Great place to learnand grow exit opportunities similar to Goldman Sachs...but paid less…read more..
Nevertheless I can call myself a lucky person as managedafter Morgan Stanley's Director role to land ED pretty easily at Goldmanwithin the FO although:
- My background by any means wasn't an obvious choice for FOas former generic Firmops so OP experience, never involved in pitching before,not like most colleagues coming firm Risk or Finance etc
- I'm unique as I didn't have any expensive targetIvy(US)/Russel Group(UK) diploma - in fact I have graduated mediocre accountingmajor in one of Easter European Unis, not even the most competitive major tostart with, so it isn't true that only those break in, it is possible even inFO!
- I'm not qualified - neither FCA, FRM, ACCA etc, in factAnalyst I managed tend to be more technical as far my operation 15YeO goes.
- I did one of the budget friendliest (budget limits andlanguage barrier) non-target London's MBA - costed £16k ca. when most of mycolleagues have LSE (costed £110-140£k eMBA) etc in comparison, due to problemswith communication I was also forced to use help copywriters to achieve myfinal result.
- My communication skills although average as I have neverstudied English language as my 1st foreign language, nor my Eastern accentluckily hasn't impacted my chances. Know sectors at FS are very biased on thisin London as well as expat nationalities(policies one thing, reality another)
- I was lucky as HR hasn't screened the reasons why I've gota golden bullet, was redundant at another budget bank in 2015 prior to the lastbank, focusing on my last only employer instead and my latest recommendationinstead. Lucky this hasn't impacted my onboarding back then and screening!
- Finally, if I were a men probably I wouldn't be promoted atMorgan, either fit so well to HRs diversity targets (both MS and GS it is nosurprise aims as per Financial Times and others to increase % women at seniorroles - good for PR!). Fantastic 20% salary bump over Morgan.
Overall I'm very grateful and happy that I can lead my ownteam and set own targets as well recruit people suitable for business and mymanagement's own personal goals. Salary bump over Morgan, I'm keep tellingfriends that in this business there is no space for too old, experiencedcandidates as they tend to create leaderships challenges and raising questionsabout operational sense and ways of doing things .I personally recruit onlyyoung candidates, who are willing to make extra effort, work long hours and donot challenge supervisors.
Neither Morgan or GS actually picked up any of thosepromoting me mainly due to diversity KPIs not as you can see poor or notrecognized at all various other banks bought MBA/CMI throw in for free,otherwise meaningless in the rest FS industry.
"The firm is committed to providing equal employmentopportunity (EEO) to all qualified persons without regard to anycharacteristics protected by law, including race, nationality, sex, gender,religion and age."
Well one-way official policy, the reality is the other wayround. That's depends on people. I'm keep telling friends that in this businessand such completive environment, there is no space for too old, too experiencedcandidates as they tend to create leaderships challenges and raising questionsabout operational sense and ways of doing things. When speed and accuracy arethe most important in this role alongside soft skills managed highly skilledprofessionals. I personally tend to recruit only young candidates, who arewilling to make extra effort, work long hours and do not challenge supervisorscausing unnecessary fractions. Everyone is friendly but most defend their ownopposition and pivot on visibility projects, and achievements all the timedelegating less interesting work below.
Integrity and ethics:Morgan's HR wouldn't probably mind if Iwill admit that I've spent prior few years clamming social council housingbenefits as well, living with my further family in their council flat and stillwork as AVP/Director Firmops (savings thousands in the process , although I could afford the rent).I simply exploited a system gaps and don't feelany gilt about it.
To summarize I'm not exactly a raw model for juniorcolleagues (sometimes) better qualified and technically skilled on the job thanme, neither in terms of technicality nor ethics at all but once you are neither at Morgan or other those American banks, who really cares?! I was promoted clearly not being the most qualified, nor educated, but still ticking Hr boxes, having (bought) no-name MBA for such boost and being more likely a women that helped too. Sad thing that the most knowledgeable and skilled people aren't promoted in this kind of middle office environment but those whoknow how to make them loud and visible, in fact doing far much less job.I'm one of those being honest.
