Career Advice what choice

[Rasputin1]

Long Story short graduated 2008 with an MSc in International Business and Economics not totally sure what i wanted to do but had an inkling for broking/market making. So spent few months applying for jobs and got sweet FA so ended up taking a job with the govt as an analyst, which was about as far from ideal but well i needed a job and a way to get me into london to make it easier to look for jobs in the sector i wanted to be in.

Needless to say after 9 months I still hadnt managed to crack anywhere and was throughly hacked off with the civil service so decided to quit reassess the situation and work on a game plane to get me where i wanted to be. So I upped sticks decided to move home 200+ miles and try get some experience in the north working for a small stock brokers. Not ideal but least it got me on the phone talking to market makers and doing some trades etc which i think will stand me in good stead. Sadly though the money is awful im on a 1/3 of what i was getting paid for the Govt but I do love the job which shows me its exactly what i want to do, so at least its focussed my career thoughts.

Obviously I would like to move back to London as unfortunately i dont see this role progressing sufficiently to get me where i want to be so I need some advice as what to do next.

Currently passed FSA Regs,SII Securities and Investment Risk. Still have Options and Derivatives to do but they will all be done in the next few months so im trying to make plans now. Because I messed up my A levels due to me wanting to join the forces im precluded from all major grad schemes so they are all ruled out which leaves me with smaller places etc.

Could anyone offer some constructive advice on how to present myself obviously im not a grad but neither am I experienced so how would i market myself. Had a breif look through all the STX directory and really couldnt see many openings can anyone tell me of any other avenues that may be available particularly in Market Making.

Thanks

 

[ns1000]

If you'd told me that as an employer, I'd have two questions. First, it sounds as though it's the money makes you want to move to London rather than the job. Second, do you want to be a broker or a market-maker. If you're speaking to market makers, my advice would be to ask them outright if they know of any openings, or at least get the name of their head of market making, and contact them directly. Be ballsy and phone them up directly. Nothing ventured...

That said, you may be better off getting your head down where you are at the moment, and just putting the hours in for a couple of years to get noticed. You can't expect to be earning good money to start with, but the rate of increase if you're good would be steep. You'd outstrip civil service earnings (if not benefits) pretty quickly.

 

[Rasputin1]

Of course its the money that makes me want to move to London and the fact all my freinds live there and I love the city from when i was there, given i am currently on min wage and a temp contract with very little in the way of future earnings scope as its retail clients who deal infrequently at best....

But thanks for the advice as i still want to gain experience and not find myself out of a job its a balancing act trying to talk to mm etc without work finding out because im sure it wouldnt go down to well.

 

[Block_king]

What is your maths like? MMs normally want very strong mental maths as well as obvious maths skills. You also need to know some programming to strengthen your CV for trading roles.

 

[arabianights]

Of course its the money that makes me want to move to London

Be ****ing mad to move to London for any other reason. Give me 20 mile drives through desolate countryside to nearest supermarket, it's a lot more calming. Pretty much anywhere south of York sucks.

I would, however, be suspicious at the "stockbroker" you're at that pays minimum wage. Sounds like a boiler room and it may be damaging for your CV...

 

[Rasputin1]

Nope def not a boiler room pretty much the reverse in fact which is kind of the problem and reasons why i dont see it going anywhere but you never know. Have to just wait and see.

Block King my maths is pretty good got 80% for my final year stats and worked as a statistican for the govt. Can programme in VBA and SAS though tbh I find it **** boring and horrendous so dont really want to go down that route.

 

[rosehound]

TD waterhouse? Redmayne? Leeds? am I on the right track?

these places will be good for your cv, as long as you make the most out of every opportunity you get. As has been said all you can do is be bold, make phone calls, speak directly to people, hassle recruitment consultants, the lot, every day, constantly. Not easy, and you need masses of luck, but thats the way the world works.... good luck mate

 

[Block_king]

If you got skills in VBA and SAS plus previous work as a statistician sounds like you got a good background imo, maybe learn C++ too to be even better.

Dunno how old you are but if you do the PHD route into stats you could look at becoming a quant, you could get in that way, someone with broking experience, programming skills, worked as a statistician would be a good candidate for quant roles, although I'm not a expert on quant work tbh.

Like everyone else said, the market is ****ed at the moment, there are loads of talented traders who are out of work and not much in the way of jobs, consider looking further afield to Asia/Europe/etc and Russia if you have the language (your e-name is Rasputin so I thought you might have Russian ancestry)

If we're being real though it might be worth considering other careers taking into account how tough the market is at the moment, don't want to knock anyone's dream but just being honest.