Life After (Failing at) Trading

N

niteflite

What are some career options for an individual who has failed at trading full time. Let's use the following scenario:

- person has college degrees
- person has solid work experience of close to 10 yrs in a salaried, non-trading job
- person quits to trade full time
- 6 months to one year later person has failed to be profitable and is looking to get back to a salaried position

how difficult is it for this to happen? will the attempt to be a successful trader be frowned upon by potential employers? why or why not? is day trading a resume killer?
 
Quote from niteflite:

What are some career options for an individual who has failed at trading full time. Let's use the following scenario:

- person has college degrees
- person has solid work experience of close to 10 yrs in a salaried, non-trading job
- person quits to trade full time
- 6 months to one year later person has failed to be profitable and is looking to get back to a salaried position

how difficult is it for this to happen? will the attempt to be a successful trader be frowned upon by potential employers? why or why not? is day trading a resume killer?
More...

Each person creates their own outcomes. The answer is - either the person will create a positive outcome or he won't. It has nothing to do with whether trading and failing is a resume killer. You don't have to put it on your resume - you can say you took 6 months off to travel and study.
 
If everyone gave up after only 6 months to a year of trading there would be very very few traders around.

Quote from niteflite:

What are some career options for an individual who has failed at trading full time. Let's use the following scenario:

- person has college degrees
- person has solid work experience of close to 10 yrs in a salaried, non-trading job
- person quits to trade full time
- 6 months to one year later person has failed to be profitable and is looking to get back to a salaried position

how difficult is it for this to happen? will the attempt to be a successful trader be frowned upon by potential employers? why or why not? is day trading a resume killer?
More...
 
Just do your best.




__________________
"Happiness has little to do with the circumstances you find yourself in, but rather what your attitude is towards your circumstances."
 
It will only be a negative if you let it. Be confident and do not let them make it a negative and you'll have no problems.
 
Quote from niteflite:

What are some career options for an individual who has failed at trading full time. Let's use the following scenario:

- person has college degrees
- person has solid work experience of close to 10 yrs in a salaried, non-trading job
- person quits to trade full time
- 6 months to one year later person has failed to be profitable and is looking to get back to a salaried position

how difficult is it for this to happen? will the attempt to be a successful trader be frowned upon by potential employers? why or why not? is day trading a resume killer?
More...

If I were a prospective employer, knowing what you just posted, a few things that would cross my mind would be:

1. What was there about your job that you disliked, that caused you to leave it? Has anything changed now?

2. Left a stable environment for an unstable environment, which then only lasted 6 months. Was this move well planned? How could it have been if it only lasted 6 months? What kind of decision making skills does this guy have that he could make a decision leading to only a 6 month change?

3. Does he really want to come back to this job? Or is he simply coming back now, after a failure? Is his attempted return out of positive reasons for the job, or is he returning because he failed elsewhere?

If you show your move to trading on your resume, these are all questions that you may have to answer. Even if you don't, they may be things that the employer may wonder.

Like TraderNik I would be tempted to not put it on my resume since it has been such a short time, unless you have told your prior employer what you were doing, and believe they may mention it in a referral.

Believe it or not, most experiences in your life have something in them that is positive, and that will benefit you in other endeavors. You might think about that, along with some of the questions I mentioned above, so that you can present your situation in a positive light.

OldTrader
 
Quote from niteflite:

What are some career options for an individual who has failed at trading full time. Let's use the following scenario:

- person has college degrees
- person has solid work experience of close to 10 yrs in a salaried, non-trading job
- person quits to trade full time
- 6 months to one year later person has failed to be profitable and is looking to get back to a salaried position

How difficult is it for this to happen? Will the attempt to be a successful trader be frowned upon by potential employers? Why or why not? Is day trading a resume killer?
More...

For the types of reasons OldTrader has given, I would recommend lying.

If you have very young kids say you took time out to look after them. Or you could say you took a year out to spend travelling.
Or say you tried doing your own startup, in the same industry, with some friends/ex coworkers and it all fell apart due to not being able to find funding..

Saying you tried day trading is not good unless there is poor competition for the job you are applying for, in which case they wont care. But otherwise they will think it doesnt show commitment or interest in that line of work..
 
Quote from Cocaine:

If everyone gave up after only 6 months to a year of trading there would be very very few traders around.
More...

There's a sucker born every minute..

There is a constant and never ending stream of new traders replacing the ones that blow out.
 
Just tell them you took a 6 month Sabittical and get on with it ...

... but coming on here and saying that you've failed at trading after trying it for six months (to one year) is absolute nonesense.

It takes 3 to 5 years for most traders to put the pieces together, if they ever do.

Well anyway, GL.
 
just a hypothetical. not that i plan on quitting after 6 months. or necessarily end up quitting after 12 months. just setting up the scenario and asking what if.
 
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