UK
I’m a Hong Kong permanent resident in my early thirties. I have a UK degree in business and economics, an ACCA at the foundation and certificate stage and a postgraduate certificate in business management & IT.
I’ve sent out 400 job applications over the last five months, but I’m still very much unemployed.
My last job was outside of financial services, where I ran my own business consultancy for 10 months before it folded earlier this year. I believe my time out of the financial sector has counted against me, causing recruiters disregard my relevant experience. I’m now hoping for a front-office role.
Here’s a little more about me.
Job experience (chronologically ordered)
· Set up own business consultancy, which folded earlier this year because of a competitive market and low profit margins.
· Investment services executive and then promoted to assistant relationship manager at a private wealth management and business consultancy in Hong Kong (four years).
· Portfolio management and fund administration at a well-known financial services firm in Hong Kong (a year) and London (five months).
· Assistant accountant with a car dealer in the UK for a year.
Ideal role
I have tried to be flexible in my search, which is mainly front-office focused. I have looked for roles that are in business development, institutional sales, relationship management, investor relations and client servicing. I may not have AUM or experience in a private bank but I think I can assist private bankers in my next role, having dealt with them previously.
Can anyone give me some advice?
A version of this article first appeared on our Singapore site.
If you could not cope with competition as a business owner you won’t be able to do so as an employee in finance either.
You have a strong CV. Speak to the people you used to work with in HK and see if they have any opportunities or leads that you can follow up on. Good luck, it’s a tough market, but persistance pays off.
Fierce by name; fierce by nature!
Maybe do the anonymous CV thing on efinancial so people can see if you’re making any big mistakes on that?
Initial thought is that you’re applying for jobs in sales etc and writing things like this:
· Set up own business consultancy, which folded earlier this year because of a competitive market and low profit margins
Are you really right for that?
I don’t think people realise how much of a mess this country is in. I surmise it will take several years before it is prosperous again.
Just my opinion.
Fierce competitor is a noob.
It is your approach then, not your desire. Firms would love to hire guys like you over traditional fools like fierce competitor.
Job hunting is a skill. Never apply blind or go through HR unless you check all the boxes I.e Oxbridge first , internship every year, bla bla bla otherwise you are just wasting your tine . Network your way in… 500 applications tells me that something is wrong with either your CV or approach.
400 applications and no job? Take the hint – a career in finance is not for you. Your CV has entered the inboxes of recruiters up to 80 times a month. They no longer take you seriously and will regard any correspondence from you.
You have a weak CV. Get behind me and thousands of others in the queue.
fierce competitor you are a tool. that comment smacks of somebody too scared or lacking in ability to to start out on their own, assuming 100% of the risk and backing themselves to get paid on their ability to execute. It night not have worked in this instance, but at least he had the gumption to try and will have learnt a lot in doing so. Good luck to to him.
Easy to see why return on effort is unrewarded Your attitude is wrong. What will you do when your PnL is against you? quit?
Trader is absolutely right. This guy is a quitter and all those who made negative comments about me and were supportive of this sissy are morons.
Don’t listen to them: they are frustrated back-office folks who have nothing to do except vomiting on those who have even less luck than they do. Keep the faith!
What makes you think you can do a front office role with your qualifications? Take a middle office role and prove that you still have something to bring to the table. There is a graveyard of people like you who think they deserve a front office role.
Sounds to me like your expectations are not in line with your ability and experience.
Reminds me of a fat 35 years old woman I know who is only interested in guys that look like brad pitt and earn over 100k a year, don’t have kids or hobbies she finds objectionable. She is still single. She like you need to drop your standards.
I would suggest, although possibly too obvious, that you try Hong Kong ? I realise that you may not like the FILTH (Falied in London Try Hong kong) thing stuck to you but it seems that there is a shortage of skills over there and an excess of bodies over here.
If that does not appeal, then life in a small provincial town beckons… Charlie, Ferragamo, risk arb etc etc.
Sorry, m8
You are a dreamer(first class). Your age, academic qualification, past experience all work against you and you dare to even think of front office job. Be happy to get any job in an accounts office and qualify as an ACCA
in H.K.
I don’t know why people are obsessed with FO roles. These are rubbish revenue-generating jobs, the pressure to produce is huge. If you want no work-life balance and a high blood pressure, enjoy it.
Because they want to FIT IN.
Patrick Bateman – Are u telling me that those in non-FO roles cannot fit in? What a nonsense.
Do the CFA. Its the best way to show that you are serious about a career in finance and have the talent to back it up. Its the best qualification bar none!
Don’t listen to these guys. Keep at it. Change your approach. I know folks who got their dream job after 1 year unemployment. Believe in it and work at it like a starving animal. There are lot of guys who have worse CV than yours but are employed.
Waste no time on CFA, unless you want to spend xx hours crunching numbers on a DCF model as an equity analyst
Good Luck
are these 400 applications jobs that you want to do? Did you find 400 jobs you will be willing to do? Actually, I think you only want to do one job: running your own firm…? You are not applying for 400 jobs, you are “applying” for none. You are only happy with being your own boss. Any networking/start-up/business planning seminars on your schedule?
Back office star – Its a quote from a movie. The movie however is based on truth and no they cannot fit in
start buying lottery tickets, your luck may be about to turn.
Get a McJob for a bit. Anything is better than nothing and it will stop you atrophying. I know of one ex-hedgie who worked at the Richmond Branch for several weeks just for the hell of it. He’s back in business now. He said it gave him something different to talk about at interviews and apparently some interviewers were impressed.
Consider another sector! Your skills and method of working will probably be more valued and you’ll be less likely to be “known” to all the recruiters
Always easier to find a job when you’re in one –
ps Your experience in Asia will come in handy! No one can ignore the opportunities out there at the moment!
Best of luck
By all means network hard – it is realistically your only chance to gain a f/o role – as without front office experience at a bulge bracket IB you will never get past the gatekeepers for consideration for front office positions, as the stats so far suggest. Keep trying if its what you really want and best of luck.
What is a “Back Office Star”? Oxymoron no?
Some of the comments here are not those of current or future leaders but self servers. They are the kind of comments to either get your fired or make you fail in management due to lack of team, peer, management support based on “poor attitude and poor teamwork”. Whatever your views, as an educated individual there are better ways to express them than in the rude manner you have so proudly adopted. Whilst the person asking for advice has some work to do and I suggest that he/she adopts the constructive comments offered so far, so do you. Let’s start with basics. How about enrolling for a communication course or was it just a bad day in the office in which case enjoy your weekend and try go back with a better attitude on Monday. It’s a tough landscape out there right now and let’s face it, there are times when we all need a little help with our game. All the best…
@intheknow: You seem to think that there is only one recruiter per month to send CVs to in London. That’ll be a loose bound then! What a completely ridiculous statement. I am willing to bet that nobody ever let you near a number.
@Back Office Star: Obviously they dont let modern American literature or DVD players in beyond the middle office.
As ever the comments on efin provide a lunchtime spectacle of idiocy, which for some unknown reason I feel compelled to participate in.