uiucgrad, Piece of cake! Open a trading account, deposite $25K, turn it into $250K+ in less a year, then you will be noticed for sure. BTW, a good trader has nothing to do with his/her Univ degree(s). Good Luck
The backoffice is filled with former dreamers, whose dreams have mostly been dashed when they're in their 30s, have their CFA, MBA and what not, and still doing accounting and reconcile... YOu MAY be able to break into Middle, but then you'd still only be calculating ratios, risk and performance. Here's a plan: Work at JPM for about a year, then look for a similar role at a hedgie in a similar role. No hedge fund will wanna train a newb, so knowing that you at least come from a good firm helps. Then, since the office is so small, ask to work the night shift, Tokyo's a calling... You can't really do this at a bulge bracket since you get lost in the bureacracy, and no trader at the JPM desk will wanna talk to just a back office staffer.
I'll have to echo what others have said. Stay the heck away from Operations. The back office has a taint on it that is difficult/near impossible to erase. If you talk to people who not familiar with Wall Street, they will advise you to take the job because it is with a prestigious firm paying a decent starting salary. And of course, you will be able to make an internal transfer to trading. This is rarely possible. IMHO, you would be far better off working for free at a hedge fund working directly with the traders, than collecting a 50K base salary reconciling accounts at JP Morgan. Think long term.
You will not find trading position because you do not know how to trade. Try to find similar analyst or other position in Chicago and learn how to trade first. Every trader knows that it takes about two years of studying and trading before person be able to understand what works . Why would he bother to fight your learning curve ? Do not believe that you will send in resume and they will pick you, you must know somebody or be very good. You could be good but you will never know unless you trade.
All this talk about back-office men and women not being able to break into the front-office is totally false. On my desk, there are 7 people who began their career in ops or other functions of the bank, including the director of trading. If you are naturally bright and show alot of determination and hunger, it is very possible to jump into sales and/or trading. Whilst filling our last junior position, we specifically recruited within the bank to find a suitable employee. Hope this helps.
most top prop shops in the city will be visiting your school im in Chicago, look at these firms websites. see when they are coming to recruit call them, send your resume be persistent they are looking for new college grads drw trading wolverine trading chicago trading company (ctc) altea trading (ask for Jeff Quinto) allston trading spike trading geneva trading (ask for Cathy) GHCO Kingstreet pm me i can email you a list of many more prop shops in Chicago this weekend. I have a list at home. Did you play any sports in High School or College. Like some replies above these firms look for heart and competitiveness
sales, trading assistant, soft dollar sales, sales trading, those type of jobs, which even if they pay well are not trading... yeah of course even a bright auditor cld do well in those... but prop trading, no way...
Job of an analyst is 7AM to 8PM in NY and then count another 1+1 hours for commute, meaning your personal life is only 1 hour till you hit the sack. On the other hand, failure rate in trading is very high like 90% and stress factor is also important. If you are true to the salt, then your job will not end at the close of trading, more research and market reading is required all the time. You are from Chicago, so try to find analyst job in Midwest, you will still have to give 12+ hours a day but might luck out in commute time. Also if you choose the analyst route then make sure that you find time to take a 'cat nap' of 20-30min during the day, will freshen you up to go strong till 8PM easy.