BTW, I've been contacted by an individual on Craigslist who has an open position. I sent her my resume but I'm not what she's looking for. I told her I would refer anyone who might be interested. I just have a vague job description-'someone with Wall Street experience and knowledge of the trading process' Anyway, if anyone is interested in applying I would be happy to forward your resume.
I can see that this job might be a bit of a detour to a trading desk, but so far, you don't have even one offer. If the pay is acceptable, I'd think strongly about taking it. You can continue to look for a better job, but at least you will have something market-related on your CV. And who knows? You might get in on the ground floor of something terrific. Don't forget the FBR firm started in suburban DC not that many years ago.
Appreciate your input. Also on the brightside they will sponsor for Series 7 & 63. I don't know, maybe I'm a little disappointed with myself for coming so close to good positions and then having to take a detour. Life happens. Curious, what kind of salary should I expect? They asked me on the interview and I just said that I'm flexible. P.S. Phone interview on Thursday. Position is called Trading/Finance Associate but it's a company that deals with distressed debt and credit. I have a feeling its a sales/marketing job but lets see what happens.
2 additional phone interviews: 1) The first position I found off MonsterTrak. The position stated finance/trader but its really credit insurance sales. The title is a misnomer, no trading involved-although this company is a division of a large asset management company. Interesting business though, for a premium, they will guarantee receivables from high credit risk companies. Also they will purchase receivables at a discount to rebate rate of bankrupt companies. Not a trading position, almost all sales, a little bit of credit default swaps but not the main focus. 2) Had another phone interview with a company from Switzerland no less! FI trading desk, asked me a bunch of general questions-hard to understand the woman with her accent but got through it. Position would be based in Basel, Switzerland...No idea where this came from, just got a random email but whatever, lets see what happens.
Saw your thread and have to say admire your job search sounds alot like mine when I moved to NYC from FL two years ago. Basically I went through the same process, emailing recruiters and companies and nothing coming out of it. My first break was working 4 months in a temp job that paid sh**, but was experience on my resume after college. A week after the assignment ended I got another temp job but this time at Goldman. The temp assignment was orginally suppose to last 4 months, but it kept getting extended and I continued working there for a year and three months. I recently left a couple months ago, because I got full time job at a major hedge fund (Not trading, but I enjoy my work). Alot of people knock temp jobs, but I got to say, I was making decent money at GS for a 22 year old out of a FL university. Most NYC firms won't hire you full time (salary) unless you come from an elite top 10 school or a name brand NYC school, in my job searching experience. GS put a good name on my resume, made good money (Was saving close to 2k a month, while paying Manhattan rent), worked good hours so I could go on interviews (10am-7pm), and I lived right across the street, so had a commute of 3 minutes. Only reason I left was because at GS you don't get respect when your a temp. I got emails with requests to do work and while reading through the email thread I would see stuff like "Can you get the temps to do this?". And when I brought up to my manager I'd like to be converted to a salary worker, he would give me the same lame "I haven't heard anything on it yet", but a temp I worked with who was the same race as him (and slutty looking female) got converted, so who knows what happened there. You have to watch who you trust too, I found out recently my manager at GS black balled me half a year ago. Basically gave me a bad reference for no reason when there was an offer on the table at a hedge fund. Honestly, without knocking the company, if your looking for experience and making decent money as a "consultant" the agency that got me into GS is pretty good. They actually get you interviews, its your job to knock them out. PM me if you want their info.
Thanks for posting, it's always great to hear other people's stories and to know that there's been others in your same shoes.
Decisions Decisions! I was made an offer (finally) by the firm in metro DC. It's about a 20K paycut from my engineering job but I expected that. Here's the kicker, their offering stock options in the company, and quite a few. At first I was really excited, but then I thought about it -why would they offer SO many options to a first year person and also, how many start-ups actually go public? Must be thousands of start-ups offering stock options that are basically worthless. Anyone been through a similar situation? Also had another interview today in NYC at an equity research/trading firm. I would be the low guy on the totem pole and doing ad hoc, trade support, and admin work for awhile. Similar to the previous position I interviewed and had all those issues. This would be much more likely to lead to a trading position, in fact the admin/associate I would replacing found a job at a hedge fund in commodity research (not bad). However there are some things I need to consider, this company is strictly institutional trading, i.e. no direction, providing liquidity for its customers. They went from 6 to 2 traders. It seems more hedge funds are hiring their own traders or using program trading and their will be less and less need for agency traders? And as I understand it, (and I could be wrong) agency traders are NOT trying to make money on the trade. They are just trying to execute per customers instructions, i.e. certain price range, time limit, etc. Obviously they make money on the commish, but not like MM's with P&L?? They are providing a service to the customer and not looking to take any risk. If anyone can offer some insight into this, i would definetly be interested. And the final consideration, and right now most important, I have a firm offer and I'm not 100% about the NYC trading associate position (although the interview went well). I told them about the other offer and they said they will try to contact me ASAP with any updates but they need to interview other people. An offer in hand is better then hoping for one?
I have sent a counter-offer to the firm around DC. Let's see what they say, I have to make a decision by tomorrow. I will also call the firm in NYC and see if there is any interest.