Expert Traders fired and never hired again

Hi,

Is it very common for traders to be laid off at some point in life and then never get an offer from any other investment bank? Even if they have 10y of experience?

I know that the ex head of a rates desk with about 10y of experience was laid off about 8m ago and hasn’t found any offer yet. Will he ever find anything? Or it is very likely that he will never get another trading job again?

 

Don’t think you can get a non-compete when firing someone

 

Seems very fishy that a head of a rates trading desk wouldn’t be able to find a job in trading. Worst worst case scenario some bank would offer him a more junior position (ie maybe managing a book but not people/running the desk).

The more likely scenario is that the guy has money and has taken his sweet time with a noncompete or severance.

Also this is assuming it was actually just a lay off and not fired for cause.

 

Yes it is common that is the nature of the business. Just cause you have 10yoe and head of a desk does not mean you are an expert. The whole desk could have been based on 1-2 relationships that no longer exist. This person maybe has not traded for years and manages staff and mentors junior traders only now. The list goes on and on.

Many people do not want to hire a former desk head to run just a book since managing that ego is no fun.

 

Although this is a bit different, I know three traders who once were traders, one of which was on the sales side at a smaller S&T firm. The other two were at a BB and when 08 came, they had to find jobs at the same BB and literally took entry level (ungrad entry level) roles that college kids were taking. They were in their 40s/50s. 

 

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