Building a Career in the Current Environment
Would love to hear peoples thoughts and opinions on this topic as it’s something I’ve been thinking a lot about lately.
I graduated in 2019 into what was considered a good job market and since then it seems like there has been a ton of volatility in the hiring/firing cycle which I’ve been impacted by on both the front and back end. I know this is nothing in comparison to what people graduating from 2007-2009 experienced but it still feels like a weird/challenging time to be a junior person. From my firsthand experience it seems like companies are constantly undergoing a reorganization (usually leads to layoffs), over hire and subsequently lay people off (seen this both pre and post pandemic), or look to cut costs at the first sign of trouble/uncertainty (early COVID and current macro environment). This all has made me wonder how the hell people are supposed to build their careers in the midst of all this insanity.
I’ve witnessed firsthand smart people who work there asses off to get great jobs but then get laid off as a result of something outside of their control like COVID or getting placed in a bad group struggle to recover 2-4 years later. On the flip side I’ve seen people hit the lottery in terms of getting placed in a good/supportive group or firm, which then has allowed them to thrive or hold onto their seats during bad times. My brother for example is two years younger than I am and just got promoted to Senior Consultant at Deloitte/KPMG while some of my friends with similar levels of experience that got laid off are struggling to get junior analyst/analyst offers. In several cases I’ve even seen a handful of banking analysts with 2-3 years of experience having to start over as first years at boutique firms you’ve never heard of. I know that career growth isn’t linear but it feels like there’s an entire segment of people that graduated shortly before, during, and after the pandemic that’s going to be left behind as a result of these trends while people 3-5+ years younger than them get VP promotes.
Navigating the job market, especially in times of economic uncertainty, can indeed be challenging. Based on the most helpful WSO content, here are a few insights:
Adaptability is Key: The job market is volatile, and layoffs or reorganizations can happen unexpectedly. It's crucial to be adaptable and open to new opportunities, even if they aren't exactly what you had in mind.
Hard Work and Attitude Matter: Even in tough times, hard work and the right attitude can pay off. It might take time, but perseverance can lead to the right opportunities.
Consider Different Paths: If the traditional career path isn't working out, it might be worth considering other options. For example, some people have built successful careers in self-help blogging.
Focus on Happiness: It's important to think about what lifestyle you want and what makes you happy. If you're not happy in your career, it's unlikely to work out in the long run.
Be Prepared for Risk: Careers in certain industries, like trading, can be risky. It's important to weigh the risk/reward balance and consider whether the potential rewards justify the risks.
Networking is Crucial: Building a strong professional network can help you find new opportunities, especially during economic downturns. The WSO Networking Guide can be a valuable resource in this regard.
Remember, everyone's career path is unique, and what works for one person might not work for another. It's important to stay resilient and keep exploring different opportunities.
Sources: How to deal with a recession career-wise? A few lessons learned during the previous GFC, Still want the job? Are you prepared?, Q&A: The Future/Current State of S&T - BB VP Macro Trader, Careers During Economic Downturn
To begin with, and not necessarily addressed to you OP, but as a general observation: I don't understand from where this entitlement appears that I deserve the same professional outcomes as other people - especially those that graduated years ago -notwithstanding the recent challenges (COVID, lay offs, etc.). We get used to have it so good that we aren't prepared for setbacks or what? That's delusional optimism.
Now that I got that off, I still see some opportunities in the current environment. Clearly, there aren't as many opportunities as before, but do you really take the peak of the recruitment scene (post-COVID) as the norm? That's an unprecedented recruitment boom, an outlier, so it should be left out from the comparison spectrum of where we are now.
I'm sure that if I was in your place and I had a 30-year career ahead, I'll definitely find something that is close to what I like doing. We can only connect the dots when we look in the past, so maybe that's why you feel lost, but personally I heard many people in top positions telling me that they did 5 random jobs when they were younger but they've been able to take lessons and ideas that made them well-rounded and wiser to qualify for a higher position compared to those guys that are in autopilot and traditional paths since they graduated.
