Is it just me or is Toronto the absolute worst place for banking
I am currently on the search for IB analyst jobs in Toronto and literally no one is hiring. You have agentis and BMO hiring for new grads that’s it. I have never seen a market so dead. There are a bunch of experienced hire roles for asset management and finance open but require like 5 years of experience. I feel like this is the worst city to be in banking. We have a small number of boutiques available and they aren’t hiring. The big five job postings are dead and usually if they’re open it’s just going to go to a lateral. Anyone else in the same boat?
I think it's less so Toronto and just the world economy.
I work in banking in Toronto and it was a bad decision.
- Salaries are low. While higher than "average jobs", a regular banking staffer won't be able to afford a regular life here. Several of my colleagues are sharing an apartment with others and nobody has a car. I decided to live outside of Toronto to have a car and pay less in rent. A normal house is not a reality for the majority of single households. Out of 136 neighborhoods in Toronto, only around 30 have property below 1M $CAD (this number might have changed while I was posting this).
- risk-averse culture, tech gap
Toronto (maybe Canada in general) isn't up to speed on technological development. People are often risk-averse and only hire or want candidates with very similar backgrounds. Not a good place if you are an innovator, managing change in any way or just don't have a lot of Canadian experience.
- almost no jobs in specialty areas
As you have stated, there are almost no jobs in finance in all of the GTA. It is a tiny place compared to London or NYC and it will remain at that scale.
While a growing number of people in a country is normally positive in the long-run, the keys for the financial market are with very few banks that are not very innovative compared to the UK or the US.
- Mass immigration is only good for some
While millions in immigrants will eventually be a win for the country, at this point in time only landlords, car dealers and businesses will profit from it. If you need an apartment or a job (anywhere) - good luck. they don't exist.
Are you serious about a banking job not affording a normal life in Toronto? First year analysts are making close to $200k now 1-year out out school, with line of sight to $300k-400k in their mid-20s. What about the other 99% of the population?
Yeah but at least as an American you can freely move anywhere in the US with a massive market. In Canada you’re stuck with Toronto, Calgary, and Vancouver. I won’t say Montreal because you have to speak French. Market is absolute shit.
As a Torontonian, the only good I have to say about this place is that there's always something fun to do on the weekend if you have friends, and the food downtown is pretty great compared to what I've had in the U.S. (west coast/south coast).
Pay is shit, after taxes it's dog shit wrapped in cat shit, housing is shit, job opportunities are shit, politicians/leadership here make me want to blow my brains out, and it's impossible to leave because the U.S. won't really sponsor for finance jobs except for like 10 kids from Western Ivey who's parents already earn 7 figures and set them up for success super early on.
Yeah man, this is the exact reason why I'm changing my degree from Finance to Statistics. Gonna try to keep my GPA as high as possible then go the States for a financial engineering master's and try to get in MM hedge funds. I literally don't get why Canada isn't the richest country in the world. We have the resources, we have every single commodity that would make us rich af but here we are lol. I mean, we couldn't even capitalize on LNG shipments to Europe when Europeans stopped buying gas from Russians, why? Because we don't even have LNG terminal at the eastern part of the country. While on the other hand Americans capitalized on this and made shit load of money, hell a stock I pitched last year(GLOP) grew over 100%, lol.
I actually don't know. We should be using our fossil fuels/precious metal/lumber resources now to finance the transition to renewable energy and be a leader in those industries, positioning the country for success in 2040-2060.