Investment Analyst Max Salk’s Guide for Young Professionals — Company Leaders
In the United States, Millennials make up a significant portion of the workforce in every field. On average, in the course of their professional trajectory, each Millennial will hold a significantly higher amount of jobs than professionals from generations past. While some may suggest that this increase in professional mobility is the result of the Millennial stereotype of “not being able to sit still,” others argue that it may just suggest the forward-thinking notion that Millennials are more active in the quest for manifesting their professional dreams. Undoubtedly, however, young professionals are entering the workforce amidst unprecedented conditions, vastly emerging fields, and new considerations that previous generations didn’t have to think about. Highly debated, and often exploited, the sometimes confusing road to success for young professionals remains convoluted, filled with misconceptions, and often diminished. Thus, many successful young professionals who have paved the way for their peers are finding it integral to share their wisdom, and provide extensive insight for the next wave of young professionals.
A leader in the realm of investment management, Max Salk has paved his own way to his dream career at a young age, and deliberately taken the steps necessary to manifest his desired fate professionally. With a successful and fulfilling career at New York City’s prominent Blackstone Group, the Vice President and U.S. Credit Research Analyst took calculated chances, remained open to opportunities, and proactively engaged in activities that culminated in his long-term success. Recognizing the perennial lack of inspirational, direct, and helpful resources available for young professionals, Salk likes to share advice and provide insight for eager Millennials entering the workforce. His myriad of insights can be utilized within any field, with various lessons that can be followed by those who wish to purposefully follow their professional bliss.
Find What You Love, Try It Out
In order to remain professionally satisfied within any field, an inherent passion must be present. As successful careers require consistent motivation, commitment, time, and dedication, it can be impossible to maintain those functionalities without an innate interest in a particular field. Thus, for individuals in college, or immediately post-matriculation, the time for exploration is ripe, and must be taken advantage of. In order to gain perspective, understanding, and real-world experience within any field, Salk recommends dipping your toes into the field. Often, young individuals make the choice to dedicate their entire professional future to a field that they have never actually engaged within. For many of these young people, they end up feeling trapped in a field that does not provide professional fulfillment merely a few years after entering the field. To avoid this potential misstep, Salk suggests exploring a potential field in a rudimentary manner.
Personally, Salk became interested in the field of investment management throughout his college years, and pursued the subject prior to formally focusing the remainder of his education within the field. By investing the money he saved from various summer jobs in various markets, Salk was able to successfully engage in activities similar to his potential future profession, and decide whether he was professionally fulfilled by those endeavors. For Salk, these inaugural experiences led to his growing excitement about the financial sector, and provided a sense of confidence in moving forward with focusing his studies within the field. Fostering confidence in your educational, and professional choices, allows for the growth of motivation, excitement, and general fulfillment within a field.
Consider Your Dream Industry from a Global Perspective
In any field, it is easy to focus only on a particular dream job, any maintain proverbial blinders on the route to attaining that position. However, in today’s global economy, various perspectives must be considered in order to understand the possible fluctuations, changes, or evolutions of a field from a global perspective. By taking the relative positioning of a field in perspective, you can be prepared for any potential changes that may inhibit your potential, job opportunities, or the field itself. While previous generations considered small businesses in every field as being completely independent, globalization and technology has rendered this concept somewhat redundant. Even small businesses are subject to change due to the overall global structure of the world’s economy, and are sometimes subject to the effects of unforeseen circumstances.
For Salk, this important consideration proved integral, as the dreaded global financial crisis of 2008 occurred while he was in college. At the time, he witnessed the potential instability of the markets in a way that hasn’t been felt since the globalization of the world’s economy. Navigating that transformative experience, he gained new perspectives on the volatility of any market, ways to successfully overcome such adversities, and the various possibilities of the otherwise seemingly safe realm of finance. Salk also recounted this time as piquing his interest in gaining a wholesome understanding about how the markets connected with the global economy. Salk has stated, “I became very interested and invested in learning about what went on, the events that led up to it, and how the economy, market participants, and the U.S. government responded to the crisis.”
