Financial Industry Insights with Athletes Soul
Athletes Soul hosted an Industry Insights event on Friday May 8th, 2020 to give athletes a deeper look into working in the financial industry from a panel of distinguished former athletes and financial professionals.
The financial industry is more than just working with money. It encompasses a wide range of roles and multiple ways money is used and invested by both companies and individuals. During this discussion, our panel shared details into both their roles, and some practical advice for athletes, or anyone else, trying to get a start in the industry.
Here are a few of the best insights from our panelists on getting into the industry and how they still use the transferable skills from their athletic careers in their everyday activities. Although the road toward beginning a career in finance can be tough at first, everyone expressed satisfaction and enjoyment with the career and what they experienced to get to their current roles in the finance industry. .
The Panelists and their Insights:
Tamara DeClercq was a US Olympian in Athens for the 2004 Olympic games where she was a bronze medalist with the US Synchronized Swimming Team. She has worked in the Finance Industry since 2006, mainly specializing in providing services to small businesses, and she is currently Senior Vice President of Operations for Velocity SBA.
Use Curiosity to Find Your Passion: Tamara encouraged everyone to find their passion and be curious, and use that curiosity to find out more about what part of the industry is truly aligned with what you want to do for a job.
Find Your Own Way: Don't think there has to be one set path. Always be learning, and sometimes having a job experience can be more beneficial than an MBA. Regardless of where you start, your work ethic and determination will lead to your success in any job.
Shawn Hindy was a member of Team USA National Field Hockey for over 15 years, on both the indoor + outdoor teams, where he also spent time after his playing career as a member of their Board of Directors. Shawn entered into the Finance Industry in 2018, where he works as a Financial Advisor with Northwestern Mutual.
Create Connections in Networking: Shawn mentioned that he would be much more likely to say yes to meeting with an athlete or field hockey player for a meeting, and encouraged athletes to research the people they are reaching out to and highlight those connections that want to make people talk to you.
Goals Change and That’s Ok: After pursuing a career in coaching and staying in his sports, Shawn wanted to change his lifestyle, and working in the finance industry provided the opportunity to do that. Even though he enjoyed a long playing career and involvement in his sport, it is never too late to explore new passions and transition to new professions.
Koko Archibong is a former professional basketball player, spending time in both the NBA and overseas. He was also a member of the 1st-ever Nigerian Basketball team to make it to the Olympics in the 2012 London Games. Koko has spent the past 5 years in the Finance Industry working at Capital Group Private Client Services, where he currently serves as the Vice President and Private Wealth Advisor.
Mindset: Koko was 32 years-old and a little older than most when first entering into the industry, but even when he was starting out he walked through the door with the mindset that he was going to be an advisor, and the importance of that mindset helped drive him through the early years in the industry.
Be Curious: Too often, athletes put pressure on themselves to know all the answers. Be curious about things that interest you (and that maybe you don’t know anything about!), discover new things you are interested in, and go explore these areas more in depth.
Match Passion with Needs of the Market: Things are changing quickly, but try and get yourself in the growth areas within the industry. And then, try to match your Passions within those growing areas.
Scott Jaffe was a member of the 1992 US Olympic Swim team in Barcelona, earning a Bronze Medal, and also was an All-American for Cal-Berkeley, where he swam in college. Scott has spent over 25 years in Finance industry + has worked in Private Client Services + Equity Trading. He currently works as Managing Director @ Keefe, Bruyette, + Woods where he focuses on corporate repurchase efforts.
Persistence Early On: It’s important to knock on doors and to do your best to leverage your status as an athlete to get in front of people and get meetings with them. He also highlighted the importance of being prepared for these meetings and understanding it may take more than a few meetings before breaking through and getting a job offer.
Being Prepared for a Transition: Immerse yourself in professions or roles you think you may have an interest in before retirement. Athletes don’t have the advantages other students have to go out and network and have internship or first job opportunities because of the intense training, but they do have their status as an athlete and people will want to talk to them.
Have a Gameplan: Be specific about the job and role you are interested in. A conversation Scott had with a trader and hearing about his day made him want to be a part of that and pursue that as a career . As busy as you are as an athlete, you have more time than you are going to have in real life, and there are plenty of opportunities to leverage your status as an athlete and get meetings with important people in professions you are interested in.
Protect Yourself: Protect yourself by always continuing to learn and trying to find jobs that can not be automated. Things change fast (COVID as an example), and while its impossible to fully protect yourself, you can put yourself in the best position to always have a job by finding positions that can not be automated.
Thank you to all the panelists for taking the time to share such great insights with everyone, and helping us have a better understanding of what it takes to be successful in the finance industry.
