MFE grad landed in MO

[john k]

Coming off a few years working in actuarial science I ended up doing an MFE at a 'target' with the hopes of getting into trading or research at a bank after graduating. I ended up taking a MO type (valuation control) and was initially under the assumption that I would have plenty of opportunities to transition into FO after getting my foot in the door. Coming up on a few months it definitely seems like it will be much more difficult to move into these kind of roles than I had thought and I'm concerned that if I stay where I am for too long it will become even more difficult to move up.
Can anyone lend some advice on how I can best position myself to make the jump? Would it generally be easier to move within the bank I'm currently at or should I be applying elsewhere?
Any insights/advice would be much appreciated.

 

[mhy]

Are you doing a lot of varying technical work on a daily basis or is it the kind of MO where things are pretty repetitive? Is it relevant to what you learned in the MFE?

 

[avarava]

NETWORK..

Does your job involve frequent interactions with the desk (preferably senior traders)? You may use it to your advantage. I know quite a few people who networked their way from MO/BO to trading. One guy I knew worked for four years (substantially long) in Valuation and is now a VP at credit trading. It's all about building your credibility and marketing yourself smartly. Given that you have an MFE from a target school means you already have the pedigree.

 

[pingu]

Coming off a few years working in actuarial science I ended up doing an MFE at a 'target' with the hopes of getting into trading or research at a bank after graduating. I ended up taking a MO type (valuation control) and was initially under the assumption that I would have plenty of opportunities to transition into FO after getting my foot in the door. Coming up on a few months it definitely seems like it will be much more difficult to move into these kind of roles than I had thought and I'm concerned that if I stay where I am for too long it will become even more difficult to move up.
Can anyone lend some advice on how I can best position myself to make the jump? Would it generally be easier to move within the bank I'm currently at or should I be applying elsewhere?
Any insights/advice would be much appreciated.

Do you know where in the front office you want to be? Do you work with them? If you do, make sure they know you really well and they know you can be a contributor. Then everything will fall into place.

If they don't know you yet, make sure to change that (networking, kiss assing, whatever you might call it these days).

 

[john k]

Thanks for the advice guys.

Wrt the post from mhy I really haven't been doing anything close to what I was working on in grad school; It's been lots of VBA, running the same process each month, maybe some Python if I can find an excuse to use it for something. Anything new or interesting pretty much gets pushed to market risk or research.

We get some interaction with trading, mostly at month end when we distribute the new marks/valuation results. Unfortunately we usually only hear from people if we are sending them something that they disagree with and they are pushing back on the results.

In any case, point taken. I can reach out to everyone on the desk that I've worked with thus far and try to learn more about the markets they trade, maybe see if there is anything I can work on that might be helpful outside of my usual hours.