Quote:
Originally Posted by Unregistered
Hi Cassie,
Genuinely admire your spirit. I don't know the correct way to go about things, but don't give up!
To the rest:
1) It is difficult to articulate why I want to work in a bank. For me at least, it's not about the money. Maybe a little about the prestige. Truth is, I have friends working in banks who share stories about their lives, and I want a job there to discover why this industry attracts so many people, and whether the high pay is justified (is the job really that tough, and are the people really so smart??).
2) I wonder how many people commenting here entered the banking industry 3 years (or less) ago. I don't know how much the banking landscape has changed, especially in terms of job availability and level of capability of applicants, but in recent years the ratio of applicants to job vacancy is can be 200:1 for back office or middle office roles, and 1000:1 for front office roles. Analysts positions usually require prior working experience in banks (chicken and egg, anyone?), and because of the sheer number of candidates applying, even internship positions which do not explicitly require prior banking experience end up being filled by those who have already interned at some other banking role before. Because of this, to get a step into a bank - in literally any role, no matter how irrelevant - may just open doors, because without it your resume is dumped immediately. I'm not saying that an irrelevant banking experience will help secure another banking job, just saying that without it is becomes like 2 million times harder.
Sorry I'm very long winded, but in summary I'm trying to say: please don't judge people for not being able to get into 'the most basic jobs' like branch sales or BO. Even there, competition is tough. If you've worked in the bank for quite a while, I'm not surprised that you don't know this, because when hiring managers conduct interviews, they probably don't realise that thousands of resumes have been screened and deemed unworthy by HR. Anecdotal evidence: I once had the privilege of speaking to line managers via the backdoor about a possible internship position. They looked at my resume and expressed surprise. In their words, "With your resume you should have at least received a few job offers. Why didn't you send your resume to our HR?" I sheepishly admitted that I did, and HR probably screened it out.
|
im sorry but what 'prestige' is there for someone who's working in BO / branch sales?
I do have friends bragging about their 'banker' work life and after-work 'social life'. For those that are not familiar with the banking industry might think those so-called 'bankers' are living a high life with a fantastic career.
For those who are within the industry would know different tranches of 'bankers' are classified into different tiers and have their / our own 'cliques'.. I'm not being elitist here but this is what it is at the moment, i assumed you already clinched a role with another bank so pretty sure you'd seen it or soon would be seeing it..
Back to the topic about ppl bragging about being a 'banker'... hadn't you realized whenever you try to ask them what are you working as and they would give you a generic answer such as "banking analyst', 'analyst with the corporate banking side' , 'analyst with the FX division'... Like duh.. That tells us the insiders a lot about their high flying 'banker' profile..haha..
Another thing is the location of the offices. Pretty sure by now i guess ppl would know banks like to separate their profit making functions and their BO / other cost centers... For mild cases would be just different floors.. But most commonly banks would separate them to different buildings. If you tell me you're from CS / DBS / SCB from CBP or
UOB /
OCBC from tampines / cross street or barclays / SCB at MBFC... ppl would roughly know which trench you belonged to..
Then onto the topic about getting a bank job.. man, even with whatever preps you may have luck is still the most important factor. I had zero internships at all, armed with only a degree..But managed to get one back then.. I'm in the regulatory / control side overlooking PB and mostly structured corp fin/ treasury.. Pay is not too shabby compared to others who only have 2years of exp.. But if you ask me whether I like banking or not, I tell you i am just clocking my mileage before moving out from banks. Oh and by the way, i never once referred myself as a banker nor do the traders / guys that are managing UHNW portfolios that i often worked together with referred themselves as bankers as well.
I'll cringed whenever those DBS /
UOB RMs from neighbourhood
HDB branches start referring themselves as bankers and comparing themselves to those 'rainmakers' you see in financial news.