Fidelity's Best Guidance For Landing Job Opportunities or Making a Career Change

Broadening your search increases your chances of landing a job.

Job applications by the numbers

When economic uncertainty increases, businesses tend to pull back or even pause hiring efforts. A recent report shows that job growth has slowed. It’s easy to feel invisible and overlooked in a down job market, especially if you’re doing everything right but not getting any traction. 

Looking for a new job often feels like a job in and of itself. These averages explain why that is:

• The time to find a new job is three to six months.
• It takes 32% of job seekers more than six months to find a job.
• The applicant-to-interview rate is 3% (i.e., for every 100 applicants, three are invited to interview).
• The interview-to-hire rate is 27% (i.e., if you get an interview, you have a 27% chance of a job offer).

Of course, hiring rates and timelines vary by role, industry, region, and even time of year. In a down market, the time it takes to get a job may increase while the applicant-to-interview or interview-to-hire rate may decrease.

Don’t abandon hope—Fidelity recruiters have your back with our best advice for applying to jobs, finding Fidelity job opportunities, and changing careers.

Fidelity tip #1: Be more flexible in your job search or career change

“Broadening your search increases your chances of landing a job,” said Albert, a talent acquisition partner for technology. Just because you’ve always worked in a certain role or industry doesn’t mean you should pigeonhole yourself. 

“You might miss opportunities if you don’t realize the correlations to your skill set,” said Michael, a talent acquisition partner. Plenty of technical and soft skills easily transfer from one industry to another. “I came from retail, and my customer service experience was very transferrable to finance,” said Tierney, a talent acquisition partner.

A lot of what finance is about is helping people.

Fidelity job opportunities extend beyond finance—perfect for career changers

Big companies like Fidelity employ thousands of people in all sorts of roles. While Fidelity is a financial services company, you don’t need a finance background to work here because we’ll teach you everything you need to know. “We’re not as concerned with that financial knowledge. It’s being a team player, being coachable, understanding and appreciating feedback, and having that drive to help people that matters,” said Michael. “A lot of what finance is about is helping people,” said Tierney.

Fidelity goes above and beyond when it comes to providing associates with financial literacy and knowledge. “Our training is world class. There’s so much support and training for new hires that you’re set up for success in the long term,” said Tierney. “Everyone wants you to succeed and wants to make sure you’re ready,” said Michael.

With more than 40 lines of business, Fidelity offers ample career vitality, mobility, and growth opportunities. “Fidelity is extremely diverse. You can continue to grow and positively affect the firm in different ways,” said Albert. You can learn about new sides of the firm, explore new roles, and join new teams to keep your skills sharp, learn new things, and grow professionally. “There are so many different paths you can take: pursue licensing, do operations, process transactions, recruit people,” said Tierney. “Fidelity is a truly great place where you can have a long-term career.”

Fidelity also gives you a chance to work on the cutting edge of finance and technology. Fidelity has a long-standing history of adaptation and adoption—in the 1970s, we were among the first to use a mainframe; in the 1980s, we sold stocks over the phone before many others; in the aughts, we adopted the cloud; and now we’re exploring AI, quantum computing, and more. As a technologist, you could work on emerging technologies, such as blockchain or machine learning engineering. “Broadening your search could help you learn new skills and technologies,” said Albert. We even give our technology associates two days a month to learn new skills.

How to match your skill sets and interests with job applications or making a career change

1. Look at your skill sets. What do you do really well? List those things.
   
   Scott Galloway, a podcaster and investor, gives the following advice:
   “Sustained, rewarding passion is something you build, like wealth, by applying hard work to your talents. Unlike passion, talent is observable and testable; it can be more readily converted into a high‑earning career, and it gets better the more you exploit it. Your mission is to find something you’re good at and apply the thousands of hours of grit and sacrifice necessary to become great at it. As you get there, the feeling of growth and your increasing mastery of your craft, along with the economic rewards, recognition, and camaraderie, will make you passionate about whatever ‘it’ is. Follow your talent, and passion will follow.”

2. What are you interested in and curious about? Make a list of all the topics, roles, and industries that pique your interest. 
   
   Are you interested in building a long-term career? “If you have the excitement to build a career with mobility and vitality, that will help keep you engaged and moving forward,” said Tierney.
   
   Do you want to help people? “I wasn’t seeking a finance position, but I knew I wanted to make a difference by helping people,” said Michael. “I’ve had that possibility tenfold at Fidelity.”
   
   Do you want to learn new ideas and skills? “Being in this environment is about learning,” said Michael. “You start with 401(k)s, but then you move on to pensions and other benefits. There are multiple layers to learn and places to go so you’re not stuck and you’re always growing.” 
   
   Do you want to learn more about money and how it works? “I talk with a lot of candidates who didn’t have financial literacy growing up,” said Michael. “They want to help themselves, their families, and our customers prepare for retirement and invest wisely.”

3. Find commonalities between your skill sets and your interests, and apply to jobs in the areas where your skills and interests overlap. Research which roles and industries have openings. Prioritize the roles that are the best fit for you, and apply to those first. Be open to roles and industries lower on your list—you never know where you might find your next job.

Follow your talent, and passion will follow.

Other pro tips to widen your job or career search at Fidelity or elsewhere:

• If you’re a recent graduate, consider enrolling in a specialized program to help yourself gain work experience. At Fidelity, we have entry-level job opportunities available.
• Consider applying for a position that gets your foot in the door so you can transition to another role later. Quick caveat: You don’t want to take a big step back in your career or take a role that isn’t a good fit for your skill set. For example, if you want to be an individual contributor, you might not want to take a role as a people manager just to get in the door.
• Think about relocating. While this may not be an option for everyone, it could widen your job prospects. You can communicate your openness to this on your Fidelity application. You might also note this at the top of your resume. While Fidelity doesn’t typically offer relocation assistance, new hires have 90 days to relocate from their start date, so if you get a job offer, you’ll have time to make the necessary arrangements.

