Storm clouds over the City
For many students and graduates this is a time of significant uncertainty. The newspapers are full of gloomy headlines and the effect of the financial crises is clearly global. In this short series we will try to explore how the credit crunch might affect your career prospects when you go back home. We will consider graduate prospects in the USA, South America, Australia, Middle-East, Africa, China and India.
So what does a bank closing mean for you? What is getting a job in a recession like? We cannot cover everywhere with this short series but please do post comments and your experiences no matter where you are from. Your experiences can be very valuable for other people and might dispel some of the myths of the current job market. You might also find this article from the BBC about the last recession in the UK (not career specific). This series is not going to concentrate on just careers in the financial sector but the current turmoil has ramifications across each economy.
For those who aren’t sure of what the Credit crunch is (or are too afraid to ask!) there are some basic guides here and here. Or ask an economics student. Essentially it is a sudden loss of the availability of credit and banks start to worry about liquidity. Credit becomes more expensive and institutions struggle to finance their business.
Careers in the UK
The introduction of the 2 year Post-Study Work immigration status gives international students the opportunity to work in the UK and gain valuable experience. However you must be realistic. Applying for the visa does not guarantee you a job. All it does is allow you to join the Home and EU candidates in applying. You must keep your expectations moderate.
Also bear in mind that at the moment there are few experts. The pace of change in the economy is causing uncertainties. Employers recruiting this week may not be recruiting next. Some employers may keep recruitment at a very low level until they are sure of their requirements. Please also note that the information below was correct at time of writing but may become obsolete quickly.
I wanted a job in banking but there’s no point now.
With that attitude, perhaps. It is certainly easy to think that and the media keeps telling us about job losses in the City and banks cutting staff. Clearly there are some jobs that are going to be harder to get into than others – no change there then. And yes, if you want to be involved in Short Selling then this probably isn’t your time.
But banks are still recruiting. Merrill Lynch is currently advertising graduate roles in sales, trading and structuring, IT and capital markets. Barclays Capital and UBS are actively looking to hire analysts although there are suggestions that positions might be deferred for a year (i.e. successful applicants will not start work until Autumn 2009). The situation will continue to change and each company will evaluate its own requirements and yes there will be fewer jobs than before but that does not mean the sector shouldn’t be considered. Perhaps think about different roles within banking. There is a perception that smaller investment banks such as Jeffries, Houlihan Lokey and Gleacher Shacklock recruit only from the top Oxbridge colleges. The reality is that yes, some employers do tend to recruit only from a select University background. However by looking through staff profiles on these bank websites you often see greater diversity than you would expect. They are always worth trying but just be aware that they may not have policies on recruiting international graduates.
Banking? Maybe I meant the “City”.
Often people confuse banking with the “City”. The City has many different types of institutions within it. So what happens during a financial downturn like we are facing now? In fact, who “benefits” from a financial downturn? The big one surely must be in financial regulation. The UK’s Financial Services Authority is currently recruiting through its graduate schemes – Graduate Development, Legal Development, Management Accountancy and Actuarial Development.
Consultancy / Professional Services
Professional Services are involved in much of the mergers and acquisitions currently taking place. PWC have not decreased their graduate intake this year and in some business areas may look to increase opportunities. Both PWC and E&Y have a strong on-campus presence this year. With many of these organisations the roles available may be different from before but that just reflects the current market. For example, Ernst & Young are very keen to encourage applicants to their non accountancy roles and are running a session on campus to discussion those career options. For those still interested in accountancy, there may well be options to work with some of the mid-sized City firms such as Moore Stephens and CRA.
Other roles in the City include insurers Lloyds of London who are continuing to recruit for their graduate programme. And of course, all of these organisations rely on the efficient exchange of information. Thomson Reuters have been recruiting in journalism, finance and IT. Their competitor, Bloomberg, are also advertising roles for graduates.
Are you surprised?
If you think about it, there is logic to these companies continuing to recruit at graduate level. Graduates are cheap. Yes the salaries may be excellent graduate salaries (and they often are) but compare that salary to that of somebody in middle or upper management and it doesn’t take long to see where cost savings can be made.
So things are not as desperate as you might think. There are still career prospects in the financial sector but we have to accept that the roles and priorities have changed for the moment. Competition for jobs in the City is always high and the current situation could increase that.
There are several useful online resources that can help you find out more about different business environments. Efinancialcareers tries to keep up to date with events in the City. The Telegraph newspaper has an awkward online version of its finance careers guide and Careers Tagged is a new resource with substantial information about a range of career options.
Ways in
The conventional route into the City is through a graduate training scheme. However these can be costly for employers and, in the current market, they have limited opportunities. There are often other routes in and you should consider if they are appropriate for you.
Get Qualified First!
It may be possible for some graduates to secure positions in accountancy by undertaking the qualifications first. This can be a costly experience and there may be issues with immigration visas. The different qualification routes have varying requirements so it is worth looking at the ACA, ACCA , CIMA and AAT. You can dramatically increase your employability by undertaking these qualifications with the potential to enter City firms at a level higher than most graduate entry.
Internships
Some banks are not currently recruiting because they have offered positions to last year’s interns. Whilst this should not be your expectation there is little doubt that interning can boost your potential. Interns are favoured by regulators and companies because they can try out prospective employees without having to commit to recruiting them. There are internships at many City firms despite the financial crises. Even small Investment Banks like Gleacher Shacklock and Greenhill have a number of internship opportunities. However you must be applying now for internships in summer 2009. Internships are advertised on company websites and careers websites.
Speculative Applications
A speculative application is where you send a CV and letter to a company in case they may have a suitable job. It can be more effective than you think. Sometimes companies are reluctant to advertise vacancies online because they may get hundreds of applications for one job. Speculative applications are often kept on file and referred to. To make this work your CV and letter must be extremely effective, targeted to a specific job in a specific company. You can take advantage of market intelligence to increase your chance of success. If it looks as though a company is going to pursue a new business area then perhaps you can market yourself as being a useful part of that process. Some companies do not accept speculative applications and state it on their websites. You should respect that.
So, not as bad as you thought?
If you are thinking about a career in the City, be it in a bank, regulator or wherever, you need to be clever – not just academically but also in how you go about developing your own skills and making yourself slightly more employable than the many others who might be interested in the same job. The key task whilst at University is to build up your knowledge of the sector beyond your academic requirements. Many organisations recruit from most degree backgrounds so you don’t have to be an economist to apply. But they all expect you to know something about what they do. What do the different roles mean? What makes one company different from its competitor? You need in-depth knowledge and, quite frankly, if you had to read the links above to find out about the credit crunch, things aren’t looking good!
The next article in this series will cover MENA.
Due for publication w/c November 3 2008
