SG
This time two years ago I was working as an institutional sales trader in one of the world’s top financial hubs. I was in the thick of it, trading on behalf of some of the most respected names in finance.
I also had experience with two top-tier investment banks on my CV and had dealt with complex derivatives and structured products at a time when this area of finance was at its peak. I also have a CF and a Masters in Applied Finance. Yet in Australia I am struggling even to get interviews.
It seems that in the Australian sales and trading world there are only two paths to a successful career. One is to be taken on by a bank as a promising grad straight from uni and work your way up (which I can accept). The other (which is much harder to accept), is to use mum and dad’s connections, get a job as a retail broker and shmooze your way across to the institutional desk.
The frustrating thing about this is that many of the people in the later category are of questionable talent, some barely passing an undergraduate degree, and knowing very little about how to actually value a security (let alone a derivative instrument).
One could be excused for thinking that many insto desks in Australia simply don’t place as much value on technical expertise and a true value-added service. What’s more surprising is that institutional clients accept this. Some of these dealers might as well be selling oranges for all they know about the underlying security or instrument.
In Europe and the UK there are two intake programs: the grad program (similar to Australia) and the associate program. The associate scheme takes people with finance masters and MBAs and place a strong emphasis on technical financial knowledge and relevant experience.
But in Australia associate programs largely do not exist. The frustrating part is that even the international banks that operate these programs overseas don’t have them here. So at the moment I am now having to contemplate leaving my institutional career behind me and entering the retail world.
My formal qualifications and strong technical understanding, while mildly helpful, is largely becoming a waste of time and money in hindsight. At least I will be a master of my own destiny. Oranges anyone?
If you would like to get in touch with the author directly, please email frustratedinoz@gmail.com
If you’d like to write an article for eFinancialCareers and share your job-searching experiences, please email editor@efinancialcareers.com
Yep, that sounds like Australia.
Being an Australian I decided to return home and moved from London to Sydney and was taken aback by the lack of capability and knowledge. Though the reasoning behind this became apparent – everything they do is vanilla (monkeys could do it). To succeed there it is definitely not a case of what you know but who you know.
I ended up returning to London. I’m not ready for that old-school retirement home yet.
1 It’s interesting Australian investors seem less keen on structured products than we are in Europe. It also appears Australian banks got off relatively lightly in the credit crunch. I wonder if there might be some connection?
2 The general (at times extreme) volatility of equities suggests quite a few people struggle to value that type of security. We are all aware of (any paying for) the widespread inability to value credit derivatives.
Have an American friend with 5 solid years experience in New York and London for 2 top tier Investment Banks in Investment Banking and Fund Management. He’s only 27 and BSc/Masters in Finance from top 10 uni and MBA from Columbia University. He spent 4 months looking for a reasonable position in Sydney what he did before and nothing. He only went back as his wife (Australian) had family problems. As a result they are moving back to London where he’s been offered a position twice salary of anything he saw in Australia.
Question, I said to him besides retire issues (over 50), why on earth would you want to work in Australia over London or New York – it’s a backward market, massive lack of talent, no innovation, lower salaries and just a family connection to entry market!
digest what i’m bout to suggest, australia is the spot at the moment cause london and new york markets are shrinking by 25percent. australiaa is set to grow, the specialised derivative roles arent wanted in australia as the market is not larrge, dont judge the country on that.
Lack of financial innovation, ohnoes! Curse this sun baked, resource rich, young empty country on the pacific rim. Quality of life be damned, take me back to rain soaked blightly and the delights of the Central Line.
Australia, for a career move, has always been an act of desperation…
“Men rush to Australia only when all else has been lost. It is most unfortunate that those that continue to reside there go on to think themselves successful.” Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) Transcendentalist.
good job = stay in london….like sunshine = go to AU…it is a simply as this.
‘To succeed there it is definitely not a case of what you know but who you know’..wake up ..it is all over the world not just AU.
Quality of life?
House prices out of reach for the average family, cost of daily living (almost) comparable to the UK. Insects, bushfires and skin cancer aplenty during every summer and places in Oz just too far to visit for a short trip. Yep count me in for Down Unda!
Myself, i think that boring made by monkeys is better than collapsing made by love-to-say-and-think-they-are–but are-not genius
Having lost your job in a recession doesn’t mean the word ‘fail’ can be used to describe where you’re at.
most people here are missing the point, the fella “me kangaroo” had it right.
It’s all about another shrimp on the barbie, loving some VB Beer, driving around in my ute and rootin’ some sheilas.
aussie…aussie….aussie..oi…oi…oi….
And the food is very nice…
and Thailand is only 6 or so hours away…
So this is my experience. Many years working in many countries, McKinsey, JP Morgan, big deals, bigger deal list etc etc. My wife is Australian and so after 5 years slumming it in NYC, Paris, London and Dublin we went to Australia – for life, dog, kids, work on the melanoma and so on. And this is what I found:
1) For all its professed egalitarianism Australia and Australians are without doubt the most who-you-know people in the world. This isn’t a criticism or meant to be derogatory – its a stone cold fact.
2) But Australians confuse this instinctive tribalism with “mateship” Do not ask or question “mateship”. Together with vegemite and abofrenzy (the average polite well educated non-redneck Australian’s casual racism to aboriginals is astonishing) the holy trinity of AU is based on “mates”.
3) What this means is a very cliquey and at times almost suspicious group of people who interconnect with each other. There is a real fear of outsiders.
4) And the outcome, as the original correspondent’s experience, is that very talented people with world class experience fail to get jobs in Australia.
My two cents are get over it. Its got nothing to do with you. And the weather’s nice.
Funny; that sounds very much like what most migrants to this country feel like – long & short of it is that where ever you go in the world that isnt “your home” you will feel like that.
@zimbo
No not quite true. Many non-EU nationals got top paying jobs at i-banks in London over UK nationals. The foreigners did very well indeed here.