Fidelity tip #2: Be more strategic in your job search or career change

There’s more competition in a down market. This means that there’s more pressure on you to make every application and interaction count. “You need to be much more diligent, dedicated, focused, and open-minded.” said Michael. “You really must focus your energy and your time to make every interaction and every possibility count.”

You need to be much more diligent, dedicated, focused, and open-minded.

How to be more strategic in your job applications:

1. Apply to one role at a company at a time so you can focus your effort on making that application as good as it can be. If you apply to numerous roles in a short amount of time, that makes you seem like a less serious candidate. “Serial applying dilutes the quality of your applications,” said Albert. “It makes you seem unfocused.”
   
   That said, recruiters look at your entire application history. If you’ve applied to multiple roles over several months or years, that shows your ongoing interest in the company. Applying to 50 roles in two weeks is a red flag.

2. Focus on roles that match your skill sets and interests. For example, if you have customer service experience and want to help people, consider pursuing a Fidelity customer service role. If you’ve worked as a back-end developer but are interested in working on the front end, consider a user-interface role.
3. Apply at the right time of year. Hiring typically slows down during the holidays and can take longer during the summer, when many people tend to go on vacation. If you’re applying across a wide region or nationally, different regions may have different hiring markets or needs, which could speed up or slow down the process, so be mindful of that.

Ways to make your resume stand out, especially for a Fidelity job opportunity

Recruiters can get more than 100 applications per job posting. Your resume is the main vessel for telling your story. Help a recruiter make connections between your experience and the role you’re applying for. The more connections you can make, the better.

You have only a few minutes to wow them. Deliver your skill set to them on a silver platter. Be concise yet comprehensive. Here’s how to do so:

1. Itemize your strengths and abilities. Then focus on the skills that are transferrable to the role at hand. Here are some examples of soft skills that can help you stand out, but be sure to highlight your hard skills, such as certifications, technologies you know, and technical skills.

2. Tailor your resume to each job application. “Some people don’t take time to do this, but it’s key to making connections between your experience and the role you want,” said Michael. Go line by line with the job description and your resume, putting the most important and relevant information up front. You can make this process easier by having a few different resume variations to work with for different roles or industries.

3. Highlight your education, licenses, credentials, and accomplishments. Be sure to call out the results of your efforts with quantifiable data points (e.g., decreased redundancies by 30%).
   
   If you’re applying to a technology role, don’t just list the technologies you’ve used; explain how you used them in practice and at what scale. “If someone can show me where in their history they’ve used technologies, it gives us a better idea of how they’ve put their experience and credentials to work,” said Albert. “We look for scale because we support millions of customers in high-volume, low-latency environments. Experience in an enterprise environment is a big plus.”

Reframe networking as a way of building relationships.

Network yourself into a new job without feeling awkward about it

“You need to connect with professionals in your field to help yourself stand out,” said Albert. For many of us, networking can feel transactional or downright disingenuous. “Reframe networking as a way of building relationships,” said Tierney. “That can alleviate stress.” Ask yourself and the person you want to get to know better how you can be a resource for them and their company.

Get to know someone first, and then ask for more information. “Be direct about what you want to learn, and think about how you can help them,” said Michael. Do you want to learn how they got where they are? More about what their role is? What’s it like working at their company? What do they need help with? Make a list of questions in advance so you’re prepared.

You don’t have to cold-call or email people to network. You can start with people you already know, whether that’s family, friends, or friends of friends. Start with people you have a connection with. 

Once you’ve connected with everyone you can in your inner circle, start reaching out to looser connections. That could be someone who graduated from your college or who shares a common connection on LinkedIn. Or maybe it’s someone who has the job title you want or who works at the company you want to work at. LinkedIn is a great place to build these connections.

“Be strategic in reaching out and getting visibility for yourself,” said Michael. “Reach out to recruiters and leaders in the space or company you’re looking at. Tell them that you’re interested in learning more, and ask whether you can speak with them about it.” “They may be able to connect you with a role you’re better qualified for, according to your career goals and aspirations,” said Tierney.

When people know you and can speak for you with a manager or recruiter, that puts you more top of mind.

Knowing someone at the company where you want to work can help elevate your chances of being considered for a role. “When people know you and can speak for you with a manager or recruiter, that puts you more top of mind, which is key as you’re fighting for jobs in a tougher market,” said Michael.

Essential tips for job interviews

Interviewing is both an art and a science. Read our interview tips. Here are a couple of must-knows from our recruiters:

• Do as much research on the company and the interviewers as possible ahead of time so you can make a great first impression.
• Know your why—why you want this job at this company. Be sure your answer is authentic and unique to you.

You can’t control how many job openings are out there, but you can control the story you tell yourself.

Persistence is key. Stay hungry and resilient. It can be confusing and demoralizing to be rejected. But it takes just one person and one job to give you a chance. Especially in a down market, it’s important to know that greater forces are at play. You can’t control how many job openings are out there or how many interviews you get, but you can control the story you tell yourself. Make it simple and hopeful: You’ve done plenty of hard things in life already, and you can find a new job.

Find your Fidelity with a new customer service or technology job

Fidelity’s customer service and technology jobs continue to be in demand. Our benefits package, work environment, culture, and commitment to learning make Fidelity an outstanding place to work.