Trying to Segue Out of Operations
I originally posted this in my intro post and realized I fudged up.
Let me start with a little background, where I would like to go, etc. This maybe quite long and don't know how to write an abridged version. So here goes:
I went to a SUNY school where I partied and goofed around. I majored in Economics with a minor in Business Administration, never took any internships and graduated during the "crash" of 2008. I worked retail for about 2-3 years, at the time a buddy worked Operations in corporate finance. He set me up with an interview and here I am. Lets fast forward 4 years later. Two days from now will mark my four year anniversary. I absolutely loathe this job as it is not providing any intellectual stimulation and I know my market value to be more than I am currently being compensated with.
Last week I had an interview with a BB for a compliance role. If the offer is presented to me I will most likely be taking it. This position should give me more exposure to traders, licensing etc.(Update according to my buddy who got me the referral, I made the final four candidates and they decided to go with 2 others [1 internal & 1 who had a lot in common with the department head. The internal candidate has an other offer and if they accept the other offer its possible they come back to me with an offer].
The question I have and its been presented here time and time again is... how do I make the eventual leap to FO or a more intriguing/higher salaried position.
Sad part is I will be 28 at the end of this month and I am HUNGRY but it seems nothing ever pans out. I am also currently enrolling in a mentorship program with a highly regarded FX trader at one of our other office locations in NYC. He has been insightful but I am not certain how to get the most benefit of it, he has told me I can sit on the FX desk one day if my manager is ok with it.
Sorry that I am maybe ranting/venting. Just trying to figure out how to make the most of my current situation and map a plan to transition out of this role. Currently contemplating studying for the CFA or GMAT and enrolling in an MBA. In my mind the CFA would be more cost effective but maybe more difficult to achieve. Is it worth it for me to go out and study for some licensing such as the 63 & 7? The one attractive part about the compliance role is they will sponsor for the 66/7/9/10, but will going into compliance for a year or two pigeon hole me even further?
Had an interview with a PE firm a few years back to work in an middle office role as trade support on a Oil Trading desk, they decided to go with another candidate because my price tag was too "high".
I had another interview at a smaller shop basically doing what I do now. The quality of life/compensation wasn't the right trade off.
Every recruiter pitches me on the I will get you into a smaller shop, working Ops there will give you exposure and possibly your best chance at moving to the FO. Is this true? I mean all these guys really give a shit about is making a rip.
Any tips/advice/etc. would be amazing.
Thanks Monkeys!
@"OpsDude"
A small company does help with exposure to FO meetings, managers, and just plain IM information. We are small, and everyone is copied on almost every bit of information that is passed around including trading, strat, performance, planning, ect. Plus when there is any kind of company event, like a happy hour, everyone hangs out together and talks, you have our CIO and CEO talking with fund accountants about company and personal things. Easy to get called to a minor FO position once you are a resource and they realize you have a bit of drive/talent. Pay may not be equal, but you learn and hear things in your first year that would take a decade in a MO role in a large company. Then you can take that experience into your large corp interview several years later. You will be able to mention tasks that you did that even the hiring manager most likely has not gotten to yet. Maybe better, maybe not. But you seem to see more and be seen more in a micro size IB.
@"CZtrader" Appreciate the insight. I think that has to be the target. I don't necessarily think I want to stay in finance for my whole life. Eventually I would like transition to a role where I am getting personal fulfillment and helping others (Not just bringing home a paycheck), but I can't leave until I get the FO. I will not throw in the towel, I'm going to keep fighting until I get there.
The fact of the matter is that a lot of people in ops want to move to front office, but very few do it successfully...so you do have an uphill battle, that will be either luck-based or expensive. There are generally four main ways to move to front office, which I'll highlight below:
1) Apply for an analyst level position. I graduated in 2009, and many ops people applied for analyst level positions the next few years as the economy improved, and a few made the jump. The success rate seemed heavily based on undergrad pedigree (e.g. the Princeton guy in our team was the first to get a IB offer).
2) Support a specific group/product/function and get lucky. Either have an influential manager decide they like you, or have the bank need more people for your product/function due to market increases. For example, my friend was doing a loan structuring ops jobs, and when the market demand increased, they took the top 2 ops people to join the FO group structuring group. Personally, I was friends with a back office director (in a completely unprofessional way - he found my fb statuses hilarious and I'd go get wasted with him...never really thought of him as a "network"), he had a good friend who was a FO trader, and I got an unsolicited interview for a front office trading position, just because he decided to throw my name out.
3) The slow climb. BO -> MO - > FO. I think you're a bit old for this climb though, but you basically slowly but surely take jobs closer to FO. I have a few friends who went this route, and its tough: a lot of them have just now made FO cost center jobs, but are still doing non-revenue generating work. So basically being a business analyst in a front office group, or a CRM in a front office group, and stuff like that. Presumably in 2-3 years they'll started true FO positions, but took 3 or 4 jobs to get there.
4) MBA. This is self explanatory. If you get into a top-15 program, you can almost definitely get front office IB work, but it's expensive. I've heard CFA's work well too, but I don't know anyone back office who has gone this route (I know some front office people, and CFA has worked well for them...my friend just got a HF job shortly after passing his level 3).
As the above poster has said, I've heard through the grape vine that working for a small HF/PE shop can occasionally give you the shot to take on front office experience, but I don't know how accurate it is. I know almost exclusively BB ops people, so I can't speak to that.
It is a sign of the times that people don't write 'segue' any more.
don't lump my whole generation in there, I thought he meant he wanted to ride a segway from the back office to the front office.
http://www.segway.com/consumer/
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