Why the City of London is the place to be

Dublin may be booming, but if you're young, highly-qualified and Irish, the big money is across the water.

"Investment banks prefer Irish graduates to train in London rather than Dublin, because London experience counts when you're competing with others who might have trained in the big US banks," says Ben Deschampsneufs at London recruiters Selby Jennings.

"If you've got a Masters in maths, physics or financial engineering, you can earn 50k plus 100% bonus as a trader if you've got two years' experience. And these guys are typically in their mid 20s," he adds.

"One Irish candidate aged 26 or 27 who I placed recently left a French investment bank to join a Japanese one. He's working in a leveraged finance role. He's now on a basic of 58k to 65k and can expect a total of 130k this year including bonus," says Declan Campbell-Munro, a recruiter at Goodman Masson.

"He went to a Dublin University, has a first in finance and economics and an MSc in finance. Candidates with an MA in applied or structured finance tend to be more employable, however as are candidates who have a major European language," he adds.

If you want to break into banking in London (and you're a student), Munro says it will help to keep yourself busy during your university holidays. The Irish candidate he refers to did two internships in Dublin at a large US investment bank. Second and third year internships during the summer last for 10 weeks and are typically paid 500 a week.

And if you don't make it into a prestigious client-facing role in the so-called 'front office', you can still pull in a packet behind the scenes. "A 29 year-old product controller with three years' experience would earn a higher basic such as 72k, but do duller work," says Munro.

"Relative to Ireland's size and its graduate pool, we do get a significant number of Irish candidates. In general, they tend to have a strong maths grounding and good interpersonal skills," he adds.