thanks for everyone who pitched in advice. i appreciate all sides of views:)
Ki.zhuzhu – I admire your attitude. I think we all know you don’t want to be a teller but you are just trying to make the best of a tough job market. I would not completely scoff at becoming a bank teller. When I was in college I worked as a teller at Citibank. The quality and work ethic of most tellers is pretty low so if you are hard working and reliable you will quickly shine. I choose not to stay at Citi after graduation, but if I had it would have been fairly easy to move into commercial banking. A friend of mine started as a bank teller because he immigrated to the US and it was the only job he could get. Within a few months he was promoted to Assistant Branch Manager. He then leveraged this experience into a MBA at a top 20 school and now works at Booz Allen… not in a finance job, but in a great job notheless. I am just trying to make the point that a willingness to start at the bottom and work hard is often rewarded. …
To jayjay 77, Thanks for sharing your story. You definitely made a point. I remember a speech given by Bill Gates, " Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a word for flipping burgers-they called it opportunity."
Don’t worry. Before I took CFA level I I had no idea what I am going to do. Now I know exactly which direction I want to go. You might want to read some books on investment, trying to absorb those investing guru’s wisdom, which may enlighten you one way or another. It takes time and patience to find the things you want to do rest of your life.
To cfafrank, thanks for your advice. When I took CFA Level I, I didn’t know what to do. After I took CFA Level II, I really understand that I want a career in investment managment. It’s just that I need to figure out a way to start somewhere in this industry. It’s definitely wise to read those investment books. I have a plan to read the world’s top 20 investor’s biography or autobiography. ( it might take some time though:) " Patience has its own rewards"
Worked as a bank teller to put myself through undergrad commerce. Followed commerce up with earning a CA at a Big Four. (It’s no picnic!!) Now work in mid-marketing i-banking / corp fin. Just wrote CFA L3, work experience has been approved, awaiting results. Didn’t read all of the above but made me laugh when I read it given my track. Any Qs, feel free to shoot. Good luck. Your curiosity and determination are good attributes for any field.
Incidently, I saw your post in Lv3 forum. If you have passed level 1, bank teller could be good to go but definitely not the best. Even Personal banking officer is better and fits your level education level. I am in Toronto as well. Have to admit this year, we don’t have many corporate banking, investment banking position openning. Even back office positions requires years of experiences as competition in Canada is tough. Therefore, an entry level position on sales might be better. Trust me, you would have no chances on administrator, don’t think it is an easy job, it deals with document and I believe English is not your first language, which makes you less competable. I used to think like you,same situation, BA with CFA level 1 complete, throw my resume to some teller jobs and fund administrators. Not even one interview. Then I started to get interview from sales positions but I was not interested. After 3 months searching, I got some contacts from my friends in the bank and sent three resumes, got interviewed for all three and got second round interview within one week. Knowing that I possibily would have another offer from the same bank, the senior manager in back office who eventually hired me, even sent their offer the next day after meeting with VP and change the contact job to full time. Sales could always lead to many things, maybe commission based and low start but it trains you with communication skills and integration skills, but as people said, networking is very important. Sometimes the reason why you can’t find a job is not because you are not qualified, it’s because you don’t open a best channel for job searching. I won’t say the bank office job does’t help. I am in corporate now but funny enough, my back-office experience still helped along my career path. Once a while in the interview, people would still ask me the experience working there. When it is about the time, you would find it, hope this helps, Good luck.
To kevincwang, Thanks for sharing your story and advice. Sales will probably not work out for me-- the only interview I got so far was from Investors Group. ( I didn’t go because I knew exactly how they work). I have two friends who started working there last year and all left after a year. I don’t have any family or friends to sell those products to+ with all the madoff scandals-- it will be even harder to persuade strangers to buy in your products. I’ll be moving to Toronto very soon + September ( there might be more hiring then). I keep my fingers crossed and hope for the best 
In my opinion, sales is a great experience but if you get stuck in sales it will be hard to cross over to analytical roles. Being a good sales man and being a good analyst are two completely different things. As for teller positions, well almost everyone I know in banking has done an entry job in the retail banking in one way or another but it becomes extremely difficult to move from retail to corp. world if you get too deep into it, so be careful. If you move to TO it will be easier though as there are more opportunities. However, given the market conditions and lack of opportunities everywhere, if I were you, I would not be too picky and just take what I can. Worst case scenario don’t put the position on your resume. Summer time has historically been slow for job search and with this economy even worst…but September things start picking up for many reasons. Another good season for finding a new job is after year end when people take their bonuses and then move around to another firm, etc…. Anyway seem like there are lots of good info on here you can use so I won’t repeat them. Good luck dude.
I’d suggest starting out in missionary for a warm up before moving onto something more advanced…wouldn’t want to pull a hami.
To N.VanCandidate, thanks for the advice. Points are well taken. I’ll definitely keep my option open.
I would try to get into a back office role first, it’s a better way of “getting your foot in the door”. Being a teller might get you some work exposure (im sure ppl have been successful, and congrats to them), but it’s better to get “foot in door” with a backoffice versus a bank teller job.
To iteracom, thanks for taking the time to respond to my request. Your input is greatly appreciated