help me fake a masters in econ!

I'm amazed that a person with a master's degree in ANYTHING from the London School of Economics thinks they will be able to fake a master's in economics based on some posts from a message board. My suggestion is to look for work for which you are actually somewhat qualified and will be able to do.

i'm amazed that any employer would want a m.s.e. to fucking "efficiently conduct internet research." that can't be serious.

did you take any economics classes to get the masters in social policy?

Whenever you communicate anything to the senior executive of the investment firm, make sure you follow up with "...because of the demand curve function, of course", with a knowing knod.

Damn, Hurting. How much sand do you actually have in your vagina?

I might have put it more gently, but essentially Hurting OTM.

also, what kind of really unsophisticated employer thinks that a London School of Economics degree automatically means an ECONOMICS degree?!?

OTOH Stencil and Eisbaer OTM - so maybe you can fake a Master's in Econ for this interview after all.

Say "Obviously, the '97 AFC - Asian Financial Crisis - was crucial".

(xpost) Yeah, that's where I'm coming from; the fault/misrepresentation definitely started on their side, so if Colette can get in there and do the job, she should go for it. (She might end up in an econ-themed version of "The IT Crowd" but that would just bring more roffles for us.)

from what i know about post-grad economics work, it is ridiculously mathematically- and/or statistically-oriented. so i'm guessing that the kind of "internet research" required for a person with a masters' degree in economics working at an investment bank would have to do with obtaining and making sense of corporate financial reports, SEC filings, perhaps some governmental/macroeconomic data (depending on the investment banker's bent of mind?)

then again, you could peruse the website for the CFA institute which runs the Chartered Financial Analyst tests, look at the topics and go from there?!?

SEC = Securities and Exchange Commission.

most i-bankers are not cfa's.

ie. that's a level of detail that somebody doing research for an i-bank wouldn't probably need - even at the master's degree level.

seriously, i know folks with undergrad degrees in bullshit non-economics majors who took the CFA exam (and passed) so that kind of work CAN be done w/t an economics degree -- although the learning curve for the CFA exams is much steeper for those w/t an economics or business/finance/accounting background (the CFA exam is notoriously difficult).

ie. that's a level of detail that somebody doing research for an i-bank wouldn't probably need - even at the master's degree level.

and what's YOUR excuse?!?

hey tad, remember i worked at an i-bank in its training group some years ago. i might have some slight idea of what i'm talking about.

hey tad, remember i worked at an i-bank in its training group some years ago. i might have some slight idea of what i'm talking about.

and you never forget to mention it whenever applicable.

so given your "insider knowledge" of i-banks, why not give colette some useful advice instead of aiming to make trife's ZING thread over on the noize board?!?

i'm not trying to zing. nor am i trying to give anyone bad advice. i just think studying for the cfa isn't really necessary for what this job sounds like. and i don't understand why you think it's something you need to take personally, do you do legal work for them now or something?

Faking a Masters degree in econ would be amazingly painful. Do not attempt this. It requires years upon years to train your brain to assume such a contorted shape without screams of agony erupting from your living bowels.

Whenever you communicate anything to the senior executive of the investment firm, make sure you follow up with "...because of the demand curve function, of course", with a knowing knod.

OTM.

thanks to those with serious suggestions, i guess i should have known better than to ask on ILX these days... no, i didn't take any econ classes, although i did take something basic in undergrad. my LSE degree was very social-science and nonprofit based.

the main reasons i think 'yeah, why not try?' to this are:

-- as noted above, if they're too stupid to read my resume, maybe they're too stupid to not hire me to this gig.
-- this is temp work. i'm not trying to blag my way into an entire career, just a few weeks' worth of pay.
-- i think i'm pretty decent at working things out as i go along, so if whoever is managing this would show me what to look for, i genuinely believe i could find whatever they're looking for.

and to hurting, yes, i'd heard that you're a total cockfarmer and now can see for myself. i've been constantly looking for a real job for nearly two months at the level i'm qualified, as well as below and above. being unemployed sucks. but being you sucks more.

He was trying to save you from the most embarrassing interview since the one in my workplace when someone with a phd in 'economic history' (it turned out they'd been studying the history of trade unions) was forced to reveal they had virtually no knowledge of economics when applying for the job of 'senior economic adviser'.

Don't sweat it--a economics masters student from LSE would be seriously over qualified for temp junior equities research. Or at least, in the UK they would be. If they only ask you about skills relevant to the job, you'll be fine.

I now spend my life trying to deal with people who either lie on their CV, or prospective employers who don't bother to read truthful CVs properly in the first place. If you were going for a permanent job my advice would be "seriously do not do this, you'll get found out and when you do your employer will blame you even though it was their fault in the first place".

But as it's temp work, I'd say go for it. If you can do the work then great, you've got a few weeks pay. If it goes wrong then, well, it's temp work, you haven't resigned from anything to go there and you can pretend it never happened. Nothing to lose, really.

i'm amazed that any employer would want a m.s.e. to fucking "efficiently conduct internet research." that can't be serious.

what the hell is wrong with ppl

Don't fake it, Colette, it just won't be worth it. Explain what you do have a masters degree in and see if they think it'll fit the bill. If not, hey, it's a temp job, at least you retain your integrity.

Actually I was thinking maybe you just shouldn't mention it at first. If they say "I see you have a master's from the London School of Economics" you can just say, "Yes that's right," and no lies have been told. If they say, "I see you have a master's in economics," then maybe you should tell the truth, but you could tack on "I did some coursework in economics,"(wait did you?) or something like that, so it's their mistake and not your lie. You can stress that you have really good research skills. By the time you're in the door they may like you enough that it won't matter

in the interview you should just talk about mick jagger.

also, what kind of really unsophisticated employer thinks that a London School of Economics degree automatically means an ECONOMICS degree?!?

Note that it's someone at a temp firm.

I've taken enough econ classes (it's my minor right now) read enough Econ and Financial sector blogs and for long enough that I think I could fake my way through an interview if I've had a few drinks, but this looks like it requires some degree of expertise in the work itself and you might be totally F'd there.

Hey Colette. My rule is never be caught out on a direct lie. But then I'm a big believer in getting the job and showing you can do the job by doing the job. If you can't do the job (or you get the feeling from the interview that you can't) then don't take it. But frankly, knowing you, I'd imagine you could do the job easily.

yeah, i'm not interested in flat out lies, but not correcting someone's stupidity is something else, i feel.

anyway, i had the interview with the temp place yesterday. the woman was very nice, and had almost no information about the job. she had a *really* hard time understanding the difference between an MSc Social Policy and and MSc Economics. i think i finally succeeded in explaining it in terms of flavors of ice cream (and kinda think i should get the job just for that)

after doing a little internet sleuthing, i think their general business is 'interest earnings revisions'. which i now understand in general, but am not sure if it's something i could be taught to do in a few hours or not. on the other hand, it's only people's money, right?

she had a *really* hard time understanding the difference between an MSc Social Policy and and MSc Economics

was she, er, not terribly bright? what did you say? "Social Policy is like strawberry. Economics is vanilla. Physics is chocolate. Art History is... rum and raisin."

i don't know why she had a hard time with it, i explained that while they were both masters of science degrees, they were in different subjects. like different varieties of ice cream. they're all ice cream, but are all made up of different ingredients.