The aim of this posting is to give you the unvarnished truth about what it's like to work in the financial sector in London. It's the first in a whole series of postings that are going to focus on a particular career path with information provided by someone that actually works in the sector as opposed someone that's just read about it.

Alex Wilkinson, whose 36 year career has seen him operate at a senior executive level within the City of London's investment banking sector, speaks plainly about how to get into the City and more importantly, how to stay there and build a successful career.

First Alex, thank you for your time today. We meet a lot of people that want to pursue a financial sector career in the City. Now admittedly the term ‘financial sector’ covers a lot of career options, but for someone who wants to work in an investment bank, what’s their best route into the City, in terms of qualifications?

This really depends on what sector within ’Investment Banking’ an individual wants to be employed in. The investment banks do the ‘milk’ round of universities looking for the best and the brightest, generally defined by grades and achievements and a very few are able to get into graduate programmes. There are many different ways to get into finance by identifying areas of short supply, such as compliance, accounting, sales, even HR and qualifying yourself in that specific area to get into the institution you've targeted. Once in you can look for opportunities for progress within that institution in the areas you want to work in. Career progression from back office to front office is a regular occurrence with the back office individual porting his or her knowledge around the settlement infra structure of products into junior roles within the front office trading environment. Key elements of education and experience that investment banks will look for vary between the departments they are employing for, but they all start with educational grades.

Aside from qualifications, what personality traits are seen to be valuable?

Applicants need to demonstrate to recruiters a variety of attributes to make themselves stand out. Being eager to please, demonstrating that willingness to listen and over deliver on every request, mental dexterity and comprehension are essential. Being given a process, following the process and providing commentary after delivery of how the process could be improved is also very important. Doing all of this within the context of being a team player is extremely valuable to employers. The ability to work within a team of both present and distributed colleagues in high pressure situations whilst maintaining excellent communication links even with those that are unaligned to your personal goals is vital.

What do you look for in a CV when recruiting?

Looking for consistent winners, is an easy answer, but those who have tried and failed and identified why they have failed and addressed those issues gives a better understanding of the candidate. Achievements in any discipline, sports, education,  construction, engineering where the candidate demonstrates endurance, problem solving, co-working combined with out of the ordinary situations which would resonate with recruiters looking for that special something.

How about interviews? What makes a candidate stand out?

An interview is a two way conversation, though mostly employers these days do not view it as such. The employer is interviewing a candidate, as much as the candidate is interviewing an employer. It is an investment conversation with the employer searching for reasons why to invest in a particular candidate and correspondingly a candidate searching for why he or she is going to invest their time into a particular firm. Depending on where both sides are in their evolution, their reasons for being at the table are not always money. So identifying the reasoning as to why you are at the table is key to a successful meeting as is being able to ask those searching questions of a recruiter. It requires study of the target and self-awareness of what you can and want to deliver. Candidates who can demonstrate that stand out.

People seem to have a definite set of expectations about working in an investment bank. Sometimes I think these expectations are informed by films like ‘Wolf of Wall Street’ and the like. Generally speaking do these expectations meet the reality of the job?

Films like the 'Wolf of Wall Street' or one of my personal favourites, 'A Good Year' are nothing like reality. Whilst there might be momentary similarities, every role in investment banking is about research, process, concentration, accuracy, for every moment of excitement there will be hours and hours of research, learning and hard work. Good entertainment these films are but they are not reflective of the hard work and long hours put in by a dedicated workforce in the financial services industry.    

What’s the average first week of a City job like?

Confusing. Induction programmes, new people, new systems, new environment. For the first few weeks, indeed months your new employer is investing in you. It is highly unlikely you will be instantly productive, so recognise that investment, soak in the information especially the 'How Too'! How do I get to a file, how do I deliver what was asked of me, be willing to listen !  

What are the big Do’s and Dont’s of working in the City?

Be on time, dress well and appropriately, speak clearly, and if you do not know, state you do not know. Develop a reputation for being available, for listening, for accuracy and dependability and above all else delivering the truth. Do not be late, loud mouthed, disparaging to your colleagues, insensitive to your colleagues surroundings or world events. Always remember whatever texts, emails or messaging applications you use, everything you say or do will be recorded for eternity. So think ‘if I review this message in 2-3 years, will I be proud of its content, tone, accuracy'? If you can answer 'yes', hit Send !!

How do you see the industry changing in the future?

Competition for the best jobs will increase. How will you as a candidate be able to make yourself more employable, what do you have to do to make a company want to invest in you rather than the person sitting next to you? Identify these traits, keep adding to your capabilities, tuning these capabilities and focusing them on your career direction whist making sure you add optionality so that your employer looks at your diverse skill set and can daily see the benefit of your contribution.

Earlier I asked about the CVs of first or second jobbers. What are the danger signals that you look for on CVs of people that have 10 or more years in the City?

Frequency of job changes, short duration of appointments and jumping career lanes. There is no problem with people moving frequently, if within the same career path, progress is good but constantly jumping between different disciplines indicates an inability to choose well. Why would you employ someone who doesn’t demonstrate the ability to choose well?

If you could give a young person one piece of advice, what would it be?

Demonstrate honesty, perseverance, hard work, a consistent willingness to adapt and over deliver with excellent interpersonal skills including active listening, collaboration, problem solving, conflict resolution, empathy and diplomacy. Your delivery of these skills will encourage employers to invest in you !!

Photo by Anthony Tyrrell on Unsplash