Commodities - not getting included in the travel/entertainment side of the business enough. Is this a hill to die on?
Commodities S&T, small shop. Dude in my mid 20s.
I have been here 4 years. Basically a senior scheduler, but have also had some small commercial responsibilities, and brought in deals for us.
My shop pays me super well, and I have gotten really positive feedback/reviews throughout all my time here.
My frustration is this -
Travel/entertainment/golf outings/basketball games, etc...are a huge part of the business, and what make it a rewarding and fun job. Also, how you make connections.
And I'm basically not part of it. I've never gone on any kind of business travel; have never been part of any kind of golf day either. I basically get an invite passed down to me like 3 times a year.
I get that the senior traders are the ones who are going to go to meetings with major trade counterparts, etc.
But there are instances where it's a railroad or pipeline service provider that's taking out my company, and I feel 100% that I should be going more often. Especially when I'm the person that works with them the closest.
I feel that I have paid my dues, and I'm literally the most trustworthy and respected ops person at my shop. But I'm treated like a low level office jockey (my place doesn't have any work from home)
I can get that there's maybe legitimate reasons why I don't go...they maybe don't want such a young guy representing the company amongst 40 year olds. Also, they do need someone to hold down the office.
I'm just getting bitter about feeling left out all the time. I feel that counterparts at my level, at other companies, seem to get included more.
Is this a legitimate gripe, and something that I should advocate for?
Interested as this is a potential career path for me. Just out of curiosity, what is the pay range for a junior/mid-level ops guy?
Can only speak for myself, but here's where I'm at. I think this is fairly normal for someone with several years experience, and who is good at their role.
Base pay is 120K USD.
Bonus last year was 40K. Probably will be slightly more than that this year.
Depends on your boss, but you’re not really trading per say so I wouldn’t expect meeting with buyers or sellers. It would make sense meeting with service providers at least 1-2 times a year. But at the end of the day you’re expected to execute, and the relationships and business channels were established and maintained by the trader
Entertaining is not that fun but it is a way to make connections and relationships. As someone else mentioned seems your bosses separate activities for traders to everything else. So you either need to mention want to move up or enjoy your cushy job. But seems they make the lines pretty clear.
Have you asked to go or better yet made a case for why it would benefit the firm for you to go? Perhaps the people passing on these invites don’t know that this is something you want to do? Always communicate before making assumptions.
agree 100% your manager doesn't know your goals if you don't share them.
Absolutely. Career growth goals have to be more explicit in the industry than other places like banking, law, consulting, etc where there is an expected and nearly fixed timeline of promotions. If you don’t say anything for years while doing a role you only thought was a stepping stone, people would not necessarily understand your frustration. Because to them, whatever you are doing now is often thought of as a terminal role. And there are indeed people who do ops, risk, finance, analytics, etc roles happily for their entire careers.
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