Between a rock and a hard place...

Honestly, It took me 5 freaking years in the industry to figure out that I wasn't built for it. Some would argue that I wouldn't be having the same notion if I entered the Industry a few years earlier. I tend to agree in part. The abundance of deals in the market has reduced drastically over the years post the crisis that engulfed the Financial markets during the 2008 period , and it is only set to reduce further. Its clearly shark infested waters out there with every bank vying for a piece of the pie (which is clearly getting smaller). Profit margins have reduced for every deal due to the fierce competition, across all asset classes. With regulatory framework's like the Basel III in place, credit charges will make it tougher for Investment Banks to execute deals due to the escalating costs involved. The benefits are clearly diminishing. Structured products, once sought as continuously evolving products, are slowly losing their shine , with many investors shunning away due to the fear of getting "burned" yet again and as regulators cast a perpetual spotlight on the market. My personal opinion is that the conditions in the markets has definitely made the industry the most unforgiving one for juniors like me. The risk of losing our jobs have never been more pronounced. Firing the bosses (Directors and Managing Directors) first are just a myth. The cuts will come from below because relatively, we are the cheapest. Directors and Managing directors who have more than 7-8 years of experience and who have amassed massive chunks of bank shares as part of their bonuses (due to the scrutiny of bankers bonuses, most firms are packaging them in restricted cash and shares these days) are too expensive to fire now. Hence, the carnage will continue.

My gloating might come as a bother to some, it makes me sound ungrateful, due to the fact that honestly, compensation (even with the non existence of humungous bonus packages these days) has been ahead of my other peers in other industries. And some may argue that If I don't see a bright future in this, why am I still doing it. Well, it is all relative. The predicament is that over the years my expectations have been re-pegged. Not only within the dealing room, but with my peers in the same positions. Although I know that I am a well grounded individual, these expectational comparisons are inevitable when you are in the front office pressure cooker. And If things just isn't going your way (clearly what's happening now), you feel dejected. And slowly, you lose interest in the big picture. Additionally, earning more naturally increases the amount of leverage you take into your life. Liabilities creep up over time and this aspect clearly requires career stability, which is certainly non existent in these market conditions. Recently, I am more afraid of losing my job than losing a deal. Every time I step into the dealing room these days, massive butterflies build in my stomach. This situation will likely be magnified as time progresses. Any who, lets move on shall we..enough depression for a day. I would like to return the 5 years ago period....

As I had mentioned, my phone interview process went well, and I was told to come in for my first interview the next Monday. So what followed was me scrambling for all the information I get. I clearly understood the front office functions then. 4 core functions, there was Debt Capital Markets (the traditional Investment Banking Division), Sales, Structuring and Trading. Sales, Structuring and Trading were faster functions given the degree of secondary activities. Anyway, I will speak about these functions in some later posts perhaps. I needed to get acquainted with the current financial market situation then which was clearly the Sub -prime crisis. I poured over articles of the origins of the crisis and all the relevant details for hours just to understand the intricacies of the situation. This so I could at least impress the interviewers with some apt knowledge. Then of course the technicals which I swear almost made me cry. I decided to take the fast way out and Investopedia everything. Was I prepared for the interviews? Well frankly no. But I took a leap of faith. "Finish the game", was what I wanted to do. So that Monday morning, I had a new shirt pressed, new pants and my best of 3 ties. I drenched myself in perfume, cleanly shaved and swallowed a whole pack of smints. I was ultra nervous in the train, but fortunately a few hot chicks strolled in to the cabin to help assuage the tension. I clearly remembered one of the hot ones, with the tight office skirts hiked above knee level and a cleavage that made one look thrice. Ok, enough with that, there will be plenty of time to talk about my fetishes. So I arrived 30 minutes in advance, and ignored a vital rule about first interviews, which is don't come too early! I sat at the bus station looking thru some newspaper articles I got a hold of. I got to see the office crowd in action, most banker looking types coming with the normal lattes in their hands. The view made me even more nervous for some reason. Given this is probably one of the only chances i have to walk amongst them in the future. So the time came and I exchanged passes at the lobby and went up. The reception was lavish as usual and even the receptionist was hot. She spoke to me in an obviouly made up accent which was a turn off and told me to wait in Room 1. As usual, the boss will be fashionably late. I sat in the room, shifting postures and trying to look as I best as I could for him before he enters the room. After 15 minutes, I saw his figure walking thru the blinds, the Managing Director I spoke to entered. He introduced himself and I of course gave my firmest handshake. The first five minutes was extremely critical and he started with the traditional question of " tell me about yourself". I hid my quivering voice and gave him a short and sweet introduction, trying not to go in circles and we finally spoke about a topic a kin to both of us. Football! I saw him light up and he started smiling more as we went about this topic for a good few minutes. I also mentioned how I had to work my ass off since I was young coming from a lower income family and I think he liked the humility. I had him figures out I guess and it was 30 minutes into the interview so I must be doing something right. He started going deeper with the questions but surprisingly non too technical. It was more of gauging how much of a potentially good sales person I can be. I asked some valid questions like what he thought of the whole current crisis and he clearly mentioned it was isolated and the business was still doing well yada yada. At the end, he said to me "hang on theres someone else I will want you to meet, you will potentially be working with him". That someone was to be my first line manager.  I was on a roll! And it all looked good from that perspective. That would be my second interview! So my line manager came in, a pudgy looking Asian, with neatly combed hair, and from the looks of it, refined with cool cufflinks etc. You could smell sales man from a distance. He was even easier to handle being more impressed with what I had accomplished academically. However, he was somewhat detached from the whole interview constantly checking his mobile which was making these irritating bell type sms ringtones. That lasted for a good 30 minutes before he said he would have to leave. The first MD came back and said his goodbye before mentioning "we will get back to you if anything". This was the sentence that kept me up for the following few days. If you thought waiting for the first call was the worst, this was even crazier. The amount of speculation I came up with was amazing. Even after I knew I pulled the right cards during the interview, I zoomed into what I did wrong, even the littlest of things. Three days after, HR called, they want me to come for the panel interviews. Then I thought, shit was about to get messy!

To be continued folks......