About time for an update to a post that I made so long ago that I cannot find it. In actuality, it was only about a year ago when I decided to study for and take the SIE and Series 65 exams to set myself on a path to becoming a financial advisor. Those exams were kind of fun to study for (if you like this sort of stuff) and I passed both of them last summer. My career has been in education at independent schools and I wanted to make myself more marketable plus possibly make a career change. This year's hiring season for schools is winding down, at least for the positions I'm seeking, and I'm not getting much love, so I applied to be a financial planner with Morgan Stanley. You can, too, on their web site.
The process was very cool. Step one is to upload your resume and give them some personal information. Then they have you take a 25-question, timed multiple choice reasoning test. It's been a while since I've done the GREs, but some of these puzzles struck me as harder than that. Lots of logic and deduction. It was fun as well. Guess I passed because then they invite you to do an online simulation of a typical day-in-the-life of a financial planner. I probably clicked on some radio button promising that I would not disclose anything about this part of the interview so I'll omit specifics but it was very cool. The simulation gave an example of what could happen to roil the markets (Russia, anyone?) and had you navigating calls or emails from anxious clients throughout the day. They also asked how you would build you book and forge relationships. Again, I must have done well enough because they invited me to the final step: a 20-minute video interview where they ask seven questions and you have three minutes to record your video answers, kind of like over Zoom. That was the most traditional part of the interview process and I would have preferred to talk with a person rather than record myself, so it was my least favorite part. But I was very impressed with their overall process, the tech worked very smoothly, and I really loved the puzzles and the simulation. To be continued if I hear from them and actually talk to a human...