Alistair S.
About me
| Alistair S. | |
| Economics and Related Studies | |
| Economics | |
| Undergraduate | |
| Langwith | |
| 2000 | |
| United Kingdom |
My employment
| Product Specialist / Financial Engineer | |
| Bloomberg | |
| United Kingdom | |
| Finance and consultancy | |
| Large business (250+ employees) |
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A day in the life of a Product Specialist / Financial Engineer in the United Kingdom
Give employers a reason to be interested in you
My career goals when I graduated
Earn 1m a year.
My career history
Started at a Commodity broker thinking I was going to be cornering the FCOJ market, it wasn't. Employer bullied me, I left went to work in OTC derivatives at Markit and now at Bloomberg.
What has helped my career to progress
Relying on myself and determination.
Courses taken since graduation
FSA Futures and Options Rep - allows you to trade.
How my studies have helped my career
The degree was a stepping stone. A booking reference as it were. Without it, it would have been harder
What surprised me about my career so far
That I've got so far based on very little help.
Where I hope to be in 5 years
Running my own business
My advice to students considering work
Why they should hire you? How are you different to all the other students with a 2:1 from a top 10 university?
My advice about working in my industry
Be prepared to work really hard. it sounds obvious though it's true. 12 hour days are standard if you start in banking.
Other advice
Be interesting to employers. A lot of people get hired as they appeal to the hiring people. Try to match and be interesting for them as after all you are going to spend more time with them than anyone else.
Contacting me
Happy to help with all elements of trying to get into work and how work is. If you ask for advice I do tend to expect that you do what I offer or have a great reason not to. Keep me interested in you.
What I do
My job is to create a consensus view of a product. My particular role means talking to product controllers / traders in Investment banks about their data.
Skills I use and how I developed them
Soft skills, financial product skills.
What I like most
Talking to clients, entertainment.
What I like least
Waiting for clients to respond
What surprised me most
Companies appear really organised and impregnable, they aren't.
Next steps...
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