eFinancialCareers

A few weeks ago, we ran an article on alleged bank by bank salary increases. We'll be updating this tomorrow, but here's a quick preview. According to several London recruiters, the salary increases at Goldman have blown other banks' fixed pay hikes out of the water. The numbers concerned are alleged to be as below. We asked Goldman to comment on the veracity of these figures; they declined.... Read more

If you’re applying for multiple jobs, and doing so online, you may reach a point at which you start to question the value of writing yet another cover letter describing why you’re suited to yet another role that you’re applying for speculatively and may get absolutely nowhere with. Don’t go there. Although covering letters are time consuming, repetitive, can state the obvious, and may never be read, they’re probably still worth it. “CVs... Read more

Bad news if you’ve decided you wouldn’t mind working for UBS now that it’s profitable again. Despite losing/trimming a further 464 people in the final quarter, CFO John Cryan said today that, “most major roles are now occupied,” after the bank made, “some important hires in the course of January.” As has already been widely reported, UBS also increased cash bonuses by a third, leaving average total comp in the investment... Read more

Almost without exception, US banks have now announced their bonus numbers, details of which are trickling slowly into the databases of London headhunting firms. The figures below come from one such reputable organisation. They relate only to associates in investment banking/M&A, so don’t be perturbed if you work in fixed income sales and your compensation doesn’t correspond. Equally, if you work in M&A and your total comp bears no resemblance to... Read more

As we've alluded to before, many banks have been building their equity derivatives capabilities. However, it seems that those with an understanding of how to either structure or trade Delta One products are finding their services particularly in demand. “I placed a Delta One person in December and he’s already had six headhunter calls,” one equity derivatives focused headhunter told us last month. “HSBC, MacBank, Deutsche and JP Morgan” are... Read more

Hedge fund start-ups are rising again - according to the Wall Street Journal, 173 funds were launched in the third quarter of last year. But not all hedge funds are born equal. In December, Belay Partners, a long/short European equities fund, was born to two members of the European hedge fund aristocracy: Daoud Zekrya and Harry Tyser. Zekrya formerly managed the Core fund at Marshall Wace; Tyser previously ran New Star's... Read more

Tomorrow is results day at UBS. The countdown is leading to much excitement about the possibilities of a UBS recovery and the potential size of the bonus pool. On one hand, things at UBS aren’t looking great. Earlier reports that the Swiss regulator had forcibly trimmed the UBS bonus pool by 25% appear to have been true. UBS reportedly wanted to pay out CHF4bn this year; according to Sonntag its bonus... Read more

They used to be known as FILTH (failed in London, try Hong Kong). Nowadays, they appear to be known less derisorily (and slightly bizarrely, given Asia’s also in the northern hemisphere) as ‘northern hemisphere bankers.’ Either way, Western bankers aren’t wanted any more in Asia. This is a shame given that the past week has been notable for the number of banks conspicuously jumping on the Asian expansion bandwagon. First there... Read more

Mervyn King has weighed in on the bonus debate. The guvnor says big payouts have encouraged too many talented people to squander their lives in banking when they could have been doing something more constructive instead. King made his comments to the Treasury Select Committee. According to the Telegraph, King says young people look at City compensation packages and think they “dominate almost any other type of career ... It's... Read more

As a headhunter, I am a parasite who will be first up against the wall when the revolution comes. I know this to be true, since Geraint Anderson, the former Dresdner analyst now known to be City Boy, says so. It's the latest of many attacks upon my profession. Are we really that bad? Yes. How do I know? Well, at the Global Derivatives & Risk Management conference in Paris, our... Read more

Recruiters are not liked. On these pages, readers frequently describe them as ‘estate agents in pointy shoes.’ However, this may not be entirely fair. The source of recruiters’ unpopularity appears to be their failure to explain why you didn’t get the job. But for reasons listed below, expecting this kind of feedback is totally unreasonable. 1) Recruiters are still drowning in candidates The CEBR estimates that 39,000 jobs have gone across the City... Read more

I'm going to retire before I'm 30. I'm currently 25, and since graduating from Cambridge in 2004 I've already earned over £1m after tax, and have paid off the mortgage on a flat in South Kensington and country house in Surrey. Even in this new world we enter of deferred bonuses, lower payouts and tighter municipal regulation, I'm still absolutely convinced I'll have retired within five years. When I first said... Read more

With jobs harder to come by, bankers are behaving badly towards recruiters and headhunters, who are suddenly unable to slot them into comfortable new positions. “We’re starting to get a lot of angry emails,” says one structured credit headhunter. “Bankers are approaching us and questioning why we can’t place them in hedge funds or commodities businesses. They’re venting their spleens, but there just aren’t the jobs.” “Candidates are more rude... Read more

Quants are at the centre of the vortex as banks go down the plughole, with some feeling pretty sorry for themselves. Much of the collapse in morale is down to Quanting being a young profession: most have never been personally affected by a recession before. When Paul Wilmott started teaching Quant finance at Oxford in the 1990s, it was an obscure specialisation. Quants are part of the furniture But although the... Read more

You may not like recruiters. You may think that they are like estate agents or journalists. You may even accuse them of being parasites. But if you want a new job, it’s counterproductive to antagonize them and productive to get them on your side. Here’s how to do it: • Put yourself in their shoes All the recruiters we spoke to would like to point out that they make their money... Read more

So, let me get this straight. In simplistic terms: 1. Shanice, a single mother of four (by four different fathers) from Alabama who has never had a job in her life, is granted a $180,000 loan for by a mortgage broker spiv for her first home, in true 'American Dream' fashion. 2. Mortgage-broking spiv mis-sells such applicants to lenders, as ifShanice actually has a hope in hell of paying off her... Read more