currently work for a discount broker…i could spin it to be more important than it is, but its basically customer service and taking orders…a little bit on trade strategy discussion. nothing special.
great work/life balance. pay me well for the little brainpower i need.
level 2 candidate. hoping to be able to break in. i have to stay regional. i am in the south and cannot go to the northeast, so i already have tons of strikes against my chances.
new opportunity has come up with a global investment bank to get into regulatory compliance. essentially a middleman between major business units, ER, Cor Fin, Debt and Equity CM, M&A, etc. lots of exposure, growing facility, work with very high profile people.
i have a friend who has approached me to gauge interest. its not what ive been working towards, but i feel like its a better in than my current situation. pay is about the same, less hours (i have to pull a lot of OT to get paid well in current job)
take the leap? is going this just as bad as being labeled as operations? is it worth the opportunity to network or should i keep holding out hoping for a chance in the FO? im not getting any younger.
so i know this isnt the sexiest question, but any insight would be helpful?
my gut says yeah, this isnt exactly ideal but if it gives you the opportunity to network inside then its sures as hell a lot better then continuing to do customer service where little networking is possible because its all sales/service.
but would those of you in mgmt roles right now ever think to give someone in global compliance who interacts with you regularly an opportunity if you liked that person and knew they wanted to break in? or would it be more damaging to get in that way than the unknown of someone outside who has retail sales/trading experience? I know a lot of people feel once you get into operations you’re toast. same here or higher level of respect?
It has been described to me as a series 24 liaison between mgmt and compliance. Essentially reviewing position limits, trades, market making activities, email communications, helping in PnP drafting, and various other functions to keep multiple divisions in line with FINRA and to keep true compliance investigations from ever happening.
I’m not in a mgmt or hiring type role, but it sure sounds like a step up from the current role. Are you one of those guys I see in my local Scottrade office wearing headsets with bright shirts and cheap ties? (no offense).
If I was you, if I went into this type of roll I’d try to gear myself towards enterprise risk management (ERM) and not just internal audit (which seems quite boring to me). ERM deals less with just compliance with policies and regulations, and more of a wholistic view of the level of risk. But based on your current role, I’d think anything that gives you specialized knowledge and skills will be desirable.
Ever since Freakanomics did a podcast talking about how you’re more often than not better off by quitting and trying something new, I’ve leaned in that direction. So, my recommendation is to take the offer.
I come from a very similar background as you but am also trying to break in myself, so take my input with a grain of salt.
I also started at a discount broker in the south (i wonder if we’re from the same place?) and was originally on the phones giving quotes and all that boring stuff. On the bright side I worked at a call center and not a branch so there were a lot of different areas to work in. I did one year in service and then moved to fixed income sales for about two years… nothing real exciting here but I did get to use Bloomberg every day and got some experience putting together small fixed income portfolios for clients (usually $100K-$500K total)… I didn’t come away with any amazing type of knowledge or anything but I did learn a lot more there than I did in service…after that I moved to an investment consultant position where i basically hooked up retail clients with RIA’s… I absolutely hated the job, but I enjoyed speaking with some of the RIA’s and it allowed me to have some networking opportunities. I was offered similar roles to the one you are pondering along the way and turned them down because I saw a lot of managers leaving the broker I was at for MS, DB, and others but they were all still in back office manager roles and I can’t imagine them ever moving into any other type of position. I’m a LIII candidate and have had quite a few interviews for analyst positions (boutiques and corp fin.), so I don’t think settling for another position in hopes of networking is the best way to go about things… I would recommend looking into another position at your current company if you are not in a branch and start networking hard to get a position that’s a little more inline with what you’re targeting… Also, I would start hitting up recruiters. I’m not sure where you are in the south but if it’s Texas, I can put you in touch with some good ones. Also, saw you were considering a MBA in another thread… that would probably be ideal for you assuming you can get into a solid FT program.
My guess is that it’s the same. Your experience is all too familiar, but I’m not in Texas. What ended up happening if you’re no longer there and refer to the IC role as one that you hated? It sounds like you aren’t there either.