How much am I worth? Junior Portfolio Manager, Equities

A panel of headhunters gives its assessment of typical London pay packages: Salary - 55,000 (€81,000); bonus - 20-50%.

Earlier this year, the smart money was on a sure and steady recovery in equity markets, leading to a gradual recovery in the depleted ranks of those in the industry. A few months on, the signs are that this was misplaced: fears of global terror and rising oil prices have frozen equity markets in London and elsewhere.

Unsurprisingly, the job market for equity professionals has stayed pretty flat after a brief flurry earlier in the year, with those at the junior end feeling the brunt hardest.

'Junior portfolio managers wanting to move will not command much of a premium - there will see little if any increase in their base salary and will be very lucky to command a guaranteed bonus,' says Charles Harvey at Beeley & Company, a wealth and asset management search firm in the City of London.

Harvey also says that although there is more movement in the recruitment market than last year it has been mainly at the top end, where people with a good track record at a good institution are able to command a premium.

Others are more sanguine about prospects for more junior positions, pointing out that institutions are taking steps to ensure they are properly staffed for the market recovery - when it does eventually happen.

'The equity market is improving slowly but steadily and as opportunities open up for junior portfolio managers, the competition is becoming increasingly fierce,' says Jeremy Canning, manager at Morgan McKinley's asset management division.

So what sort of person will be most in demand moving forward? The most successful portfolio managers tend to be strategic thinkers, analytical and highly numerate, with an extensive understanding of how financial markets work. Many managers have three or four years' experience of either having been a buy-side equities analyst or a fund manager's assistant before assuming management responsibilities of their own.

Good academics are key: a 2.1 degree at the very least, although a postgraduate qualification is also becoming standard. The really keen will not have been put off by the

last few years downturn in equity markets.

'If you want a career in investments, then a Junior Portfolio Manager position will be the role most aspire to, as it leads to the much coveted fund manager post and because equities are seen as far more attractive than debt because of the larger number of variables involved,' says Canning.

So what sort of salary could somebody starting out in this field expect to get?

Harvey says that 60,000 is a typical base salary, although Canning errs on the side of caution, suggesting between 40,000-50,000 for somebody fresh to the work. However this differential is made up by the bonus: Harvey says that bonuses in the current market are small, with 25% a

typical figure. Canning suggests a more encouraging range of 20-50% of salary and believes pay is moving northwards.

'As the market picks up, bonus levels will inevitably increase with

higher payouts expected for 2004 compared to the last couple of years,'

he says.

Figures and commentary by Morgan McKinley and Beeley & Company.