Tough time w/ finding first suitable job

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byebyesociallifecomeapril

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I have a few friends who are in BO jobs right now and the general feelings are:
1. Some of the people they work are not necessarily the brightest out there, know it and hate it.
2. Since there are a number of morons there, shining amongst the population makes it easier, and you move up the food chain faster.
3. BO is a stepping stone if you stay there for 1-2 years and then move to something else. It is all about marketing the skills.
4. If you are in a big name firm's BO, you it is not too hard to move to a small name firm's FO and than to a big firm's FO
5. Some people actually enjoy BO - the pay can be pretty decent, especially if they let you have over-time, and the lifestyle is pretty unstressful
6. You'll always have that one person who drives you up a wall - be it a BO or FO one.
 
Most of that is very true, but I think you underestimate the difficulty of moving from BO to FO. There is a real risk in becoming 'type-cast' - its difficult to 'market the skill' of two years spend reconciling dividends or processing nominee transfers. Difficult, but not impossible.
 
byebyesociallifecomeapril Wrote:
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> I have a few friends who are in BO jobs right now
> and the general feelings are:
> 3. BO is a stepping stone if you stay there for
> 1-2 years and then move to something else. It is
> all about marketing the skills.
> 4. If you are in a big name firm's BO, you it is
> not too hard to move to a small name firm's FO and
> than to a big firm's FO


your friends are in for a rude awakening when they try getting an analyst position; deadcat is right, you (or your friends) grossly underestimate how difficult it can be. if i had to guess, i would say your friends are right out of college, maybe with 1-2 years experience at most? they dont know that they dont know...
 
Yup. All of them got BO jobs right after school with no real work experience before that. One of them stayed there for a year, and than got in touch with HR, talked it through that she wants a career switch and HR set her up for an interview for FO where she is working right now. She made her sales pitch really well and brought up all her outstanding achievements - from graduating with honors to all the other extra-curricular stuff she did. (The reason she ended up in BO was because she started interviewing for jobs REALLY late in the cycle when all the top jobs were taken - she thought she had an extra semester to go because initially some of her credits didn't transfer). Anyway, point being that yes it is hard, but not impossible - if you talk to people and stay connected. I am a firm believer in that people go get a second chance and if you talk talk talk you'll get what you want when you are ready for it.
 
Seems to me like she got this job DESPITE her BO experience, not BECAUSE of it.
 
danny boy just sounds like one of those self-hating closet case dickheads with a bad personality that no one liked and then spend the rest of their life wondering why their wife left them and he never got the job roles that were more then that of a number crunching monkey.

wow, thats one hell of a run on sentance but i don't give a @#$%&.
 
DeadCat Wrote:
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> Seems to me like she got this job DESPITE her BO
> experience, not BECAUSE of it.


I think there is much truth in that. A BO job will probably not help you much in securing an analytical role. But, if you are a strong candidate with some of the innate skills required who ended up in the BO for one reason or another, it may not be a death sentence. I'll also agree that you should try to make a move within two years to avoid being pigeon-holed.
 
Can someone give an opinion of what a quality middle office role would be?
 
wegowayback Wrote:
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> start paying attention to the markets

Any recommendations for going about this? Trusted sources, particular industries or areas to watch? Thanks.
 
thasnake82 wrote: "Can someone give an opinion of what a quality middle office role would be?"

-- Risk perhaps? You should be able to develop your analytical ability.
 
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