I have 2 years of entry level experience at a firm that cannot afford to pay me a dollar more than $40K/yr but I have a front office role. My educational background includes a MS in Financial Engineering.
I’m getting to the age where $40K/yr simply won’t cut it anymore… it pays the bills but it won’t cut it when it comes to starting a family, buying a house, saving for retirement, etc. Even in this economy, there are lots of Mid and Back Office jobs that pay vastly more than that given my qualifications.
I still would like to work in Front Office but keep in mind that I may be forced to find a new job since my company’s already in a dire state (see my other thread in this forum.)
Would I still have a shot at Front Office again if I work at a Back or Mid Office position for a few years after this one?
This is not coming from personal experience, but my opinin is that you would have a chance because you have a good and pursuasive story as to why you veered off into back/middle office (more $). You could also sell it that the experience made you more rounded, plus it would probably help a lot if you kept in touch with the markets, i.e. held your own portfolio of securities in the interim
Why not check out other markets that might pay you more for front office roles? On one hand I agree that you have to do to make ends meet; on the other hand, it’s perplexing that your front office role pays so much less than middle or back office roles. You might want to do some field research on other FO roles to understand why you’re getting so little in your current role, as it will be very difficult moving back to the front office once you’ve moved to the back.
Yeah, it’s kind of sketchy that you have access to back office roles that pay more than your “front office” job. It seems like there is something wrong with this situation.
stick to FO - there are a lot of $45, $50, and $60k jobs out there. If your skills line up with the right opening, $70k isn’t out of reach. MO and BO aren’t exactly like your current role and there would still be a learning curve. Just go on indeed.com, type in your applicable job keywords and apply to as many as you can if you think your current firm is imploding soon. Good luck.
I’d also like to add that patience pays off, I would just continue to develop my skillset and experience while I look to jump to another, higher paying, FO role.
Is this before or after bonus. Also, what kind of role and what size firm are you working at? I’ve never heard of such low compensation, especially for a FO role before.
I wonder if it’s a FO role, but has very little responsbility and he’s more of an “assistant-type” rather than a typical analyst. This would explain the ultra low pay
For the sake of giving advice, please assume everything I said is 100% true (for now)… then I’ll re-evaluate my situation and see if it’s represented 100% correct.