SIM-UOL fresh grad starting pay

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I got a job a in a bulge bracket american investment bank with a pay in the high 3k range upon graduation. BSc Banking n Finance with 2nd Lower. They didn't bother to ask for my results at all. But am now struggling because of poor work life balance in the bank.

You expect work-life balance while working in an IB?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

hi, a fresh grad IT exec for $2700 is this all right ?

wow awesome... Care to share how you got the job ?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

hi, a fresh grad IT exec for $2700 is this all right ?

Bad, very bad.
Your peers will start ~$4k.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I got a job a in a bulge bracket american investment bank with a pay in the high 3k range upon graduation. BSc Banking n Finance with 2nd Lower. They didn't bother to ask for my results at all. But am now struggling because of poor work life balance in the bank.

Did u hv any prior working experience before?
With this kind of pay, I will gladly trade work life balance fori it.

[BonyBondo]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Did u hv any prior working experience before?
With this kind of pay, I will gladly trade work life balance fori it.

Do consider the trade-off in the long term. If they din bother to look at your grades, most probably they are filling u in to the Operations department where lots of mundane work are done day-in day-out. Are you sure you gonna live with that for years to come?

Putting things in perspective of the firm, the high starting pay is what that draws such a contagious effect among the undergraduates who are convinced by the kind of upfront salaries drawn from bulge bracket firms.

However, the REAL DEAL at the FO has already long been taken by scholars, ex-interns, ivy league graduates and etc.

Don't let this myopia get the better of you.

[wern]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I got a job a in a bulge bracket american investment bank with a pay in the high 3k range upon graduation. BSc Banking n Finance with 2nd Lower. They didn't bother to ask for my results at all. But am now struggling because of poor work life balance in the bank.

wow to achieve that i'm pretty impressed. did you intern with them previously?

Originally Posted by wern

wow to achieve that i'm pretty impressed. did you intern with them previously?

You're impressed with a 3k pay?! Or a BB name? How about a janitor working in BB with a 2k pay?

Hi, I'm a SIM UOL Gruadate (Graduating 2012) in Economics & Management

I still have 3 papers to sit for but I've managed to secure myself a job in a bank with a starting pay of $2700, starting this June. The position is Branch Executive.

As of now, i don't know what honors i am going to graduate with but I am aiming to clinch a 2nd upper class, if not a 2nd lower will suffice. If I do manage to clinch a 2:1 honors, maybe I'd negotiate for a higher pay. Either way, in my interview, i wrote in my application form that my expected salary is $2500 (i'm not that picky) but I was instead offered $2700 in my contract when they accepted me for the job. So, as much as many would think it's "under-paid", I say I'm grateful enough to be given a job in such turbulent times.

My advise to all of you is on the interview. The interview will make-or-break your chance to get that job. I think I did well during the interview as I did my homework prior to coming down for the interview and planned ahead the questions that is to be asked (which they did and were impressed with my answers).

Your honors is only a bargaining tool to negotiate your starting pay. After securing the job, anything that goes beyond that, your certs don't matter anymore. So I would advise all you guys out there to not just focus on mugging, but also focus on building your character because to me that is the variable that will take you places!!

All the best my fellow SIM-UOL friends!!

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Hi, I'm a SIM UOL Gruadate (Graduating 2012) in Economics & Management

I still have 3 papers to sit for but I've managed to secure myself a job in a bank with a starting pay of $2700, starting this June. The position is Branch Executive.

As of now, i don't know what honors i am going to graduate with but I am aiming to clinch a 2nd upper class, if not a 2nd lower will suffice. If I do manage to clinch a 2:1 honors, maybe I'd negotiate for a higher pay. Either way, in my interview, i wrote in my application form that my expected salary is $2500 (i'm not that picky) but I was instead offered $2700 in my contract when they accepted me for the job. So, as much as many would think it's "under-paid", I say I'm grateful enough to be given a job in such turbulent times.

My advise to all of you is on the interview. The interview will make-or-break your chance to get that job. I think I did well during the interview as I did my homework prior to coming down for the interview and planned ahead the questions that is to be asked (which they did and were impressed with my answers).

Your honors is only a bargaining tool to negotiate your starting pay. After securing the job, anything that goes beyond that, your certs don't matter anymore. So I would advise all you guys out there to not just focus on mugging, but also focus on building your character because to me that is the variable that will take you places!!

All the best my fellow SIM-UOL friends!!

Did you have any relevant working experiences prior to this?

Originally Posted by Austerity

I echo with what this guy has mentioned earlier on... In finance industry, its all about connections and personal branding. I'm currently a year 2 student studying Bsc Banking & Finance, but through connections (not family but through networking events & rapport over a course of 6months) I've interned in one of the bulge bracket banks during my year 1 summer break. Another piece of advice: do not have that self-defeating mentality just because you are studying in a private universities and therefore having to settle for a job with lower pay or unpopular roles. You have to strategise and plan your roadmap - if you know if you are not academically inclined PLEASE BY ALL MEANS find a niche for yourself - and it can be as simple as applying the porter's five force model on yourself!

Now many of you might be curious, how is this freshman in his year 1 able to break into the scene? My formula is quite simple - you have to plan and start early. As early as in army days, I've developed a passion for investments and did my due diligence by reading up ALOT on the financial markets and thereafter explored the realm of banking & finance sector. I knew this will be something that I can see myself working countless hours on without lamenting and cursing about the nature of the work.

Thereafter, I focus and channel my research into the skill sets that are highly valued by individual financial institutions. I shall not elaborate too much on it over here. A quick look at Understanding Investment Banking | Mergers & Inquisitions will give you a much better idea what is required from the respective departments.

CV & Resume should be viewed as forms of ART. Just over a year, I have at least edited my resume over 10 times to polish and refine every time I've accomplished something new - such as winning a nationwide competition or getting involved in school activities.

As for my interview, I faired reasonably well because I did have a few referees and testimonials from my past employers, schools & army. I also came prepared with some research work on companies & stocks (Yes, I was interning in ER) that I did out of my own time to showcase my passion in this line of work. I would also like to highlight that it is important to be have a strong self-concept coming to interviews as you need to be truthful and sincere in answering interview questions. Smoking in these top calibre companies just won't get you anywhere as these prominent companies are well staffed with HR managers who can scrutinise you inside-out, detecting lies and reading body languages. Of course, you've also got to be someone that can be gel in well with the rest of the department. An easy way of putting things into perspective is to visualise yourself on the other side of the interviewing room - would you want to hire a first class honor candidate with nothing else in particular to boost or a second upper honor candidate that has a lot similar & interesting hobbies as you do?

Ultimately, 天时地利人和 plays a very important part as well. What you can change and do from now is, to equip yourself with the right skill sets, knowledge and expertise in area of your targeted area of job. It might be daunting to identify your career path too early in your undergraduate life but YOU JUST HAVE TO DO IT. You need whatever edge you can gain on your hand to stand ahead of the rest. Do attend networking sessions regularly. CFA Singapore Society is one good avenue to start off with. As the adage goes: "One door leads to many other doors." If people find comfortable talking to you, they will usually share some news and whisper exclusive networking groups that are per-invite-basis base on how sincere & humble you are. Another way to quickly understand the skill sets required for the industry is to go linkedin and check out on the public profiles of individuals who have interned in your targeted companies to see what they have done leading up to their internship or graduate programmes.

Hope the rest of the SIM peeps who have seen this will start taking more actions from today! Believe in yourself!

Hi may I know which dept in the BB you interned in? And care to share your story of how you made it in?