How to start at a Bank!

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Work in bank so nice meh. Long working hours,
Office politics and endless need to outperform.. Still need to carry balls. Wonder why so many ppl wan to get in. Even the pay is high but u calculate $/hr. Still bo hua .. Gone are the glory days..

Totally agree with this. Glad I got out of it when I started looking like 40 years old at 30.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

oil and gas still much better

commodities even better

Apply for cleaner lo. No need experience and confirm can get in any banks you desire.

o' Dear Cassie
Are you gone for good?
Please, change your mood
and think about our wood.

Come back and let's go out to eat some food
this is from a dude
who can be sometimes rude.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

o' Dear Cassie
Are you gone for good?
Please, change your mood
and think about our wood.

Come back and let's go out to eat some food
this is from a dude
who can be sometimes rude.

I don't mean to be rude
And I hope you can be astute
But if you can read the mood,
You'll know she's gone for good.

If she has even slightly above average looks. she really doesn't even need to worry entering this industry.

Hard truths.

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.

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.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

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.

For BO/MO jobs, the more correct term would be support function department in a bank. Anyone who is in BO/MO who calls himself a banker is an idiot and obviously just trying to impress layman who might not be too familiar with the industry.

For FO jobs though it is not wrong in theory for someone involved in fronting the normal banking needs of normal consumers or corporations to call himself a banker, it does sound like bragging and trying to insinuate to others that he has "arrived".

Personally the word banker as most people associate with high finance life style and big money only applies to private and investment banking.

The trading side is also the same. I know a lot of people who are actually working in trading operations (i.e. support function) or doing backend analysis / report generation supporting the front office try to BS others by calling themselves traders or buy side analyst.

The banks know this and try to feed their ego without paying them big by inflating their job titles to ridiculous levels where every monkey working in a bank seems to be some sort of vice president. Useful for them to act out the role in front of unsuspecting friends and relatives.

Banker and consultant are 2 of the most abused titles out there. Many other industries who can pay higher than banking don't seem to have the same problem though - when was the last time you hear someone in the O&G industry anyhow call himself a driller or energy trader? Same for shipping, they don't anyhow call themselves broker unless they are really doing ship broking. Even those in HF/PE don't anyhow call themselves fund managers unless they are really the principal looking after particular funds.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

For BO/MO jobs, the more correct term would be support function department in a bank. Anyone who is in BO/MO who calls himself a banker is an idiot and obviously just trying to impress layman who might not be too familiar with the industry.

For FO jobs though it is not wrong in theory for someone involved in fronting the normal banking needs of normal consumers or corporations to call himself a banker, it does sound like bragging and trying to insinuate to others that he has "arrived".

Personally the word banker as most people associate with high finance life style and big money only applies to private and investment banking.

The trading side is also the same. I know a lot of people who are actually working in trading operations (i.e. support function) or doing backend analysis / report generation supporting the front office try to BS others by calling themselves traders or buy side analyst.

The banks know this and try to feed their ego without paying them big by inflating their job titles to ridiculous levels where every monkey working in a bank seems to be some sort of vice president. Useful for them to act out the role in front of unsuspecting friends and relatives.

Banker and consultant are 2 of the most abused titles out there. Many other industries who can pay higher than banking don't seem to have the same problem though - when was the last time you hear someone in the O&G industry anyhow call himself a driller or energy trader? Same for shipping, they don't anyhow call themselves broker unless they are really doing ship broking. Even those in HF/PE don't anyhow call themselves fund managers unless they are really the principal looking after particular funds.

Hi,

I am the poster just before you and thank you for echoing my thoughts..

It is because of this misconception / perception about anyone who is in banking = glam, high class, get to wine and dine with colleagues and clients and big chunk of bonuses at the end.

These people need to stop reading too much into efinancialcareer / wallstreet oasis,etc. Remember this, prospective applicants - you are in Singapore, a tiny red dot located in bloody tropical south east asia. You are not in wall street or frankfurt or london.. Stop thinking whatever you read on the internet applies to SG (not everything but to a certain extent).

And the last thing you would want is to send your CV with a cover letter telling me how passionate you are with banking yada yada,etc. C'mon la, we have hordes of applicants lining up from collyer quay to loyang telling us the same thing.


And if you still really want a banking job, then make it happen with your own hands. Don't come to forums n ask how to go about doing it because if you can't even manage this, then you have a long way to go.... Call me an asshat or what not, i don't care. I do not like spoonfeeding information to total strangers on the cyberspace.

Probably the last post from me for the week and here comes the dreadful monday...