Hear This!

I saw lots of threads on the propects after CFA and felt compelled to share my story: I got CFA 3/3 and I am already MBA, CPA Been around the block with jobs in Finance, IT, Risk So got a good network After CFA leveraged the network and got a job at top firm (i mean one of the best ~ leaves you with 4-5 guesses) got a pay hike ~ 50% and moved to a new location, where new offices are being set up all seemed like a dream come true! I know what you are thinking now - what could go wrong? Well I worked my butt off, got a great report out (stock moved in line with my forecasts and I was ahead of market!) Guess what, my local manager did not approve the report for publishing I got upset, asked him what was the problem, this made him even more mad, i back tracked and apologised (the diplomatic thing to do, although i was burning mad inside) made some calls, found out that he had wanted to hire someone else!! anyway things were about to get worse the manager who had hired me, decided to quit 6 weeks after i joined, he had been with the firm for 12 years but some new firm in Russia offered him a bomb of a salary and he jumped… Now the local manager had free rein - over the next 6 months he literally made it intolerable for me to work - would ask one thing today (i would agree because i did want to piss him off more) and ask antoher thing the next day (that would require me to do the whole thing again!!) my colleagues could not believe it - but felt scared to stand up in case it affects their careers!! now? 6 months later, in a foreign country, exhausted to the bone, sad, depressed, angry, confused…ready to jump but into research? seems imposssible coz local manager knows all the key players…welcome to the real deal

Sorry to hear about all that, pretty tough situation! I guess Tony Soprano could come to your rescue (if you know what I mean) if he was still alive and running the family! -ron-

You said you have a good network - start using it while trying not to completely burn bridges with your (loser) boss. Good luck!

wow sorry to hear that. I even feel sorry that this made my day a lot better. My advice is to try to find out why he dislikes you and work around that. There has to be a reason since he’d make money from your good work. In the meantime look really hard for another job. Your story is definitely an eye opener.

welll, the story takes a turn… one of my senior colleagues started to help me, he is a Top rated analyst and does it on the sly (does not want to step on any toes) the result is super and i am upbeat! so i say to the guy let me say you helped and he says leave it - i can take the credit and pay back the favor some time i am on top of the world - i tell you something, writing a report is ok, but making a good report great takes talent - only comes after writing 100 of them - and this guy liked my ideas and helped me present in a way that makes the report flow like a story - what more could i ask for so there i go, saying that i had some time to think (bla bla bla…) and have done up the report … this is when the story gets uglier!!!

BBD Wrote: > Well I worked my butt off, got a great report out > (stock moved in line with my forecasts and I was > ahead of market!) > > Guess what, my local manager did not approve the > report for publishing > > I got upset, asked him what was the problem, this > made him even more mad, i back tracked and > apologised (the diplomatic thing to do, although i > was burning mad inside) Perhaps if you didn’t get upset things might have worked out better. For your first assignment you need to realize, it may be great to you, but not to your company. Are you in the US or Russia?

ptrainer : no names, no locations - this is for real so will stay undercover actually i didnt upset things - i was on a call with my manager and when i sensed he was getting tense - withdrew and apologised. next day when he came back to the office i apologised again and he said cool dont worry - he is about my age and tends to be quite laid back - or so i thought - what i found out subsequently was while he was ok to my face - he had started stabbing me in the back - how did he do that - very cleverly - he started to build a case of my 'insubordintion and then starting withold facts - then he did something more lethal - he started spring surprises on me in public meetings - remember investment opinion is subjective - so i would say to him - i think that the impact of this (say subprime) on the business should be limited for x/y/z reasons - he would say - good point, yes i think so too (i would get relaxed) and then in a public forum he would say - its bloody nonsense!!

