From civil service to banks

I've been hiring analysts and bankers into bulge bracket investment banks in Singapore for quite some time. We often get Government scholars who were rotated around ministries for a few years hoping to get into the Admin service, but who failed and left the Goverment disappointed when their bonds expired. Most have stellar academic degress. The proportion of government scholars interviewed vs the total pool of Singaporeans is fairly high as they have better academic qualifications. However, the entire pool includes many foreigners with the same level of academic qualification.

Experience has been mixed. Maybe 20-30% of these ex-Scholars eventually make it in the bulge bracket from my observation. Many are a bit too rigid in their thinking and are unable to adapt. They are great for things like policy formulation, but they can't seem to pull off a complex deal or make great stock calls. Its almost like they have too much IQ and not enough EQ. You see these weaknesses our in our perm secs and ex-scholar politicians as well. The Government seems to understand this and at least on the political front, they now try to rope non-scholar outsiders into the mould. There are now Ministers from the private sector. From, my perspective its probably related to the fact that the outside world doesn't afford you complete control of the environment, while being in the Government does. In the outside world, you have to learn to roll with the punches and many ex-scholars just get smacked in the face.

So I would disagree with the previous poster who says that admin service officers would make good investment bankers. Granted my experience is largely with those who failed to make the admin service and left the Government, but I can see from their mentality and training that the general government scholar would generally be a poor investment banker. This is especially in light of the fact that they have to compete with foreigners from top institutions globally.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I've been hiring analysts and bankers into bulge bracket investment banks in Singapore for quite some time. We often get Government scholars who were rotated around ministries for a few years hoping to get into the Admin service, but who failed and left the Goverment disappointed when their bonds expired. Most have stellar academic degress. The proportion of government scholars interviewed vs the total pool of Singaporeans is fairly high as they have better academic qualifications. However, the entire pool includes many foreigners with the same level of academic qualification.

Experience has been mixed. Maybe 20-30% of these ex-Scholars eventually make it in the bulge bracket from my observation. Many are a bit too rigid in their thinking and are unable to adapt. They are great for things like policy formulation, but they can't seem to pull off a complex deal or make great stock calls. Its almost like they have too much IQ and not enough EQ. You see these weaknesses our in our perm secs and ex-scholar politicians as well. The Government seems to understand this and at least on the political front, they now try to rope non-scholar outsiders into the mould. There are now Ministers from the private sector. From, my perspective its probably related to the fact that the outside world doesn't afford you complete control of the environment, while being in the Government does. In the outside world, you have to learn to roll with the punches and many ex-scholars just get smacked in the face.

So I would disagree with the previous poster who says that admin service officers would make good investment bankers. Granted my experience is largely with those who failed to make the admin service and left the Government, but I can see from their mentality and training that the general government scholar would generally be a poor investment banker. This is especially in light of the fact that they have to compete with foreigners from top institutions globally.

so what kind of qualifications would be make HR take a closer look other than failed admin service scholars or stellar undergrad records. Would an MBA from ivy league do that? Or are there any ways of getting in?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I used to work for the government but now in a finance-related field. (VC/PE) took me a while to get there, through a combination of luck and lots of perseverance. Here's what I did.

1) I did my CFA and took a distance learning MBA.
2) I look for jobs within the government sector that gave me relevant 'business' experience or anything that requires me to deal with the private sector directly.
3) I did not complete my distance learning MBA as the degree was not recognized and hardly matter to my promotion and future job prospect. It did however, gave a good grounding on the key business knowledge that I lack as a non-business admin graduate. More importantly, it helped me fine tune what I was looking for.
4) I managed to switch to a relevant sector, did quite well and was sponsored to do another MBA from a better university in US. (hint: at Boston)
5) I eventually work for a large bank based out in HK.

my only advice to you is to clarify what you are looking for. Buy-side or sell-side? do you want to be an analyst? investment banker? private banking? private equity? debt? quantitative analyst? risk management? etc If you start with a vague idea and simply being drawn by the allure of the finance/banking sector, chances are, you will be wondering in the dark for a while and makes it more difficult to get there.

All the best!

Hi - not sure if you're still here, but if you are, could I ask which relevant sector did you switch to in step 4, and how did you make the switch coming from the government?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I used to work for the government but now in a finance-related field. (VC/PE) took me a while to get there, through a combination of luck and lots of perseverance. Here's what I did.

2) I look for jobs within the government sector that gave me relevant 'business' experience or anything that requires me to deal with the private sector directly.

my only advice to you is to clarify what you are looking for. Buy-side or sell-side? do you want to be an analyst? investment banker? private banking? private equity? debt? quantitative analyst? risk management? etc If you start with a vague idea and simply being drawn by the allure of the finance/banking sector, chances are, you will be wondering in the dark for a while and makes it more difficult to get there.

All the best!

Mind sharing which job was it ? I am 27, currently in one of the stat boards, as a systems engineering analyst, looking to make the jump into fiance investments as well, but my finance knowledge is limited to my stock investments and basic accounting only...do you have any suggestions for my case?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Mind sharing which job was it ? I am 27, currently in one of the stat boards, as a systems engineering analyst, looking to make the jump into fiance investments as well, but my finance knowledge is limited to my stock investments and basic accounting only...do you have any suggestions for my case?

Suggest you stop day dreaming and stick to your job

Why did you comment on a post that is more than 2 years old? I think you are the one who is day dreaming. LOL.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Suggest you stop day dreaming and stick to your job