Masters graduate looking for career advice

Hello,

This is my first forum post on WSO. I'm just hoping for a little guidance on what my job expectations should be entering a financial hub such as London. While I haven't got a specific role in mind I would ideally like to work in a role that is: - Quantitative and analytical - "forwards" looking (e.g. research, forecasting) - Trading/investment management orientated (I appreciate these are very different - but both interest me)

About me:

Education & Experience -Studied a masters in Finance and Investment at a non-target school (Bradford School of Management and Law). -Bachelors degree (2:1) in Business and Psychology. -2 years experience in a client facing TRIRIGA consultant role at IBM. -Currently working as a Analyst at a small compan, which I began 3 months ago. The role is predominantly reconcilliation and return attribution of managed investments for pension funds and charities. I utilise a mixture of excel calc sheets and Wilshire analytics software. There are elements of ad-hoc risk management involved but this is unlikely to expand into a full time role and I don't see any progression opportunity here (there are employees and directors).

I teach myself in my free time, whether its excel/vba modelling, c++ basics, stats/probability, asset class specific facets (e.g. derivative greeks) or trading methodologies.

While I've graduted my masters recently, I am concerned whether or not I am still eligible for graduate positions at banks and asset management firms granted my prior experience - albeit in a different industry. I see my current role as more of a temp job as opposed to a career but at present its suitable whilst I pay down my masters debts. Are my relatively front office aspirations feasible? And if so is there a progression route anyone could reccommend?