try to be less annoying

i have thought about it, maybe i should not have upset, and i realize a 2 things one: i only asked a question about why he did not approve it and secondly, with hindsight, i now that he is so vindictive that there was no way he would let me continue also, why did not get approved? i guess you know it but each securities firm has its own style of report writing - although these may look similar to an outsider the are very different in construction i was new to the firm and had not worked in a firm before - i was thus vulnerable to whatever was suggested to me and guess when did i find out that i had been misled? - when the report was put up for submission i was told (by a supervisory analyst not my boss) that it was the wrong format etc… maybe i am very naiive but the thing is i had some trust in the guy, so called my manager and the second more practical thing is that - there is such a variety of reports that there is no one correct format so there is no way i could have thought he was misleading me why i want to write all this - because perhaps there is someone out there who can learn from my experience and also a selfish motive, it helps me relieve this burden by talking about things…to unknown friends

i tried to be ‘less annoying’ kept my opinions to myself (the ego of top analysts is unbelieveable) and then worked harder thinking that they would appreciate the end result - little was i to know that i was being led up the wrong road!

virginCFA: consider this - you are in a new firm a new country a new job with new faces around yu - how do you know what annoys or does not annoy them? you try to share an investment opinion (btw most investment professionals i know feel strongly about their opinions) and God forbid, you happen to be right!! (its much better to be wrong trust me, rated analysts will like it if you are wrong) and from there on you are a target. I am sure you find this hard to believe, i would too but i have been through it now and have the scars to show for it…

Ok, I made some calls, too. No one likes overconfident nerdy subordinates who make calls.

yup, and there is another point, i have ~2 years experience on the buy side, none of the guys here have that exposure - hard to believe but true - and another problem is that i have been exposed to many many firms so i have an idea of what is going around me and sometimes i am able to spot something - this ticked them off! i refrained from telling them but i guess by then it was too late…

You are better than your employers. You are an MBA, CPA, 3 for 3 CFA, with buyside experience. Trying making some calls to your supervisor’s supervisor. Make sure they understand the situation.

well that is why my managers manager hired me and he was a great guy otherwise i would not have accepted the offer - afterall a job is as much about the manager you work for as the job itself - i mean the guy hired me after a ~20 min interview (ofcourse the team still interviewed me) but he was already ok with me - then he left for Russia 6 weeks after i joined and when he called me to tell me he was leaving, i was gutted…

Why don’t you make some calls to your old supervisor at his new job in Russia. Maybe he’ll call his old supervisor at your job and explain the situation. It can’t hurt to reiterate to them all how your unpublished report was ahead of the market and that you’re an MBA, CPA, 3 for 3 CFA with buyside experience.

one word: politics would someone take a stand against a rated analyst for a rookie would my ex boss stir the pot, if he wants to someday come back - i mean he is also at a new firm on a virgin mission

BBD, I have a few suggestions for you…Gather as much dirt on this guy as possible. This can be done by bringing a digital voice recorder to work and using it at the right moments. If you want to get real creative you can hire a private detective to dig up some kind of dirt. After having a little leverage in this department, you need to confront the problem head on and stop dancing around the fire; this should be done with the utmost humility on your part. Try to ask what, if anything, you should do to improve the working relationship between you both. If the end result of this info-gathering/conversational episode is that he just want’s you out of the firm and doesn’t care how good you are (you will have to try to extract this from him), then you need to establish a better relationship with his boss. When the time comes, if ever, for him to deliver his fatal blow, you insinuate the dirt you (may) have on this guy (hopefully some of this dirt could kill his career) and hope for the best. Be prepared to take him down with you if he decides to continue his irrational behavior. Good luck!

Who cares if he’s a rated analyst? He has no buyside experience. I bet he’s not an MBA, CPA, 3 for 3 CFA! You da man. Show some BALLS! Stop whispering in the closet about how you’re mistreated.

bryant: btw my manager boss sits in paris, not really interested in ‘trouble makers’ and digging up dirt - so i do it (and i do have some nasty emails that were sent to me) then what? whose side will the firm take? do you think people are going to stand for justice or for a blue eyed rated analyst? already the senior managmetn here have ganged up on me - if i ask them for some time to speak, they are too busy but i keep pushing doors - trouble is i am obstinate - and get a meeting with the local CEO - he knows me from before and guess what he says " kid admit it you have failed - i know you are good kid so i will give you another job in the bank, i have been told (they have been talking to him for 6 months and i did not know) that you are better suited as a credit analyst so lets look into that, but tell me NOW otherwise i cannot offer you the any other option" so i walk out of his office spining…i bought some time, i told him that i need time to think over the weekend - that was 2 weeks ago…