The concept that’s turning top 20 year-olds off careers in finance

If you’re a 20 something at a top university today, you have a lot of options. Sure, Google is hiring fewer people than it used to, but banks still want you. So does the occasional private equity fund, and so too does the exciting world of emboldened self-fulfilment.

It’s the latter that banks should be most worried about: it’s emboldened self-fulfilment that junior bankers are most likely to find lacking when they’re working 80 hours a week on pitchbooks and financial models. Emboldened self-fulfilment is also a more compelling sell than the conservatism and safety of finance jobs.

Of course, the peddlers of ESF don’t refer to it in those actual terms – they’re more cunning than that. “What would you do if you weren’t afraid?,” Facebook CEO Sheryl Sandberg reportedly asked a group of students at Harvard University last year. At least two promptly ditched their finance and management consulting job offers.

Sarah Pierson, 22, and Alexa Buckley, 23, now run their own fashion business instead. “It felt like a giant leap of faith,” they told the Wall Street Journal, but Sandberg’s speech ‘resonated’ and they were too ‘passionate’ to let the fashion opportunity go. 

Setting the Benchmark (eFinancialCareers)

J.P. Morgan was the first big U.S. investment bank to report its Q2 results yesterday. This is what it means for your finance career.

10 Hot Spots (eFinancialCareers)

These are the skills that recruiters are hunting for now.

The Transatlantic Divide (Reuters)

The European and US sides of the investment banking business reportedly don’t get on too well (still). The US makes a lot more money than Europe and would like to have a lot more power.

Slowdown At Google (WSJ) 

Last year, Google added an average of 2,435 employees per quarter. That’s all coming to an end.

From Morgan Stanley To Deutsche Bank (WSJ) 

Deutsche Bank just hired Bryan North-Clauss from Morgan Stanley as head of US rates sales.

Private Equity Firm Hiring in the U.S. (WSJ)

European private equity firm BC Partners now has 13 investment professionals based in the US and is trying to grow.

Hedge Fund Poaches From J.P. Morgan (Bloomberg) 

Hedge fund Millennium Asset Management just hired the ex-head of global commodities trading from J.P. Morgan.

Quote of the Day:

“Men who were negotiating with a woman as their manager acted more threatened. As such, they asked for more money ($49,400) as opposed to less when asking from a male manager ($42,870),” why there’s still a huge backlash when ‘sexism’ is mentioned.