REVIEW MY CV: Is the reason I can't find a job that I'm in Portugal, out of work, or a returning mother?

I've spent several weeks of applying for jobs in London and contacting executive search agencies and having had hardly any replies. I'm currently in Lisbon, and am trying to work out whether the lack of response is because I'm not in the UK or because my skills and experience are considered irrelevant.

Equally, I took a career break to study when I was pregnant, so have been out of the market. My daughter is now 12 months and I want to get back in again, but I'm wondering whether the fact that I'm not currently employed is also an issue.

Any advice you can give me would be very much appreciated. I have been applying for jobs in project finance, leveraged finance, research, credit research and equity research.

Education

2009 - 2010 University in Portugal

Master in Finance,

(Best business school in Portugal, ranked amongst top 5 schools in Iberia according to the FT Ranking 2010,)

1994 - 2000 MSc Industrial Engineering and Management

Professional Career

01.2008 - 08.2009 International European bank (Portugal)

Senior Account Manager

Reporting to the Senior Relationship Manager (SRM) in charge of client relationships and new deals' structuring in Portugal; position integrated in the finance team covering the Iberian market, which managed a portfolio of real estate finance projects worth over €3.3b.

Managed the credit quality of finance portfolio and assisted SRM in the structuring of new transactions.

Key responsibilities:

· credit reviews;

· construction and operational monitoring;

· assessment of sponsors financial performance and covenants' compliance; waivers' execution;

· credit applications for restructuring of transactions.

12.2005 - 12.2007 International investment bank (London)

Assistant Vice President (Structured Finance - Asset Management)

Reporting to the Head of Structured Finance - Asset Management in charge of a portfolio of $3.8b.

Directly responsible for the monitoring of the credit quality of 13 accounts, comprising structured finance projects in the power, oil and gas and infrastructure sectors across Europe and the Middle East. Key responsibilities:

· credit reviews;

· monitoring of construction and operation;

· assessment of sponsors' financial performance and covenants' compliance;

· waivers' execution;

· credit applications on refinancing of deals.

05.2004 - 12.2005 International investment bank (London)

Analyst (European Research)

Reporting to the Head of European Research, in charge of producing internal reports for Europe and Tokyo used for credit and investment purposes and support on specific transactions. Key responsibilities:

· research and analysis of European utility and commodity sectors;

· interviews with top managers of key industry players;

· writing of reports covering mainly market sizes, growth and price trends and competitive and strategic issues;

· regular internal presentations of key research findings.

03.2002 - 04.2004 International Market research company (London)

Research Analyst (Industry Group)

Reporting to the Head of Industrial Automation & Process Control in Europe.

Key responsibilities:

· research, analysis and production of market reports covering industrial sectors such as

automation and control and human-machine interface;

· consulting projects on competitive intelligence and opportunity analysis for clients such as Bosch and Siemens.

10.2000 - 10.2001 International investment promotion government agency

Trainee - graduate programme

Training in an international context and to serve as a link that allows past and current participants to keep in touch and share information between one another through the use of an informal knowledge network and a growing international contact network.

Worked at Cifial UK, the subsidiary of a Portuguese manufacturing company, with the product development team, based in Portugal, in the development of products specific for the UK market.

09.1999 - 10.2000 International European manufacturing company

Industrial engineer

Trainee engineer reporting to senior product/ process development engineer.

Main assignments:

· management of production and assembly lines of electronic components;

· planning and implementation of production processes and projects on improving

productivity;

· monitoring of production costs, production targets, analysis of investment projects and execution of annual budget.

Language Skills

Fluent Portuguese, English and French

Intermediate Italian