The Unemployed Life
Out on the Street: When Plan B Becomes Plan A
Last week I had eight face-to-face meetings. Four were networking, two were formal interviews and two were discussions about joining partnerships. Not one of the meetings, while still involved in the financial world, were jobs that I would have considered “Plan A” when I first lost my job in December.
When I started looking for work, I concentrated on finding the same job I had just lost—trading in emerging markets. It seemed totally logical to me. I liked my job and I had been doing it for some time.
Last week was the first in which I really accepted that getting my old job just might not be in the cards. Banks are not taking risk the way they were and hedge funds are still wounded. The demand for my trading skillset just isn’t there—and believe me, there’s a ton of supply of traders in the market.
So what are the new possibilities? One is to work in risk management, one is to be a research strategist and two are to join the new boutique brokerage firms that are popping up. While to an outsider it might look like there is little difference between these jobs— and in fact, they are all associated with emerging markets investment—to me they are all very different. And for each of them, I need to get over some mental and emotional hurdles.
When I get confused, I often turn to T.J. for clarity. I had been approached by Alan, someone both T.J. and I know, to join a team of people at one of the boutique brokerages. I was hesitating because I still hoped to land a trading position. Plus, I harbored doubts that Alan is the sharpest guy.
“First of all, you need to consider all opportunities,” TJ said. “It’s survival time. Second, no matter what you think of Alan’s intellect, the guy’s a proven winner. Let’s see…he’s an Olympic athelete (check), married a model (check) and ran the sales business at one of the biggest banks in the country (check). I’d like to check just one of the boxes.”
The departure of ABN AMRO, Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch has left a void in the financial market, and the boutique brokerage firms are mushrooming to fill it. These firms match buyers and sellers of stocks and bonds. And unlike the investment banks, they don’t take risk but they pay their people big commissions. Many salespeople are leaving the big banks, with their politicized pay problems, to strike out on their own or with a small team to join these boutiques. Starting somewhere fresh holds a lot of appeal, but I fear that I would have to hold my nose, as I would effectively be working at a bucket shop. Think the movie Boiler Room—only not criminal and fraudulent.
The other growth area in finance is risk management. As an ex-trader I would know the risks intimately and would understand what could go wrong. As in government, checks and balances are important from a policy standpoint. But I am having a hard time imagining myself as the guy who’s imposing those checks. No cop likes the people in internal affairs and no trader wants to go to risk management. When I was trading I was always trying to find ways to make money, and the risk managers were always trying to find ways not to lose it.
The last position I am considering is working in strategy. To be sure it would be a lot more intellectually satisfying than working in the boiler room and I wouldn’t necessarily feel like a prudish risk manager. The transition would be fairly smooth, since most of my trades were strategic in nature in the first place. The knock on the strategy job is that I think of strategists as the guys that lack the balls to put their money where their mouths are. Even worse—I did this job five years ago. Am I taking a step back in my career?
Then again, maybe I need to come to terms with the new reality and make a move. It’s taken me nearly six months to accept that Plan B is now Plan A. How long will it take me to consider Plan C or D or…?
Joe the Trader spent 11 years as a proprietary trader at a major U.S. bank. He has three children and currently lives in Brooklyn. Read more of his weekly Out on the Street column.
Recessionwire is on Twitter! Follow us to get the latest headlines, tips and insights for surviving and thriving in the recession. http://twitter.com/recessionwire.
Tags: Discussion
One comment for “Out on the Street: When Plan B Becomes Plan A”
Post a comment
Special Sections
Interesting, but I think you’re a little unfair. Strategists don’t always lack the balls as you say, just the seats. There are a limited number of seats for traders (and fewer now that prop desks have largely been eradicated) and those largely go to the guys with the largest personality, not intellect. And as for “Alan”, if he is who I think he is:
Olympic Athlete – uncheck – made it to the trials for his home country (not the U.S), but not the olympics.
Married a model – and got divorced and hammered in the divorce
Ran the sales business – and largely considered a very bad head of sales both by the trading desks and other sales member. More of a lone ranger who cared little for managing or whether the traders made any money.