Career Plan - Assignment Example

?Biography of my role model My aim in life is to become a successful stock broker. This interest of mine was mostly inspired by one of the legends ofstock market, Mr. Christopher Paul Gardner or Chris Gardner as he was popularly known as. Studying his biography, one could clearly conclude that Chris Gardner was destined to be a stock broker. (Chris Gardner Media, 2011) Becoming a stock broker was something that he never dreamt of until one day he met a stock broker named Bob Bridges in a red Ferrari. Until then he was working as a medical equipment sales man after working for couple of years as a research lab assistant. Bob Bridges introduced him to the world of financial markets. Gardner was taken to major financial firms like Merrill Lynch, Paine Webber, E.F. Hutton, Dean Witter Reynolds and Smith Barney. The main factor attributable to his success is the immense passion he had for the career. Gradually he stopped attending his sales calls and spent more time in meeting and networking with managers. Even at this time he was at the height of personal problems including break off with live-in girl friend, homelessness, imprisonment for 12 days etc. He started as a trainee at E.F. Hutton. He quit his job and joined for a full time training program in stock broking. But due to some unfortunate incidents he could not be hired as a permanent employee. He then enrolled for a training program at Dean Witter Reynolds where he worked with dedication to make maximum sales calls for a very low stipend. After completion of the training he was hired as a full time employee in the company. He was later on recruited by Bear Stearns & Company. His success took another step when he established his brokerage firm, Gardner Rich & Company which was specialized in the trading of debt, equity and derivative products. Thereafter, there were no bounds in his life, both professionally and personally. My career path A well planned career path is essential for being successful in the desired career. The following career path will be the best option to be a successful stock market investor and trader. Keep track of current events: Being aware of the current events and the ability to assume the future based on it is the primary requirement to be successful in stock markets. This can be achieved only if we keep our eyes and ears open. At least 2 hours in a day should be spent on reading general and business newspapers, business magazines like ‘The Economist’ etc. Keeping track of the events this way will help us to feel the market and its complexities. The stock market is very sensitive to the happenings around the world. The happenings can be business, social, environmental, political and so on. Watching business news every day is essential for this career. This step is not a process. This is an activity that has to be continued at every level of the career path. Enroll as a management trainee: Enrolling as a management trainee is the first step. At first, a good company should be chosen for pursuing the training. Considering that the company chooses the candidate as a management trainee, every next moment should be an investment for the future. As a management trainee one should be made to sit on the trading terminal. In other words management trainees should be considered as share traders. As share traders, one should not be confined to just punching the orders based on the customer requirements. Even as a trader, strategic thinking should begin. Effort should be made to analyze the market and scrip movements based on the knowledge of the market happenings. Spending at least one year as a share trader will give a good hands on experience on the markets. Acquire certifications and licenses: Acquiring certifications and licenses is very important for getting recognized in the system. While continuing as a trader, preparation should start for Series 7 exam. Series 7 is the primary exam to be given by a stock trader. This exam can be taken only through a firm sponsorship. The company where we are employed as trader will be the sponsor for series 7 exams. “The Series 7 exam covers general securities regulations.” (Carty, 2010) A 70% is the minimum grade for passing the Series 7. But we should aim for obtaining higher score. Passing the series 7 is a necessity because it is a mandatory requirement for taking various other FINRA tests. After successfully completing the series 7, one should register for Series 63. Series 63 covers state specific securities regulations. Many companies require their traders to be a Series 63 license holder. These two are the licenses that are expected for a stock trader. If the performance as a stock trader is excellent, a promotion to the next level can be expected in one and half to two years. Try for a shift in position: After gaining sufficient experience in trading, the next position to be looked upon is managing clients. At this level the clients will be individual clients. As a client relationship executive, more time and thought should be put for making decisions. The requirements of clients should be analyzed clearly. Sometimes, the client itself will come up with their suggestion. We should then analyze the client suggestion and then decide whether it is a call that can be taken forward or dropped down. By managing individual clients, we will get to know the complexities of taking multiple decisions and to deal with different investment ideas. At this stage we will be specializing on certain group of clients and their investment requirements. A person should at least spend 2 years to have good experience in client management. Start specializing: This is one step that determines the real success of a stock trader. One should start specializing in investment avenues like equities, debts, commodities and the like. A specialized trader will be more focused compared to the others. A specialized trader can give more attention to the particular sector and make better decisions regarding the same. Also, a specialized trader gets better attention than the others. There will be more opportunities when we are specialized in the investment avenues. Move to the next level: After gaining good experience in managing individual clients, a move should be made to corporate clients segment. This will be a highly challenging job as the ticket size of investments will be comparatively higher. This means the broker is being highly responsible for the investments. The expectations of corporate clients will be much higher than that of the individual clients. Start making own investments: We should simultaneously start making own investments in the market. This is important to emerge as an individual broker. Chris Gardner was employed by big names in the financial markets. But he did not stay with them for long. He wanted himself to be a big name in the financial market. This is where the difference lies. If we stick to the companies, we stick to them for life. If we start individual investments, we build our own empire. We should utilize the contacts and networks that have been built up while on employment with the previous employers. Conclusion The essay has given a clear idea about Chris Gardner and the path to be followed to become a legendary investor like him. The final stage of making own investments is very important for making a turning point in the career. Investment can be made not only on the area where we have specialized but also on other areas. A pool of traders can be formed for this. By now we should have good experience in managing a team of traders. Therefore, an idea of own investments will definitely payoff. Works Cited Chris Gardner Media. “Biography.” n.d. 5 April 2011. http://www.chrisgardnermedia.com/about/bio Sue-Lynn Carty. “How to Get a Stock Trader License.” 4 June 2010. http://www.ehow.com/how_6588863_stock-trader-license.html Gardnerrich.com. “Gardner Rich Management Team.” n.d. 5 April 2011. http://www.gardnerrich.com/team_management.htm Careers4graduates.org. “What is the typical career path for your occupation?” n.d. 5 April 2011 http://www.careers4graduates.org/changing/ccarpath.phtml Read More