A career change to Banking

Move2008 wrote:

Hello

I am currently working at an advertising agency and have spent the last 11 years working in sales and negotiation roles for various media owners in the advertising industry. What are the chances of me being able to get back into banking (e.g. a back office role in an investment bank)? I'm 34 and I used to work for Bank of America many moons ago (1992/1993) but realise this experience is slightly out of date to say the least. Any help of general advice would be greatly appreciated.


A member of the WH Marks Sattin banking team replied:

Unfortunately with the current state of the financial markets, still reeling from the effects of the credit crunch and processing considerably lower volumes of trades than in the proceeding Bull markets of the last few years, I think you will find it difficult to move back into what has recently become a very competitive job market in back office investment banking – particularly given the 11 year gap in your experience relevant to the banking world.

There are lots of candidates currently looking for back office work with very current experience – our best advice would be to stick with the advertising for a year or so and reappraise the banking situation then. In the meantime, if Banking is something you would still like to pursue, then we would suggest refreshing your skills with a suitable training course.

All the best

WH Marks Sattin


Current WH Marks Sattin banking jobs

Shifting to pre-sales or sales consulting

Krishna wrote:

Hi

I need advice related to shifting to pre-sales or sales consulting from Product Management (or Development). Please let me know your advice.

Below is the brief resume for your perusal.

• 7 Years Experience at SAP AG and in total 9 years experience in IT
• More than 4 Years Financial Product Management in SAP Mid-market Solution
• Financial Solution defined in Payment, AP, AR, Treasury (Roll-in from Customer)
• Financial Service - Banking Product Development Experience
• Multi-Cultural Team Co-ordination Experience
• 1 year Experience in Marketing
• Studied Engineering with Post Graduate Diploma in Business Management (Major: Marketing)
• Strong Communication and Client Facing Skills

Thank you and best regards

KK

A consultant in WH Marks Sattin's management consultancy team replied:

My advice would be that going down the consulting route, you would need to look at leveraging the strong experience that you have gained in the past and particularly in the recent past. A Product Management orientated consulting role may not be what you are specifically looking for but in order to get into a Consulting role at your current career stage, you need to be utilizing your strongest and most applicable skills. There will be a lot of learning and development that you will need to do in a Consulting role so in the short term, you need to apply your strongest skills.

Management Consultancy as a long term goal would be something that would broaden your horizons in terms of the skills that you will develop and the avenues that this type of work will open to you. When making that initial transition however, I would encourage you to think about the long term plan and benefits.

I hope that helps. Best of luck

WH Marks Sattin

Management consultancy jobs

Getting into finance as a graduate

Anonymous wrote:

I am French and I am a graduate in economics and management from a French university and have been looking for a job (in finance, banking, economy related areas) in numerous agencies for more than 5 months and every time it is the same reply: "You don't have enough experience" but the point is I have to find this experience. Now I don't know where to look? Can you advise me? I'm really eager to learn and work.

A senior manager in WH Marks Sattin's Banking and Finance division replied:

As a raw graduate, I'm afraid you will have been receiving the same response from many Banking agencies as our clients tend to come to us for qualified candidates. Most Banks have their own in-house graduate recruitment schemes which means that they do not need to come to agencies like ourselves for this level. There are specialist graduate recruiters out there and I suggest that you target firms like this. I understand your frustration, however I would suggest logging onto the Banks' websites directly and clicking on their graduate recruitment links.

Best of Luck in your search.

WH Marks Sattin


Jobs in banking and finance

Internal Audit roles In Middle East

Anonymous wrote:

I am an ACCA, CISA, CIS qualified Accountant with experience in internal auditing in the Mining and manufacturing sectors. I notice you frequently advertise positions in the middle east . I want to know how good my chances are in this market. I do not speak arabic and currently i am based in Zim


The regional manager of WH Marks Sattin Middle East replied:

Dear Sir/Madam,

Three very strong points to your CV are that you have top 4 experience, mining is an economically robust and globally mobile industry and you probably have both financial and IT audit experience. The factors weighing heavily against you is that the Middle East is an exceptionally popular destination at the moment for their booming economies and hence competition for jobs is very strong. The other factor is that business here are fast moving away from "emerging market" status to developed, modern economies and, to continue this charge, Western developed economy experience holds a great deal of sway here.

If the the majority of your experience is based on the African sub continent, and particularly Zimbabwe, you may find difficulty working on the more attractive Gulf economies such as Bahrain, Abu Dhabi and Dubai, but may wish to target Saudi Arabia or Kuwait which also share strong demand, offer excellent salaries but do not benefit from such a strong supply of candidates. Arabic language is not so important in the majority of companies, as long as your English is fluent.

Yours

WH Marks Sattin


Jobs in the middle east

Big 4 ACA Manager

Anonymous wrote:

I am a Manager in the Internal Audit/Risk Management department for a Big 4 firm (with FS focus). I do have prior experience in financial audit while I was studying for the ACA qualification.

Currently planning on a career change into Equity Research and with greater focus in financial analysis and away from the risk and controls work.

What are the current prospects in the market and what level should I aim to enter.

Appreciate any advice.


A member of the private equity team at WH Marks Sattin replied:

Unfortunately, with these current bear market conditions the vast majority of banks and stockbrokers have limited the bulk of their recruitment to candidates that are currently within equity research, which somewhat restricts the opportunities for candidates looking to make the move from the accounting firms.

To increase your chances of securing an equity research role when the markets pick up, there are two areas that you can look to develop: firstly, you should perhaps think about an internal transfer to a role that will improve your financial modeling and company valuation skills, such as within your firm’s Transaction Services or Corporate Finance teams. Secondly, a genuine interest in the stock market that goes beyond, say, the major stories in the FT will stand you in good stead as you will need to demonstrate an understanding of the markets during the interview process.

Best of luck.

WH Marks Sattin Private equity jobs