eFinancialCareers

Making the jump from Operations to front office management often brings with it a healthy dose of bumps. Factors like education and perceived skill can pigeon-hole candidates, forcing them to overcome the stigmas associated with years spend in the back office. The good news? It can be done. Doug Rickart, of Robert Half International in Minneapolis, argues the stigma associated with Operations jobs no longer exists. "There are a lot of... 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

As more Wall Street firms make use of psychological testing, candidates do have options. Here are some of them. More Wall Street firms are giving job candidates personality tests. If you're required to take one while competing for a position, are there any ways to maximize your opportunities and avoid any pitfalls? It won't help to prepare in the conventional sense by studying or rehearsing, as you would do before an interview,... Read more

After fielding too many cold calls from headhunters, some cynics might argue it’s not so much “how to choose a recruiter,” as “how to avoid being chosen.” But that’s just the cynics. There's no doubt that if you want to change jobs, it helps to be proactive. So how do you choose? Belinda Martin, manager at the London financial services recruitment company Joslin Rowe, offers advice on how to choose the... 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

A new government lawsuit against Merrill Lynch provides a fresh reminder that blindly participating in the less polite side of your workplace culture can damage your career. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sued Merrill under the Civil Rights Act Tuesday, based on a quant analyst's complaint that he was fired after being verbally harassed about being an Iranian and a Muslim. Merrill has denied the allegations, and the five-page EEOC... Read more

As Wall Street resizes itself, applying for jobs while unemployed appears set to become far more ordinary - maybe even respectable. Given all that's going on with layoffs and rumors of layoffs, this may be a good time to jot down the lessons I drew from a recent job search, which took far longer than expected. More than a year ago, after nine years as an analyst of varied fixed-income markets and... Read more

MBA graduates starting off in banking would do well to try out a number of different business lines, says Karen Kirchner of Bank of America campus recruiting. The best advice I can give today's MBAs is to pursue a position that offers opportunities to work in a variety of business lines as your career progresses. Banking leaders tend to have experience in a variety of areas. As you do your research... 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

Goldman Sachs is pulling still further away from the pack. That's not good news for the sea of candidates casting wistful glances in its direction. Back in mid-November, we compared several top banks' pre-tax profits, investment banking revenues and firm-wide compensation expenses. Viewing those figures side-by-side, we were struck by how widely they varied - so much so, the old catch-phrase about banking being a highly cyclical industry seemed to miss... Read more

Even in a ragged job market, candidates who get job offers can improve them. The key is being flexible about what you ask for - and having the confidence to ask in the first place. A successful applicant has much to gain and nothing to lose by negotiating details of an offer, says New York career coach Bettina Seidman. Her main caveats: Never bring up salary or perks before an offer... Read more