Are recruiters mis-selling product control roles?

To the layman, product control doesn't look particularly exciting. After all, who would be inclined to spend their days totting up the P&Ls of irascible traders whilst earning a fraction of their pay.

For this reason it's often assumed that the throng of newly qualified accountants which floods into the City each year has been lured in on false pretences. Rather than wanting a career as product controllers, it's they really want to be traders themselves. And recruiters stand accused of creating the misguided impression that a move from product control to trading is actually possible.

It's something recruiters deny strenuously. "Any product controller who thinks he or she is going to become a trader is incredibly naïve," says one senior accounting recruiter. "And any recruiter who suggests it might be easy move to move from product control to trading is unscrupulous."

Simon Lindrea, a director at Michael Page, expresses his opinion a little more circumspectly. "It's unusual to move from a middle office product control role into a trading role, although it does happen occasionally," he says. "Recruiters should be clear about this and manage expectations accordingly."

However, the former head of product control at one US bank confirms that he used to dangle the prospect of becoming a trader as a way of luring potential hires: "We had a couple of members of my product control team who moved onto the trading desk, and it was something I would mention to potential hires," he says. "You tended to get a higher calibre of applicant amongst the aspiring traders than the would-be product controllers."