Does Back Office deserve more respect?

Morning all,

As a long time reader of wso, I've read my fair share of BO posts. Now that I've been working in the industry for a little while (AM), I'm starting to realize that a few BO departments certainly have talent.

While I agree with the popular that getting 'comfortable' in a BO role may do more harm than good, I strongly disagree that BO is a bad place to start a career out of your undergrad. Though some departments are more monotonous than others, their are some departments that provide a great stepping stone for undergrads from non-targets.

For example, a good friend of mine started his career in a 'clearing' role out of undergrad. He studied finance (maybe econ too?), so he had a significant advantage of some of his older co-workers. Rather than thinking his job was a dead end, he used his first year to study everything he could about the firm, and obviously, networked with various business groups. Today, he's a fixed income strategist providing insight to the firms private wealth advisors/analysts. Safe to say he's bringing home $120k-$150k (In the Midwest).

Hopefully this helps some of you prospective monkeys out there. Just remember, never get comfortable in a temporary role.

 
Most Helpful

Agree with the message here although I'm conflicted whether entering BO in the first place will really open future doors.

My first job out of UG was a BO role at a large mutual fund and I thought that if I do all the right things at the fund and network internally that I could land a position in a different group.. couldn't be further from the truth. Those high finance positions only recruited from target schools and the job itself offered no transferable skill set whatsoever so doing day-to-day activities felt demoralizing.

It did however give me the opportunity to study during the day for the CFA exams and the GMAT, which I eventually took advantage of before eventually landing into a high finance position.. so I guess the time and consistent income aspect part of the work definitely evens it out

 

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