I am weighing up the pros & cons of a potential move to London in September. I am hoping to get some feedback, advice and pointers about moving there and finding employment.
A Little bit of background information about me:
-Currently live in Australia.
-I have a Commerce Degree majoring in Finance (reasonable grades from a top University here)
-I am hoping to have passed the level 1 CFA exam before moving.
-I currently work for one of the banks here as an Operations Administrator in their banking sector. Prior to this I have been employed in Retail banking.
At the moment my career goal is to eventually become an Equities Analyst or something similar. So I would be hoping to move into any position that will give me experience towards that type of role. Obviously my current work experience does not align fully with my career aspirations, however this is what I would be hoping to achieve with the move. I would be looking for an entry level position if possible into a role which would give me experience for my career aspirations.
Why London? Where I live at the moment opportunities in these fields of finance seem almost non existent. My partner also has the potential to greatly improve her career by a move to London. On top of that I have always been fascinated by the city.
So my questions are:
-What is the market like there at the moment? Obviously taking into account the current state of the economy
-Could I expect to find a job come September if the economy pick’s up?
-What are some good recruiters’s to get in touch with before moving to discuss opportunities?
-Has anyone had any experience doing something similar?
-What sort of entry level roles will give me experience for what I want to do long term?
I would be very appreciative of any help that could be offered.
Eh really? I guess we have that “Occupy Wall Street” thing. However, turns out that it’s just another societal fringe element and is winding down. Official things, like a tax on bonuses, have been done in the UK but not the US. It also seems like compensation cuts and firings have been worse in the UK. It would be interesting if this was just a matter of perspective.
I’m talking purely job market in finance here. My view on things is probably quite skewed because I get all my perspective on the U.S. from things like the Occupy movement and to some extent this forum (all these people who have completed L3 and can’t get an interview), whereas my perspective from the UK comes from all my friends who still have jobs and I don’t hear complaints from. If I was on a UK CFA forum I might have formed a different opinion.
I asked my boss here what he thought of US vs UK and he thought the UK was worse, so there you go.
What is the feeling in U.S. right now? Do you feel confident that if you got the boot that finding a similar job would not be an issue. Is all this doom and gloom I see on this forum just a representation of a small minority.
I’m starting to get a bit nervous here in Australia. There’s been a lot of lay-offs in the finance sector and my area (equity derivatives) has been cleaned out hard in the last 3-4 years (all the desks have blown up).