UK
“Go on get out,” I say, and point the way to the exit. A group of teenagers, fuelled by a night of drinking, start exchanging words with another larger group; luckily the first group are marched off the premises before anything serious takes place. I carry on with the patrol. Altercations and people urinating on my client’s property are minor but annoying offences, frequently observed.
A year ago, I had recently immigrated to this country. I had a number of years’ experience working in the financial markets, gained in my home country, and was fortunate enough to be working on the trading floor of a major investment bank. Like many others in the industry, this was the whole reason for coming to the UK. For those abroad, London is to the financial markets, like Monte Carlo is to Formula One.
I don’t really need to explain my change of career: I think the local tabloids have done enough of that.
I lost my banking job. I then spent six months looking for another one. I did exactly what I did to get the first job: up at 6am, check and reply to emails, look at the news, search sites for vacancies; 8am start calling recruitment agents, banks, brokers; 10am-5pm interviews with recruitment agents, and if it was a good day, with a prospective employer.
Six months of doing this was harder than any job I’ve had, and it certainly didn’t pay the bills. Every morning, the same spiel from the beloved recruitment consultants and the constant ‘not hiring’ from employers called directly, is enough to put even the more persistent off.
Towards the end of this period one recruiter told me that I didn’t stand a chance: I’d been out for six months; people who’d been let go in the last two weeks had acquired vital skills during that period, which I was apparently lacking. It didn’t matter that I’d been in the industry for four years prior to this. I noted her name, so as not to not talk to her again.
I am not looking back. Instead of sitting behind a PC and being ‘nice’ to clients all day, I am now on an adventure. Nailing would-be offenders with ‘reasonable force,’ making them behave how the client would like them to behave, is certainly character building. Some redundant bankers have been fortunate enough to stay in the industry; some have become teachers, tradesmen, police officers. I am a security guard.
I’m moving back to Northern Ireland to become a cop. 22k a year and vastly increased chances of being shot/blown up. Still better than hawking innovative software platform which will streamline managed accounts allowing the client more time to focus on their clients, no more babysitting MBAs on rotation and, sweet Jehoavh, no more Powerpoint. Though admittedly no more models and bottles, but I was getting to old for that.
I hope you have big muscles because you would need it as a security guard
SECURITY GUARD !!! well done you.they said i wasnt hard enough looking and so i am now on the trolleys at a major supermarket near you….be nice or i will scratch your car
Words fail me, they really do fail me.
Great job in handling Ledley King dude!
Come on, you were a temp trading assistant from Sydney. Now you’re out of a job, you realised it would be better to fit in with the rest of the aussies and become a security guard at supermarket in earl’s court.
If you can’t get back in to banking, there are other industries hiring. Can’t believe how unimaginative most bankers are; especially considering that most of us have spent time in our jobs analysing, trading other industries or originating for non-banking industries.
12 years experience in asian equities. now doing an nvq4 in healthcare. one of the few growing areas is restbite care for autistic adults. more rewarding in many different ways
Please can you all stop giving us recruiters a hard time… can you imagine how difficult it is to keep a job in recruitment in finance at the moment? I’m really sorry if we don’t reply all the time and can’t offer you jobs – they just haven’t existed and we can’t change the market! We’re targetted, like you have been, on making money. Unless you pay us to find you a job, we simply cannot provide you with flawless service as there aren’t enough hours in the day. We’re working for the client – they pay the bills. Most of the time you guys in finance are great; really nice people with excellent professional backgrounds who I would love to find a job for, but please don’t blame us when we can’t. It doesn’t mean that we’re not bothered about you, simply that we’re under loads of pressure too to make money during this difficult time and we’re being forced to be really specific and strict on candidates by our clients – they’re the boss right now. So, I hope you stick with us, find a good recruiter and they’ll do their best for you and will be honest about how/if they can assist at all.
By the way… I’m pretty sure things are definitely looking up!
