Demand for young blood in the industry

I am interested to hear from anyone who can accurately tell me the level of demand for young blood in the industry.

I regularly check efinancialcareers and they email me latest vacanices from companies looking to recruit graduates. I am unfortunately not yet in a position to apply as I have not yet graduated but it seems every day there are at least one or two vacancies. I see this as rather a lot especially as this is just one site. Is it?

Also, what is the general life expectancy of a trader in the industry, would you say there is a generally high turnover of staff or not? I read that most successful traders quit after a given amount of time as they have made their money and want out, is this true?

Would you say some companies are more desperate than others? It seems that Refco and a few other familiar names pop up fairly regularly. Is this due to people not making the grade after being hired?

Any help on any of the questions will be greatly appreciated.

Steven.

Hi Steven

The demand is high, mainly because the turnover of staff is so high. Very few of the graduates will make it through to the trading rooms. From what I've heard, it's a very do or die cut-throat industry. My advice would be to earn the money elsewhere and learn to trade on your own.

Hope this helps

Overall there is a high turnover of people in the City. There are a variety of reasons for this...

1) Working in the City can be compared to playing for a football club. You will be tempted to move to another company, perhaps because they may lure you (or a complete team) away from your current employer with an upfront "transfer fee" and even a guranteed bonus.

2) Mutual loyalty is now somewhat non-existant. Average time a City employee spends with a company is 2 years before they move on.Not unusual to work for 5 / 6 different companies.

3)There is a demand for young / new blood in the City because they are cheaper to hire and easier to train (from scratch - they have not developed any bad habits)

4) You will find that working in the City is a young man's game. Many leave after burn -out. Alternatively, once you've made your money, what's the point in working 14 hours a day for people you don't like?

I'm afarid I have to disagree with FTSE Beater on this one.....

If you are passionate about wanting to trade, then get yourself a job in the City. It is the best training ground there is. You will learn much, much more than anything you will read in books. Better still, you get paid for it! (A lot more than working anywhere else, thus building up enough capital sooner in order that you can stay at home and trade for yourself!)

Demand is high because all of these companies rip you off, using you to generate volume without losing too much. Once they get their volumes high enough they sell the business. Simple.

1) musical chairs is prevailant in the finance game . they tend to want proven people , at least according to their rules.

2) new entrants into the city tend to be few , and usually will encompass a graduate program that gives you some taste for all depts. before they let you specialise . never be uncertain when they pop the question , be VERY firm when asked what role you want o/w you will be pushed to some brokering function.

3) I agree with FTSE . a successful self taught trader whips the pants of any so called bank trader . it's an old one , do a search and you'll find plenty to threads on this .

a lot of people have " city suavee' fantasies " and if you want to get in the city for those reasons then that's fine , just don't confuse that with getting quality knowledge of outright trading.

Thanks for the detailed replies guys.

Can anyone outline the role of a market analyst to me, I have considered this as another career option. How would an analyst operate/fit in within a trading firm? Are there many types of analyst?

Thanks for any help in advance.

There is always a lot of vacancies around Jan time as everyone gets their bonus and moves up the ladeder!!!!!!!!! hence alot of vacancies for junior/trainee traders.....defo go down teh city route as trading for yourself will get you no where!!!!

soosta said:

Thanks for the detailed replies guys.

Can anyone outline the role of a market analyst to me, I have considered this as another career option. How would an analyst operate/fit in within a trading firm? Are there many types of analyst?

Thanks for any help in advance.

Click to expand...

Broadly speaking a market analyst looks at the market and creates reports to give to the traders. I.e they identify level and market gfactors that might move the market, i.e compnay reports.......have a look on an investmetn bank career website for detailed descriptions

soosta said:

Thanks for the detailed replies guys.

Can anyone outline the role of a market analyst to me, I have considered this as another career option. How would an analyst operate/fit in within a trading firm? Are there many types of analyst?

Thanks for any help in advance.

Click to expand...

Callum's article gives some detail on Research Analysts (I assume this is similar) here

A Career in the City - page 4

Cheers

Robertral said:

defo go down teh city route as trading for yourself will get you no where!!!!

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What did you base that statement on - opinion, anecdotal evidence, concrete evidence, something else?

I agree . I can beat any co called bank trader . and they can take that as a challenge .

If you havent graduated I suggest you spend some time reading and paper trading to see if you have an edge and more to the point enjoy it and want to undertake this full time.

Personally I would strongly suggest you spend a few years (upto Associate level) in a Bank. After all they pump thousands into your training and if youre any good there is excellent exposure to be had.

wisestguy said:

I agree . I can beat any co called bank trader . and they can take that as a challenge .

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ha ha ha how is that so? so you can beat a stat arb trader? a dispersion trader? or a futures trader? are you basing this on return basis???
that is really funny...ha ha ha

wisestguy said:

I agree . I can beat any co called bank trader . and they can take that as a challenge .

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Also what are you basing this off.......the £50K u make a year trading spreads!!!!!! great times

expletive deleted CM

blackcab said:

What did you base that statement on - opinion, anecdotal evidence, concrete evidence, something else?

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from experience....

Pros for getting trained in the city are:

Pros for not getting trained in the city (i.e at home or by a prop shop):


lets have a poll!!!!

I wasn't questioning if private trading was better than bank trading, I was asking on what basis you said "trading for yourself will get you no where" which is independent of how good/bad working at a bank is.

blackcab said:

I wasn't questioning if private trading was better than bank trading, I was asking on what basis you said "trading for yourself will get you no where" which is independent of how good/bad working at a bank is.

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ok, but I was talking about training and extened it to a mini poll....
my basis is experience.....if you trade from home and then talk toa city pro you will soon see how little yoy know; i.e there is alot of information and stuff to learn which you can only learn about while wokring in a good institution..

hey guys im a fresh grad looking to get into trading however... i am female, rumour has it "its a mans world" and fairly difficult for a female to break into ... i am currently working as an fx dealer for a bank but what is the best way for me to progress??? and are these rumour really true in todays modern society?!?!?

well if your fx dealing (assume you mean your a broker) then your half-way there. Remember from my Banking days there were several women on the govies desk acting as Market Markers ..