TPain/Bluey Especially What is a realistic jump from BO. I’ve been exploring different treasury/risk analyst jobs with no bites. I sit in June for Level 1.
Don’t ask me…get in where you can. I’m still in the BO now, seeking opps in the FO. I’m an '07 Finance grad with a few internships, nothing stellar- just hungry and ready for someone to give me a chance.
I couldn’t agree more. Young and hungry. Today I meet with a emp agency. We’ll see if those dilberts help out at all.
Life after Body Oder is great: - People aren’t repulsed by you anymore. - When you move around you don’t get a whiff of something that smells funky. - People smile at you more. - When you say, “excuse me” the reply is no longer, “EWWWW!!!” - You find that when you have an idea others actually listen to it. … Oh, we’re talking about Back Office? Then here is life after you leave the back-office: - People aren’t repulsed by you anymore. - When you move around you don’t get a whiff of something that smells funky. - People smile at you more. - When you say, “excuse me” the reply is no longer, “EWWWW!!!” - You find that when you have an idea others actually listen to it. no i’m just joking. Back-office is good, you learn alot of stuff back there.
^haha nice one kant, tahts EXACTLY what its like… KJH, i used to work in FX settlements a few years ago… boring as hell…and everyone (especially the traders) treated me like sht… so after a year i quit…then started looking for something “better” due to my finance background, i was able to get a job as a trustee for private equity funds… while not exactly BO work, it was not exactly front-office either… nothing too exciting… a bit of transactional work if i got lucky… now i work as an analyst at a financial planning firm… and the only reason i got this job was due to the reports that i prepared at my two previous jobs…
KJH Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I couldn’t agree more. Young and hungry. > > Today I meet with a emp agency. We’ll see if > those dilberts help out at all. So I met with the employment agency. I can’t even explain how disappointed I am with them. Complete waste of my time. First we corresponded via email and she had a job I was interested in and qualified for (I thought so at least). She reminded me of that bimbo in the movie Clueless. A complete ditz and very fake. We talked about my resume and then she broke it to me that I was not qualified due to lack of experience. I though, um, hello, you saw me resume days ago. Why would she waste both of our time? I will never try an emp agency again. So I’m sticking it with BO for the time being. Thanks for the reply Bluey, there may be hope and a chance in rising from these ranks.
KJH Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > KJH Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > I couldn’t agree more. Young and hungry. > > > > Today I meet with a emp agency. We’ll see if > > those dilberts help out at all. > > > So I met with the employment agency. I can’t even > explain how disappointed I am with them. Complete > waste of my time. > > First we corresponded via email and she had a job > I was interested in and qualified for (I thought > so at least). She reminded me of that bimbo in > the movie Clueless. A complete ditz and very > fake. We talked about my resume and then she > broke it to me that I was not qualified due to > lack of experience. I though, um, hello, you saw > me resume days ago. Why would she waste both of > our time? > > I will never try an emp agency again. > > So I’m sticking it with BO for the time being. > Thanks for the reply Bluey, there may be hope and > a chance in rising from these ranks. Lol, I’m not laughing at you I’m laughing at you. Enjoy the grind while it lasts… one day we’ll look back at these days and laugh at how much it sucked. The key to success is not giving up- the most successful people aren’t necessarily always the smartest, luckiest, etc…most of the time they’re the ones that show the most persistence and have relentless personalities. It’s too easy to give up and I can’t be miserable for the rest of my life so through all the BS I continue to chase my dreams. Bud Fox: One day Marv, we’re going to be on the other side of the phone. Marv: Oh you’ve got it Buddy, where the real cheesecake is.
I met a PM awhile back who was in his early 30s and began in BO. He said its unfortunate that there is such a stigma towards the department. Furthermore he went on to say that the corporate action knowledge he gained was very beneficial in being a PM. He also said its nice to know a little about all the various departments, analysis, trading, compliance, etc. But until then, I’m tapped out man! Visa has a hitman out for me!
what exactly do you guys do in the BO? what sort of jobs?
My typical day: Arrive 6:30-6:45. Begin daily download for Advent via ACD. 7:30: Finish loading all the daily files, prior day trades, dividends, etc. 8:00: Begin portfolio reconciling! The main drag, this takes about 3-5 hours where I go through 100s of accounts checking on cash balance inconsistencies, failed trades, double booked transactions, etc. The main objective of my job is to be preventive maintenance for trade errors. YTD I’ve had none. 11:00-1:00: Finish reconciling and eat lunch. 1:00: Load prices for securities and fixed income. 2:00: Account maintenance: Open new accounts as needed, update benchmarks, change managers, close, update, etc. 4ish: Go home for the day. At anytime during the day phone calls, emails, faxes will interrupt me with clients demanding their balance, unrealized gains/losses, sending reallocation forms, withdrawls, wires, etc. Not a terrible interruption; overall its a pretty quiet job. I forgot to include this though, in order to maintain my sanity, I must check AF several times hourly.
KJH, is the reconciling done using Excel or do you go through the hardcopies by hand? the traders/dealers always used to tell us, if you want to work in the FO, then the best thing you can do is get out of the BO… they said the longer you’re in the BO, the worse it looks… then again, money’s money…gotta put food on the table i suppose
Reconciling is done by hand. We only work with independent brokers and banks. Unfortunatly it is not consistent with booking trades. Some book trade date while others is settle date. This job is not terrible. Hours are not too bad. Pay is low. Experience is pretty good though. One learns alot about a little (compliance, trading, analysis, operations, etc). The traders here are great. Real cool guys who treat us well. Bluey, do you have insight about a Excel program/macro? I’m always looking to streamline the reconciling.
KJH, yeh my job now is all about excel and a bit of macros… send me an email if you need a hand with it, im sure you could save alot of time if you can export the data into excel… tsubi.lee@gmail.com
KJH, which brokerage firm? I work in corporate actions (reorg) at NBCN which is a big backoffice in Canada for National Bank Financial.
Reading more about BO jobs kinda makes me feel better about my FO customer service job with the bank :P. In a way, i would prefer to work with a computer all day than whining/complaining/crappy customers! However working customer service lets me hit on young talent all day 
meazza Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > KJH, which brokerage firm? I work in corporate > actions (reorg) at NBCN which is a big backoffice > in Canada for National Bank Financial. Its a very small one in Minneapolis. I prefer to not dislcose the name.
i dunno, i just turned 22, fresh out of college and am doing back office work. i’m so bored with it already. but i am learning a lot about the markets in general and how trading affects different areas. hopefully i won’t be doing this stuff past 26-27 (when i plan to go back to business school for two years), but i feel like some of the stuff i’m learning is invaluable. feel free to give advice wherever appropriate.