I was a $103,000 analyst and now I am working as a newbie trader on a $30,000 draw, no benefits. It doesn’t pay my expenses, but this is all I could find Between February and April. I got my MBA from a top 10 school in March. Now that’s a tough employment market by my definition…. Hope you all survive this era.
finance is back, leaner and meaner…
I beg to differ – judging by the amount of cowboys (and cowgirls!) I’ve met in recruitment over the years, it’s no wonder you lot have a bad name…
Oh, and shouldn’t it be:
“I was a banker; I am now a trainee burger flipper”..
sure, now we ought to have sympathy with the headhunters, these are the guys that could not hold a job in the industry, not even HR and now face the axe like the rest of us. headhunters are vastly overpaid and are basically there because your average HR cant find their backside with two hands and the lights on and needs somebody to blame if the new hire turns out to be lame duck. Sure, you guys really are having a tough time…
I was beginning to respect Recruiter, who comments above. Then the obsequious, sycophantic comments start….Respect = zero
I have been a recruiter for more than 30 years, Jan 1979. This is my fourth recession, 2nd white collar and 2nd blue collar, and this is the most frustrating. Fortunately I have specialised i Private Banking for the last fifteen years, in Switzerland and Monaco. Now I am also working Singapore. As with all recruitment sometimes the clients is king, and sometimes the candidate. In Private Banking it used to be the candidate and now,……YES it is still the candidate, if you have a contact book and solid client relationships then you can move, if you wish. And I am able to move you, to a better paid, better appreciated position. I may not be earning 250k every year, but 50k every few months does me fine.
I am not working just now having exited my job 8 weeks ago, I have just secured temp’ job as a top end chauffeur. BUT, I agree whole heartedly on the origional comment on being out of the business for a short period, these dammed recruitment people want an easy life, I’d match them with estate agents!
The key is to target the business directly rather than via these agents!
Tread carefully and good luck to all!
A.P.G.
Recruitment consultants are having a hard time so please accept our poor service to candidates during these difficult times…………..
I don’t think so.
The poor service was available throughout the good times as well. If you treat people like a faceless commodity then you deserve all the backlash that goes with it. Deal with it, change the attitude or find your true vocation as an Estate Agent.
Vitreolic outpouring of burnt abuse for recruiters notwithstanding, i guesstimate that the top 2% specialist headhunt people can do what they say they can do the rest = dross.
Recruiters suck big time. Don’t use them. Let them be Estate Agents.
as an ex-recruiter i totally agree with the anti-recruiter comments. most of the recruiters i ever met were only there because they couldn’t get a real job in the markets. ironically, i have 10yrs mkts exp, 7 as a trader and then (stupidly) moved into recruitment. now i can’t even get a job in HR, and yes, i too am on the receiving end of their comments (come back when you have some experience blah blah) – that’s if i’m lucky enbough to get a response in the first place! kind of glad i have some land, a few livestock and a large veggie patch to keep me sane!
I work in an area in banking that is in demand right now. 3 recruiters left voice messages for me during the last 6 weeks and asked to be called back. THEY contacted ME. I call them back as requested by THEM. They never call back… Why do they call in the first place? Over my 20 years in banking I have had 80% of the times simply a bad experience with them. Sorry.
It is really a tough time for recruiters at the moment. We are working really hard to place candidatesand at the moment I am trying to develop some contacts in Luxembourg and I should be able to place about 10-15 candidates for a fund management company that has recently been established. At times I wake up at about 3:00am working till 12 midnight looking for suitable position for good candidates but still no sucess. However, it looks as if things are picking up.
The financial models are all bogus. The two big mistakes the financial industry has made are the following (1) one can create wealth out of nothing by trading in paper (2) one can accurately measure risk using the flawed financial models. People are just paying for greed. Trading is ultimately merely a parasitic activity. What angers me is that the ordinary taxpayer has to pay for the greed and irresponsibility of a few.
What area of banking is in demand right now?
Well nothing but a load of absolutely ridiculous responses – have you heard yourselves?
What I read here is a series of comments from scorned out of work bankers blaming recruiters for not finding them a job. I would like to reiterate 3 points from my previous comment:
1 – It is not our fault people are not hiring – we’re in a recession and doing the best we can for you but unfortunately we cannot reverse the recession. No not even for brilliant you.