There was a funny remark about how current kids grind meanwhile MDs explain they're 20s something along the lines of: I've been a farmer in Argentina, then I worked in Italy as a bus driver, then I did some accounting in Dubai and now I'm here in NY IB. Exaggerated, but the higher you move in your career, expertise has its role, but having a unique background (not the diversity type) that can bring more entrepreneurial or money-generating ideas into a firm is what differentiates you.
I have myself somewhat a random background and not a traditional path, and meanwhile I can see a difference in my expertise (lower) compared to other peers, I can definitely feel that I'm more liked because I'm more interesting, have better social skills, and I don't generally fit the character "box" where other associates are labeled.
I get it, you have a hard time getting a similar job, but find something else to do and continue your search. Don't waste those months/year doing nothing, there are still many things to learn from other random jobs out there or even you can work in a non-finance related role in an industry that you may want to cover as an Analyst/ER/PE (tech, industrials, etc.)
Appreciate you offering your perspective.
As a junior person I wasn’t writing from a place of entitlement but that of a disconnect between expectations and reality.
Coming into an analyst program out of school all I was expecting was a training program which the firm I joined advertised and 1 year to prove myself. I don’t think those expectations are farfetched and are more or less unwritten rules in the industry regardless of when you entered. What I’ve seen firsthand, through friends/acquaintances, and increasingly on this site is that firms aren’t even honoring those basic principles anymore which is what prompted this post.
The other reason I wrote this post was that even though I graduated pre-COVID I only have 7-8 months of experience serving as a reference point for what a normal corporate environment is like. Since then to your point the job market has been nuts going from healthy to mass layoffs overnight in mid to late 2020, then to an over hiring spree from 2021 to 2022, and most recently a correction from that hiring spree beginning late 2022. Within two or so years that’s a hell of a lot of change and while likely an outlier makes me question what the hell to expect over the course of the next 30 years.
In the near term I don’t necessarily expect things to markedly improve given the cautious macro outlook and emerging technologies like artificial intelligence getting integrated into businesses (more of a micro concern in near term). My last fund (AM with $5-10B AUM) for example killed its analyst program and subsequently fired its analyst class (myself included) after 4 months on the job to replace us with AI that builds models. I don’t suspect that this is going on everywhere but I think at the margins some impact is going to be felt over the course of the next few years.
In the meantime I’m fortunate enough to have landed back at my old boutique shop whose willing to help me ride this out even though the pay isn’t great (sub $40K). I appreciate your advice about moving forward in the current environment and am probably headed for a career switch at some point within the next few years. In the meantime, I’m hoping to land something in Media & Entertainment, Gaming (think Draftkings/FanDuel), Real Estate, or even trying my hand at entrepreneurship to get some clarity on what it is that I want to do longer term.
Hey man, I notice your header says analyst in fixed income, was your automated job and current job in fixed income research/investing?
Fixed Income investing where my title was Investment Analyst with progression being towards a junior PM after the first 4-5 years.
My responsibilities were more or less the same as when I worked in Fixed Income research. That could have been the case because my research seat was at a fund with low single digit investment professionals but from what I’ve seen responsibility is largely firm dependent. Some research seats allow you to be very hands on and engrained in the investment process whereas others look at you in more of an execution role. What I mean by that is that they look for you to perform in a similar capacity to a research analyst at a bank. They want you to lay the groundwork for them by building models, following a set of companies, and writing earnings updates. Any research you put out isn’t going to be highly valued in roles like this and you’re more or less looked at as a consultant/advisor. You still have some degree of influence in these kinds of seats but are mainly used to catch a PM up on a name briefly, answer questions and point them in the right direction, or give them background info that they can then dive deeper into with the investment team. These are still great seats and give you a solid foundation though.
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