Will we sponsor you for the exam?  ABSOLUTELY NOT, and if you hear about a way to get sponsored without being hired—you are about to get RIPPED OFF!

 

Sponsorships are not taken lightly, and when a member firm agrees to sponsor you they are telling the NASD that they will be employing you.

 

The Internet has sites where it is suggested that they can get you sponsored so that you can take the exams before you have a job—this is supposedly going to give you an advantage over other candidates who have yet to pass their exams.

 

DO NOT DO THIS!!

 

Our reason is simple.  When you are sponsored by a firm that has no intention of hiring you, you will have to list them on your resume (called the U-4, it requires that you list all previous employers for at least ten years), and a reputable broker dealer is not going to be interested in hiring you for several reasons:

 

Your background contains a relationship with an unknown brokerage firm, with whom you appear to have worked for just a day or two.  It’s not like you can “forget” to list them, because they are the firm that sponsored you for the exam.  Imagine you’re in an interview and a hiring manager asks, “So why did you work for that firm for only one day?”  There is NO WAY to put a happy face on what you’re about to say.

 

Managers at a reputable firm are not going to be interested in hiring somebody from a firm that they consider to be less than reputable.  That is too bad, and it may not be fair, but that is the way it is.

 

The cold hard reality is that an employer worth working for is not going to hire you if the employer does not think you can pass the exams.

 

The fact that you already have “your ticket” will be of very little interest to them.  They’re more concerned with your attitude, your education, your work ethic, your previous successes.  Lots of things are far more important than the fact that you are already licensed.

 

Please do yourself a favor, and go through the process correctly.  Go on interviews with a positive attitude—telling the hiring manager that you’ve been studying for the Series 7 exam, and will be ready to take it fairly soon is far more powerful than telling him or her that you got your license with the “fly-by-night” firm.

 

Do NOT send money to these places you can find on the Internet that talk about sponsoring you in some sort of scheme where you won’t be hired, but you’ll appear to have been hired—when it sounds too good to be true, it is.

 

Heed this advice, you will save yourself a lot of heartache later.  This is a profession you’re considering entering, and as such there are not going to be neat Internet based ways to get around the rules.  Makes sense, right?