Brokers want grads with street smarts
Yet money brokers don't do milk rounds. Nor are they developing their graduate recruitment programmes. What's an interested graduate supposed to do?
'Over the last two years we've had a graduate programme," Stephen Duckworth, chief operating officer at Tullett Liberty, says. "We've decided to do it on an ad-hoc basis this year."
It's a similar story elsewhere. Icap is closing its graduate recruitment programme for 2005. At Cantor Fitzgerald, a rival to Tullett, graduates are invited to apply on an ad-hoc basis, and will be considered as much for their temperament as their academic skills. 'We don't so much look for qualifications as personality and knowledge of the role', said a London-based recruiter for the company.
It's a far cry from investment banking, where anything less than top A levels grades and a 2.i or equivalent at degree level spells instant death in the application procedure. Yet money broking never features on lists of students' most desirable career moves. Why not?
One reason is undoubtedly the industry's low profile. Investment banks fall over themselves to attend graduate recruitment events; money brokers don't. Equally important, money brokers just aren't geared up to employ graduates. If you join an investment bank, you might spend the first two years building spreadsheets or mastering the intricacies of interest rate derivatives. If you join a money broker, the early years will more likely be spent making tea.
'You start off supporting a desk,' says the head of recruitment at one London broker. 'It's a low paid job, with long hours.'
Junior brokers are typically paid less than 20,000 per annum. They are expected to work nine hours a day, at the mercy of the demanding desk staff who make them the butt of jokes and ask them to do anything from toast runs to fetching the dry cleaning.
This is why 'personality' is a key trait of the money broker. A good broker is not just confident and tough, but made of high tensile steel. He or she must also be cunning, streetwise, and inured to working in an atmosphere comprised almost entirely of young males. 'You either have ten people shouting at you, or when it's quiet they play jokes on you,' says one broker.
It may seem a wonder that anyone wants to go into the industry at all. Yet it is not all as bad as that: 80% of graduate hires at Tullett Liberty are still with the firm.
Most people stick around for one reason: money. 'Broking is one of the only areas of the financial services industry where you get a cut of what you produce', said Sandrine Rossi Fornelli, a headhunter at Mantis Partners and former broker at Cantor Fitzgerald. The average broker is expected to make revenues equivalent to three times his salary, after which he is paid 30% to 40% of all the revenues he earns for the firm. For top brokers, this easily amounts to 1 million. - Not bad if you've just flunked your exams.
What is broking?
Brokers offer a source of liquidity to participants in the financial markets. They facilitate trading by talking to buyers and sellers and establishing who is offering the best prices for specific financial products in specific quantities. If the price sounds good, the broker charges a fee for putting both sides in contact. This saves time for traders, and enables them to release large sales or make large purchases, anonymously and in smaller quantities, often for a better price.
Which are the top brokers?
There are three major international brokers: Icap, Cantor Fitzgerald and Tullet Liberty. Other brokers include: GFI, a New York-based brokerage with offices in London, Prebon Yamane, Eurobrokers, Sunrise Brokers, and Martin Brokers. Collins Stewart Tullet, owner of Tullet Liberty, is expected to buy Prebon Yamane in the coming months.
How should I apply?
Speculative applications are usually the only way. Send CVs to -
Icap: grad.recruitment@icap.com
Cantor Fitzgerald: HRRecruiting@Cantor.co.uk
Tullet Liberty: HR-UK@tullib.com
Prebon Yamane: recruitment@prebon.co.uk
Sunrise Brokers: careers@sunrisebrokers.com
