Ask the Expert: Bulge isn't necessarily better
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I was recently made redundant by a bulge bracket investment bank where I worked as vice president on deals in excess of US$1bn. I have already received an offer for employment with a better financial package from a much smaller institution. Will I find it difficult to get hired back into the bulge bracket, if I accept this offer now? What is more important, minimising the time out of work or ensuring that the last employment on my resume is as high profile as possible?
What is this love affair with the so-called bulge bracket? Does size really matter so much? The quality of an institution is not measured by the size of its deals or its presence in the bulge club. So you are asking the wrong question - unless the main things you care about are status and belonging to a self-appointed elite.
You may indeed find it a little harder to return to the bulge bracket, but not necessarily. People are regularly recruited from smaller houses into bulge bracket firms and with previous experience in the bulge you should not run into too many difficulties.
You ask whether it is more important to minimise time out or to keep your jobs high profile. Really that depends on your own circumstances and the time frame in question. There does come a point when getting into any relevant job is better than being out of the market, but if you've just been made redundant you have time to play with - and should expect a job search to take at least six months.
The real question you should be asking yourself is: 'Is this the right job for me?' If it's not and your personal circumstances allow you to wait, then hold on. It takes nerve, but it is better to hold out for the right job than to take the wrong one. Recruitment expert and outplacement consultant Tony Tucker has just been celebrating success with one of his clients who turned down a job in January, offering good money and an apparently good skills fit. 'He just wasn't sure about the job because head office was telling a different story to London,' says Tucker. He didn't take it. Five months later, this particular chap has landed a better job on an even better financial package.
In your case, however, you have given no indication that you have any concerns about the job or the institution other than its size. The money on offer is better than in your previous post, so no worries on that score. What are the people like you will be working with? What level of responsibility will you have? Is this the kind of job where you will have the opportunity to shine and make a real difference? Is the institution going places or a bit of a lame duck?
If you can give positive answers to most of these questions, then why wait around. Consider yourself lucky to have found something else so quickly and go for it. You will gain valuable experience in the different environment of a smaller firm and should have no problem selling its virtues on your CV. You may even find that working in the smaller league has rewards that the bulge boys can't offer and could find it's you that doesn't want them any more rather than the other way round.
Now wouldn't that be satisfying.
Next week's question: I have been successfully managing the Private Banking Desk of a big European Bank in an EU country for the last three years. I have met all my targets but for regional political reasons my position is being abolished, along with 50% of the jobs here, and clients will be managed from a non-EU jurisdiction. I was asked to help in the transition and was told that I would be transferred to another country. It now looks like this won't happen and I will be got rid of once I introduce the clients to the new Manager. Is there anything I can do, as this restructuring is not financially justified?
What would you advise? Send your answer to: expertadmin@efinancialcareers.com.
Look out for the Experts' answer to this dilemma and readers' comments on Ask the Expert next week!
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Our experts include: Roger Steare, a career coach at Roger Steare Consulting, Makbool Javaid, an employment partner at the law firm DLA, and Tony Tucker, a recruitment consultant at ERG, talking to careers journalist Hashi Syedain.
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