How do i get a job in the city?

[koolchris99]

i have 40 days left of my degree, Industrial Design at Brunel, going to get a 1st/2.1. I have 18 months experience in branding and strategy.

How do i get a job in banking / business? it appears no one will give me the time of day because of my degree. I have been to interviews already and usually they say i don't have an business management degree. However i have friends with these degrees and I have done projects about management, and i would say my degree is at least 3 times as hard.

I have been trading for the last 4 years, very well, on not small amounts.
I have 2 of my own companies, also doing well.

I am willing work harder than anyone else, and i know i will succeed, but how do i get my foot in the door?

Cheers

Chris

[ShadownINja]

koolchris99 said:

I have been trading for the last 4 years, very well, on not small amounts.
I have 2 of my own companies, also doing well.

Why on earth would you want to work for someone, then?

[koolchris99]

ShadownINja said:

koolchris99 said:

I have been trading for the last 4 years, very well, on not small amounts.
I have 2 of my own companies, also doing well.

Why on earth would you want to work for someone, then?

not well enough for me to have a lambo on my drive.. you can always do better..

im 23

[Chilli]

koolchris99 said:

ShadownINja said:

koolchris99 said:

I have been trading for the last 4 years, very well, on not small amounts.
I have 2 of my own companies, also doing well.

Why on earth would you want to work for someone, then?

not well enough for me to have a lambo on my drive.. you can always do better..

im 23

If I was in your shoes, I would put all my efforts into your own trading and business interests. Why would you want to work for a bank trying to build your way up over 5-10 years, only to get shafted?

Having the Lambo on the drive never happens for most bankers either!

[dvs_dave]

Foot in the "banking" door as a graduate:
Have a 1st in anything from Oxbridge or a 1st in maths, engineering, business, law or accounting type degrees from any top 20 uni.

[Erik997]

What do you want to do - sales/trading, m&a, fund management, hedge funds, research, etc?

Easiest and most established way in is through graduate programmes into one of the larger institutions but you'll find all will be full already for this year's intake and unfortunately full of Oxbridge/LSE grads (that's just the way it is). You may need to focus away from the large banks and try getting a position with smaller firms, hedge funds, etc. This may mean an unpaid internship to begin with to get some experience and work your way up from there. 90% of what goes on in 'the city' is not rocket science, its about good attitude, working hard, being able to blag well and being lucky. Unfortunately getting your foot in the door and your first break is usually the hardest part.

When I started over 10 years ago we had banks lining up to offer us jobs but unfortunately you're also looking at a very bad time with a lot of institutions still nervous and being very choosy about recruitment.

Edited by Erik997 on Tuesday 16th March 10:21

[v15ben]

Friend of mine got a 1st in Geography, did 3 months unpaid internship in the City and got lucky when the person who was due to take the job in September pulled out and she got offered the job. She did this instead of going back to 3rd year at uni, then went back and completed her degree ready to go back to the City in September.

[koolchris99]

Chilli said:

koolchris99 said:

ShadownINja said:

koolchris99 said:

I have been trading for the last 4 years, very well, on not small amounts.
I have 2 of my own companies, also doing well.

Why on earth would you want to work for someone, then?

not well enough for me to have a lambo on my drive.. you can always do better..

im 23

If I was in your shoes, I would put all my efforts into your own trading and business interests. Why would you want to work for a bank trying to build your way up over 5-10 years, only to get shafted?

Having the Lambo on the drive never happens for most bankers either!

i am an art dealer, and manage property, both my one and 12 others for family. its not a full time job and something i can do in my spare time.
My trading is also, not a full time job with the amounts im gambling with.

I am after a day job basically, something i can push myself in, something that is actually hard.

[okgo]

koolchris99 said:

Chilli said:

koolchris99 said:

ShadownINja said:

koolchris99 said:

I have been trading for the last 4 years, very well, on not small amounts.
I have 2 of my own companies, also doing well.

Why on earth would you want to work for someone, then?

not well enough for me to have a lambo on my drive.. you can always do better..

im 23

If I was in your shoes, I would put all my efforts into your own trading and business interests. Why would you want to work for a bank trying to build your way up over 5-10 years, only to get shafted?

Having the Lambo on the drive never happens for most bankers either!

i am an art dealer, and manage property, both my one and 12 others for family. its not a full time job and something i can do in my spare time.
My trading is also, not a full time job with the amounts im gambling with.

I am after a day job basically, something i can push myself in, something that is actually hard.

you can push yourself in your trading at home, its hardly easy. Like was said above, just because the bankers that post on here often have flash cars, there are 100 others that are not on PH and live fairly normal London lifestyles I would imagine.

[ShadownINja]

koolchris99 said:

Chilli said:

koolchris99 said:

ShadownINja said:

koolchris99 said:

I have been trading for the last 4 years, very well, on not small amounts.
I have 2 of my own companies, also doing well.

Why on earth would you want to work for someone, then?

not well enough for me to have a lambo on my drive.. you can always do better..

im 23

If I was in your shoes, I would put all my efforts into your own trading and business interests. Why would you want to work for a bank trying to build your way up over 5-10 years, only to get shafted?

