your academic performance? A. Is abysmal a real word? I missed that day in class. B. Decent grades, decent school. C. Excellent grades, decent school, or vice versa (decent grades, excellent school). D. Top grades, top school. 7. Which of the following books would you consider the most enjoyable reading? A. Babbitt, by Sinclair Lewis B. The Firm, by John Grisham C. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, by Stephen Covey D. Why waste valuable time reading when you can just rent the movie? 8. Which of the following people do you most admire? A. Ru Paul. No, Karl Marx. B. Michael Jordan C. Warren Buffett D. Mario Andretti. No, Michael Milken. 9. Which of the following do you consider a reasonable workweek? A. I think those French are onto something; 35 hours per week. B. The standard 40-hour workweek. C. I have no problem working long workweeks occasionally, just as long as it's not a consistent thing. D. I'll set up a cot so I can sleep in the office if I have to. 10. Many big financial services companies face an ongoing battle with bureaucracy. Which of the following statements best describes your attitude toward bureaucracy?. A. The heck with financial services companies. I'm going to interview for jobs at start-up Internet companies. B. I enjoy repetitive tasks, like filling out forms in triplicate. Besides, three's my lucky number. C. I can't stand bureaucracy, though I do understand that it can be a fact of life in big companies. D. I'm going to be making my company enough money that they'll keep me from getting bogged down in bureaucratic hassles. 11. What kind of career path path do you envision for yourself? A. I'm too busy working on my Mortal Kombat skills to worry about my career path. B. Same kind my dad had: I'll put in my time and move up the ranks. C. If I work hard and have a little luck, I think I can make it to top management. D. I don't care about career paths; I'll follow any career path as long as it means I live in Greenwich and get to sit on the boards of my favorite charities. 12. How closely do you follow financial and economic news? A. I dated someone who took a couple of economics classes in college. B. I read the business section regularly. C. I read the business section regularly, and have a diversified portfolio of investments. D. I read SEC filings on vacation. 13. Which of the following would you consider a dream vacation? A. Making it through a weekend in Tijuana without getting arrested B. A week in Orlando C. A week on the beach in Cozumel D. BASE jumping in the Chilean Andes 14. What kind of work/family-life balance are you looking for in your career? A. I'd like to homeschool my kids. B. I plan on being home to eat dinner with my kids every night. C. I'll have to work through dinner occasionally, but I want to be there to help my kids with their homework every night. D. I'm going to be working too hard to see much of my kids during the week, but I'll be making enough take them on some killer vacations. 15. What are your compensation goals? A. I just need to make enough to keep getting piercings and tattoos. B. I want to make a decent living, enough to buy a house and a nice car someday. C. I plan on making enough to send my kids to good private schools. D. I'm going to make enough money to buy a racehorse. And stables to put it in. And a track to race it on. When You've Finished Go back over your answers. Give yourself one point for every time you answered "A," two points for every time you answered "B," three points for every time you answered "C," and four points for every time you answered "D." Then see below to find out whether and where you'd fit best into the financial services industry. 15 to 24 points Sorry, but financial services probably isn't the right place for you. Check out the rest of WetFeet.com to see if there are other options out there that might better suit you. 25 to 39 points If you really think you want to make a career in financial services, there's probably a place in the industry for you. There are plenty of relatively stable jobs that pay well in financial services, which, rather than requiring you to give up your firstborn to get ahead, reward hard work and loyalty with regular raises and promotions. Possibilities include insurance, accounting, and jobs on the retail side of banking. 40 to 49 points You're willing to work hard for real rewards. You're willing to take on some risk to get ahead, but you're not about to bet the farm on any one game. You probably have the right mindset to get ahead in commercial banking, mutual funds and brokerage, or asset management 50 to 60 points You're a hard-charger to whom money and prestigious hobbies are a means of measuring success. In other words, you were born to be in investment banking. Or, failing that, venture capital investing. DXCAREER RESOURCES
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