Fall From Grace....But the markets up!!!

Once I got my first follower than the blogs would continue and even if only one person reads it, hey, its better then none.

The fall from Grace…after my first blog you might have thought things have never gone right for me, well you’d be very wrong. Part of the reason why things are so hard to deal with now is because I used to be a winner; I never had any intention of getting into finance until I became a loser. The reason was, and I feel I really must accentuate this ‘an average individual can earn an above average salary in no other industry apart from financial services’. You can’t become a doctor, a lawyer, an architect or engineer without qualifications, but in the City, the gift of the gab and balls of steal will see you earn more than all of those qualified sorts, and despite all my begrudging of this place, you have to love it for that.

So…I went to a very good grammar school, I come from a particularly middle class background so slotted right in. Was never bullied, did my work to a decent standard, excelled in sports, won awards and had the respect of all my peers. In addition to all of that, I had a thick head of hair, a waist line that didn’t lead to being mistaken for livestock and a moderately attractive girlfriend. I never tried to get into Oxbridge or LSE but I did get into my university of choice which was something I was quite pleased with.

I don’t know when the exact turning point was, there were a number of things; it might have been the abuse of recreational drug taking, it could have been the foul living conditions, it might of even been when I got 20% in an economics exam because someone convinced me that a couple of ‘these’ wouldn’t effect me that badly tomorrow. When I really think though, it was the shock of being taken out of a comfort zone. When I started University I saw it as my time to really push on and make something of myself. Unfortunately I was hit back by the reality that, I wasn’t that great; in fact I wasn’t very good at all. I got a 2:1 and obtained what I needed, but I didn’t have the high level of ability to get onto the grad schemes or to get the top jobs, I was middle of the road, and so off I went cap in hand to the city, where I knew I could get a decent starting salary.

Growing up is a bitch which ever way you look at it. If you are brilliant then you will always question whether you will reach your true potential, and if you have always been told the opposite then you’re driven and determined to prove all those doubters wrong. If you’re neither then where do you slide into society, your not the inventor and your not the go getter. What are you? Where do you go? Well, judging from the vast amount of my colleagues, you go and work in an operations department at an investment bank, this is our little crevasse of the corporate world, the works not taxing or challenging, diligence is required but in small pockets and you are always easily forgettable.

MARKET RECOVERY

On a lighter note the markets are starting to recover, which in reality I couldn’t actually give a monkeys ass. It makes about the same amount of difference to my life as it would if tomorrow the government decided that Thursday is come to work without your trousers on day, although lovely 65 year old Mary who sits next to me could raise a few eyebrows, but that’s all she would raise.

In all seriousness market movement does affect the volume of work I do and it means we get appreciated even less, which is always nice. What the market moving should mean for a ‘young hot buck’ in the City such as myself (attach laughter) is job opportunities, but there’s a catch.

If you are a trader, salesman/broker, or analyst which are the main job functions that were being banded all over the news during the sub prime disaster, then an improving market means more money and potentially great job opportunities. The flow of cash is back and the gravy train is about to roll back into the square mile. This does make sense and I at no time will state resentment for these characters because they work hard and are good at what they do.

I have seen some of them in action and why would you give a job to me, when there are guys out there who are so good and so crafty that they could sell a lump of coal to an investor and explain what a great long term investment it is. This pitch is based on the one in a trillion chance that the coal could turn into a diamond and even if it did the process would be so long that the existence of man kind could well be over. But they do it and they are bloody good at it as well. These types get an exceptional amount of bad press, but if you shout at a barking dog to be quiet they will only bark louder.

So where are my job opportunities? This is the catch I was telling you all about. It is true client facing individuals get headhunted the whole time because they have assets, being clients which lead to more money. In my job and many of the others in ops, you learn how to use the bank wide systems and this is where the fun begins. With the exception of Bloomberg, Reuters and a few other gems, bank systems are bespoke and not generic and normally built internally or by some powerhouse such as IBM. So effectively my wider skills picked up at this job are about as useful as being able to weave (not a banking term, I mean actually weaving). My only other option is going to work in Manilla in a servicing office, which due to my dodgy stomach, inability to speak Pilipino and phobia of civil war; it is not really an option.

So that is the situation, once again I hope this instalment has been insightful for you and next month more detail of ‘The Dreaded First Job’. Hope you are well and enjoy…