Combine Education with Experience
While many Millennials tout the importance of receiving a quality education from an esteemed University, gaining relevant vocational experience is integral to not only confirm interest in a particular field, but to gain valuable resume-worthy experience that will be instrumental in landing a position post-matriculation. With a Bachelor Degree’s worth becoming somewhat diluted, due to the sheer volume of students obtaining this degree, and aggressively competitive grades not necessarily valued by employers, there is a breadth of value in graduating from University with valuable on-the-job experience. With competition for entry level jobs at a continued high, having relevant resume-boosting experience may provide a competitive edge within any job search.
Recognizing these benefits, Salk interned at J.P. Morgan Chase, in the juggernaut’s middle-market commercial banking group. Holding this position between his junior and senior years of college, Salk successfully gained credible experience, and was able to witness the daily operations that occurred within the organization, further confirming his interest in his chosen field of study. He recommends that students partake in such experiences to bolster their resume, forge confidence in their chosen career paths, and importantly, gain access to peers, potential employers, and other key players in their field.
Position Early Jobs to Align with Long-Term Goals
It is not uncommon for individuals to take sidesteps in their professional trajectory early on in their career as he or she looks to succeed in the field of finance on a long-term career basis. Thus, it is important to consider the ways that even entry-level positions can inherently advance your overall goals, position you for growth within a chosen field, and align with your long-term professional vision. Building meaningful experiences in roles that create characteristics valued in your “dream job” allows those initial roles to be important stepping stones, and valuable learning experiences.
For Salk, who entered the realm of finance post-matriculation via a position with Chicago’s Morningstar, this inaugural position allowed him to perfect the soft skills that would ultimately be valued in his quest to climb the ranks of the investment management world. While this initial position wasn’t exactly what he was after, it was certainly adjacent. Through this assignment, Salk earned his proverbial stripes, and was able to successfully build upon this experience.
Put in the (Extra) Work
While excelling within an entry-level position is a good start to championing your long-term career success, partaking in additional learning, growth, and leadership experiences will ultimately make you an increasingly viable candidate for new positions. In addition to performing successfully within your designated duties, you should consider ways to leverage additional skills that will be helpful in the future. Though this takes additional work, and can prove to be logistically challenging for busy professionals, it is sometimes necessary to reach a new apex of your career.
While working full-time, Salk studied for, and passed all three portions of the CFA exam. Additionally, he took courses in financial modeling, and aggressively pursued knowledge, insight, and understanding of the global markets whenever possible. These “extra” self-betterment tools positioned him as a leader within his realm of peers, and allowed him to stand out amongst the competition when seeking further assignments.
Maintain Flexibility and Openness to Opportunities
While this may sound like a no-brainer, young professionals can sometimes find themselves growing complacent in a particular position, fearing the potential unknowns that lie with making professional changes. With seemingly increasing global instability, and bountiful horror stories of peers who have been searching for jobs for endless months, some young professionals would rather remain in the relative safety of the status quo, than risk their stability for new ventures. While this thinking is rational, and even warranted at times, it can also become limiting. Remaining open to potential opportunities can harvest positive outcomes that were previously never even imagined.
While being thankful for initial successes, you can remain open to potential new opportunities that may arise. By keeping a pulse on the potential next step, you can remain motivated by a hopeful future, prepare for those opportunities by gaining the experience needed to succeed within them, and discover new positions that you may have previously discounted.
According to Salk, he “never really thought about, or planned, to move to New York from Chicago before the opportunity with Blackstone/GSO arose about 5 years ago. I took a chance, and moved outside my comfort zone in order to accept the role, and change cities. I am extremely grateful that I was given the opportunity, and made the move, because I think it has been valuable for both my career and personal life.” Though the opportunity to relocate came with a potential dream job, it was also a complete upheaval of Salk’s relatively stable life, complete with a lived-in home space, close proximity to friends, and a familiar daily schedule. However, recognizing the potential value of this once-in-a-lifetime offer, Salk embarked on a professional journey that yielded positive results in every arena of his life.
While Salk’s experiences are uniquely his own, and his bespoke career trajectory is the manifestation of various things, his understanding of the bigger picture allows for Salk to share insights that transcend his own experiences. Understanding the benefits of sharing his motivations with peers, Salk purposefully champions the success of young professionals. His approaches to success, and the lengthy road to success, provide young professionals with a relative blueprint for achieving long-term success in a modern global workforce.
Originally published at http://companyleaders.org on April 29, 2020.