2 – You are not paying us. How much time can I spend on you if I can’t get you a job, therefore make any money and still keep my own job? About 30 seconds politely telling you ‘sorry, but can’t help at the moment’. This is not rude, it’s honest – I thought you guys wanted honesty from recruiters and not BS? Man up and take it, it’s not our fault that banks aren’t hiring.
3 – Yes there are some bad recruiters; there are also bad bankers, bad estate agents and bad plumbers. Find a good one and they will do their best for you.
Donald, restructuring/workout specialists mainly.
Also Arabic speakers and Saudi nationals.
I’ve been looking now for about 6-weeks. The one thing that is grating me with recruiters is the advertisements when they have no jobs – what is the point? I now have a list of recruiters that I will not respond to their advertisements, I’m sure all job hunters do.
It doesn’t help that many employters have “Preferred Supplier Lists” and their HR cannot be trusted to weed out the “no hope cases for themselves”
I think i shuld say something about recruiters here. They SUCK, yes they really do. Most of them do not even know what they are doing and do not really work for their clients as they claim they do. They will place any candidate even knowing the candidate does not mact their clients requirement hoping it goes to an interview. The cliens then have to sort out the best from the unsorted list of candidates presented by the recruiters. Why do companes need them? They are of no use just like their peers, estate agents.
I know the banking industry is tough now, and this is a good reason to get the HR do some work rather than pay recruiters for doing nothing. Save the huge amounts you pay recruiters please. You do not need them at all.
I was a banker, and lost my job late last year, then travelled for a break.
and came back two months ago. I am still looking another job ,but now I have to take any job. Unfortunately some employers won’t allow you to apply junior positions. ~ Over-Qualified Culture and an excuse for those employers.
Being employed right now, is better than not… + security guards always have the best stories…but personally I need to be kept busy and a security guard job, just gives a person too much time to think…
Recruitment agents are probably going through just as much of a tough time as ex-bankers are right now but the difference is that they’ve still got their jobs and some are more polite than others…especially when it comes to foreigners.
I think what we are seeing is three dynamics happening in London at the moment – The first is the cost of entry for employment is higher – you need more marketing BS like a tailored 350 CV (doesn’t mean your hiring a better person though) to get a foot in the door, second banks are trimming fat and then rehiring quietly in targeted areas (lets play musical chairs on the Titanic) and a continued anti confidence towards banking from the general public, that only helps force more people out of jobs (which forces people in the general public out of jobs) and perpetuates a downward spiral that only years decadence and a lack of morality from people in power can really help grow.
If the Jobs and the Country are to be saved, we need new lea
You all need to wake up and realise that recruitment is sales, and candidates are commodities. Recruiters sell you. If you go out of fashion, and nobody wants to buy you, it’s not their fault. They can’t just rebrand you. If you’re looking for one particular demograph to blame, you’re on the wrong track. Everyone is to blame. Everyone is too greedy, and look where it has got us.
Everyone appreciates that recruiters are having a tough time – the issue I have with them is that they lie through their teeth – examples are advertising jobs that don’t exist, telling you how you are better off with them approaching employers (when its obvious that direct approaches work best in this market) – frankly, an industry rotten to the core and one that also needs to be regulated!
I think that recruiters are quite good. My last Headhunter came to me with opportunities in institutions i’d never considered before (and one i’d never heard of) that turned out to be really good. They sold me well to the employer (which is something i couldn’t really do myself without sounding like an arrogant idiot), and sorted interviews effciently. They advised me on new market rate salaries and i ended up accepting an offer with the bank 2 weeks ago. it was 5k less than i was on before i got made redundant but hey i’ve got a job and am happy now. thank you my headhunter!
Its hard to belive that u can leave what u thought was your goal,but provided that there are no options to change the situation then i can say u made a good move mate,get ready for your new challenge.
I think for people like us working in the finance sector it’s really very tough time. On one hand all you get fed is doom & gloom thru media etc., whereas on the other hand more pressure is applied by your employer to deliver more! The cynic in me thinks they are doing it dilebrately because they know it won’t be easy to find jobs out there as there aren’t many available hence we will be left with no choice but to put up with the relentless pressure to deliver more day in day out. May God have mercy on poor souls like us who work in the sales in retail banking.