eFinancialCareers

"The key to success is understanding the type of work you like doing, then being open to opportunities that come your way." Could you tell us about your career path? I graduated in 1988 from Fairfield University, where I was a finance and economics major. I worked at what was then Chase Manhattan for two years as a financial analyst before going to Columbia Business School, where I got my MBA... Read more

A discussion with Savita Subramanian, Head of U.S. Quantitative Strategy for Merrill Lynch. How did you get started in quantitative strategy? I attended the University of California Berkeley and graduated with a degree in math and philosophy. When I finished I ended up on the buy side at Scudder Kemper in their quantitative products group. The group I was in managed money using quantitative models. It was my first experience in this... Read more

Some people scour jobs boards, others network like there's no tomorrow. Whatever your job-search strategy, here's five tips to help you stand out from the pack. Think Strategically "You never want to get caught behind changes in the marketplace," says Dawn Fay, New York-based regional vice president of Robert Half International. "When the market changes, it's often subtle, so stay ahead of the game." That means reading as much as you... Read more

To get ahead, you must get noticed, most career advisors agree. A pair of marketing experts, Peter Paul Roosen and Tatsuya Nakagawa, recently posted on Lifehack.org a 16-point list of shortcuts for building a credible public profile in today's mostly digital world. Their essay bears the provocative subtitle, "How to Brag without Bragging." The authors' first recommendation is to work on improving your Web "hit list" - the first three pages of... Read more

"It is truly rewarding when you have satisfied the most demanding of individuals while competing against the best bankers in the industry." How did your career path lead you to private wealth management? I joined the old Chase Manhattan Bank in Hong Kong in 1989 as an internal auditor for the region and, after reviewing their private bank business, chose that as my career path. That led to a position at the... Read more

During the dance that goes on between a candidate and employer, you've got many chances to shoot yourself in the foot. In no particular order, here are 10 ways to pull the trigger. Bad Behavior and Dress We've all heard stories about people who've walked into job interviews talking on their cell phones or slurping a Starbucks, or at some point put their feet on the interviewer's desk. Not good ideas. Then... Read more

If you've got the financial skills and the right cultural understanding, getting experience in Asia can be a step to helping you reach the C-Suite. With interest in Asia-Pacific growing, top banks, established investment houses and even private equity firms are expanding both operations and partnerships abroad. For the right professionals, this might be the time to look East for new career opportunities. Bulge bracket firms especially are in hot pursuit... Read more

You've made it through five interviews, a personality test, a sample assignment, and weeks of nail-biting. At last, you get an offer. But it's 25 percent less than you'd hoped for. Now what? In such situations, every candidate needs a game plan. Those who end up with their ideal package are the ones who took care to make the right moves long before a job offer arrived, says career coach Win... Read more

Goldman Sachs Associate General Counsel Heather Sahrbeck: "I like becoming an expert in something and then using that in the context of a company's commercial decisions." Heather Sahrbeck is vice president and associate general counsel for investment bank Goldman Sachs. She oversees a group of 12 attorneys within the investment banking legal department, working on transactions such as securities offerings and mergers. In addition to her legal work, she shoulders some... Read more

Before you land an interview, you'll need to make sure you've got one of your job-hunting tools honed to a razor's edge: your resume. Sure, you know your resume has to present your skills and work experience in the strongest possible way. And, you probably know most resumes get a first read that is, at best, quick. But when you consider that most hiring managers make their decision about a candidate... Read more

Although most job interviews take at least an hour, hiring managers often decide how they feel about a candidate within a few minutes of shaking hands. So, it's critical that you separate yourself from the pack right away. Here's how to do it. Impressing managers during an interview requires something of a one-two punch: Your first strike is a solid resume, and your second is a stellar in-person performance. Effectively presenting... Read more

The financial industry is a big playing field. As domains go, the type of specific work varies greatly, and what is applicable to some IT professionals may not be applicable to others. Here's a primer. In order to put things in perspective: I write code for distributed enterprise trading systems. From the perspective of a techie, this amounts to writing tons of highly multi-threaded client-server code. While the code ranges from... Read more

We've talked about how candidates should work with recruiters. Here are some pointers about catching their eye and navigating around pitfalls in the relationship. Recruiters tend to approach people who are visible in their industry. Avenues to visibility include having your name listed in professional directories, attending industry conferences, and cultivating relationships with people you meet in the course of work. Ron Blair, managing director at Century Group, an executive search... Read more

You might be surprised by how well some of the tricks you learned to get through college apply to the real working world. The Wall Street Journal explores how soft skills are often as important to employers as your academic background. Did you study until the wee hours of the morning? Were you instant messaging friends and watching TV at the same time? You may not have realized it, but you... Read more

For many job-seekers, working with search firms is an emotionally laden topic. We asked recruiters and career counselors for some do’s and don’ts to help you make the most of opportunities these agencies can offer. The first step is to understand their role in the hiring process. If you believe the recruiter’s mission is to “help you get a job” - as one eFinancialCareers reader commented on a story - then... Read more

Many junior-level Wall Streeters look on an MBA as their ticket onto the fast track. But experts warn against thinking an MBA alone can open doors. Only a dozen or so business schools, the ones making up the top tier of MBA programs nationwide, can confer instant credibility to candidates seeking their first bulge-bracket investment banking job. But if your career seems stuck in the slow lane, and Harvard or Columbia... Read more

Chris Gardner, whose life and career as a stockbroker was the basis for the film The Pursuit of Happyness, says the key to success lies in choosing work that you love. “Do something that you love,” Gardner told eFinancialCareers when asked for his most important piece of advice about building a Wall Street career. “Find something you love, and be bold enough to go do it. If you don’t love it,... Read more

Imagine you're working for a high-flying boss who asks you to join her at a new company. Or a former supervisor rings you up to say there's an opportunity at his firm that's too good to pass up. Should you stay or should you go? According to career consultants, the answer isn't always clear-cut and requires careful consideration. For one thing, "you've got to determine whether the devil you do know... Read more

First, there was “digital dirt.” Now there are the “unGoogleables.” By dramatically compressing the time and effort needed to retrieve, publish and transmit information, the digital economy has reduced what economists call frictional unemployment - thereby benefiting both job-seekers and hiring managers. But progress has its price, according to The Wall Street Journal. As the work of researching candidates has largely shifted to the Internet, information that employers learn about applicants increasingly... Read more

If you're one of the few who've spent years and years honing your skills at a single firm, you might face some extra hurdles on the way to your next job. Here are some tips on getting around them. In today's market, remaining at the same firm for an entire career is about as likely as winning at roulette in Vegas. An Ivy League pedigree may get you in the door... Read more