Having the Lambo on the drive never happens for most bankers either!

i am an art dealer, and manage property, both my one and 12 others for family. its not a full time job and something i can do in my spare time.
My trading is also, not a full time job with the amounts im gambling with.

I am after a day job basically, something i can push myself in, something that is actually hard.

I don't know your trading capabilities, but let's assume you've proven to be consistently profitable for the last 4 years. If I were you, I'd look at getting together a pot of cash (£100k+) from people you know and managing the money for a fee. Or perhaps you can adapt your trading techniques to lower timeframes and learn to day trade.

The general consensus on PH is that you won't get a Lamborghini by working for someone else unless you're the best.

[koolchris99]

Erik997 said:

What do you want to do - sales/trading, m&a, fund management, hedge funds, research, etc?

Easiest and most established way in is through graduate programmes into one of the larger institutions but you'll find all will be full already for this year's intake and unfortunately full of Oxbridge/LSE grads (that's just the way it is). You may need to focus away from the large banks and try getting a position with smaller firms, hedge funds, etc. This may mean an unpaid internship to begin with to get some experience and work your way up from there. 90% of what goes on in 'the city' is not rocket science, its about good attitude, working hard, being able to blag well and being lucky. Unfortunately getting your foot in the door and your first break is usually the hardest part.

When I started over 10 years ago we had banks lining up to offer us jobs but unfortunately you're also looking at a very bad time with a lot of institutions still nervous and being very choosy about recruitment.

Edited by Erik997 on Tuesday 16th March 10:21

Thanks for the post, pretty much what i expected. Im applying to smaller banks and hedge funds at the moment, but of course, its hard having done my degree..

I made some poor choices when i was applying for unis and there wasnt enough guidance in all honesty.

I just know i can achieve at anything i put my mind to, its just getting the foot in.

Is there a year conversion? like law has? or is it a business masters somewhere good?

[koolchris99]

ShadownINja said:

koolchris99 said:

Chilli said:

koolchris99 said:

ShadownINja said:

koolchris99 said:

I have been trading for the last 4 years, very well, on not small amounts.
I have 2 of my own companies, also doing well.

Why on earth would you want to work for someone, then?

not well enough for me to have a lambo on my drive.. you can always do better..

im 23

If I was in your shoes, I would put all my efforts into your own trading and business interests. Why would you want to work for a bank trying to build your way up over 5-10 years, only to get shafted?

Having the Lambo on the drive never happens for most bankers either!

i am an art dealer, and manage property, both my one and 12 others for family. its not a full time job and something i can do in my spare time.
My trading is also, not a full time job with the amounts im gambling with.

I am after a day job basically, something i can push myself in, something that is actually hard.

I don't know your trading capabilities, but let's assume you've proven to be consistently profitable for the last 4 years. If I were you, I'd look at getting together a pot of cash (£100k+) from people you know and managing the money for a fee. Or perhaps you can adapt your trading techniques to lower timeframes and learn to day trade.

The general consensus on PH is that you won't get a Lamborghini by working for someone else unless you're the best.

I was thinking about that but id rather not deal with family money, i wouldnt want to risk losing a father or brother because something went wrong.

ive been ok on the profitability, year 1 was 35% year 2 61% year 3 134% and this year im up over 100%...

and if the good ship desire comes in (ive been in that one for years) i will be up alot more.

I am learning the techniques for day trading now, but as i am in the last 40 days of my degree and working 16 hours + per day its pretty hard to put it into practice

[okgo]

You thought about approaching a prop house with your trading records? Futex for example are one I have heard branded about often (sure there are hundreds throughout the city)

Its a bit cut throat but if you belive in yourself that could be a way in...

[andrewh]

No offence but having mad 134% on a couple of K and having the bottle to pull out of a 100K trade when its going bad and cutting your losses is another thing entirely, i would be more impressed if you's being making 10-12% on a sizeable sum.

[koolchris99]

andrewh said:

No offence but having mad 134% on a couple of K and having the bottle to pull out of a 100K trade when its going bad and cutting your losses is another thing entirely, i would be more impressed if you's being making 10-12% on a sizeable sum.

exactly, its a completely different game having 10k total in your account and 100k on one trade.

im not looking to be a trader, i would prefer another route.

[ShadownINja]

Hey, you wanted something "hard".

[koolchris99]

ShadownINja said:

Hey, you wanted something "hard".

being a rent boy isnt high on my list of lifes desires..

[ShadownINja]

koolchris99 said:

ShadownINja said:

Hey, you wanted something "hard".

being a rent boy isnt high on my list of lifes desires..

Filthy mind.

But learning to day trade properly is pretty challenging in many ways; if you think you have a knack for trading, why not make the step. It won't be as impossible as it is for someone who's a complete novice.

[Dupont666]

Though you may have to go in as a desk pleb and do all the st that the desk doesnt want to do... aka desk support (not analyst or assistant)

I know of at least 2 people that have had to put in 2 years of real graft and no social time just to be given the offer of a desk assistant... They are on a lot of money now...

If you want I can find out which banks and how they did it, though I suspect one of them is at HSBC and so that might not be possible for you.

But Support could be your way in.

[Vladimir Pukin]

You could do a Phd while you continue with your other trading. 3 or 4 more years of uni fun and they love Phds in the City.