Careers in Finance–Voices of Finance

One of my common lectures to the various business schools is to describe an investment bank. Students,for some reason, just think of investment banking as either trading or M&A banker. There is much more to it than just this and frequently I tell kids, you can actually end up making more money over your lifetime in other banking areas than just being in trading or M&A. Anyway, the Guardian is running a series on voices of Finance. Very nice one. Here are the various links to various jobs:

Most recent

• Industry journalist: 'The bond market is like my baby'

  24 Dec 2011: The head of bond coverage for a bond market publication tells all, as part of Joris Luyendijk's Voices of finance series6 comments

• Law firm partner: 'at major banks there's a token Brit in each division'

  22 Dec 2011: Joris Luyendijk gets the inside story from a mergers and acquisitions lawyer, as part of the Voices of finance series41 comments

• Voices of finance: IT consultant and developer

  12 Dec 2011:

  'I find the level of disorganisation in banking astonishing, especially considering its place in UK commerce'

  56 comments

• Voices of finance: risk analyst for a major high street bank

  8 Dec 2011: 'What has really surprised me, coming out of university, was how few people in finance understand statistics in any depth'42 comments

• Voices of finance: insurance broker

  5 Dec 2011: 'I have been in several incidents of physical and verbal harassment. The thing is, you can't go public with it, because people talk'37 comments

• Voices of finance: quant

  1 Dec 2011: 'It's very tempting to just stay in the world where everything can be understood in mathematical language'
  75 comments

• Voices of finance: fund manager at asset management firm

  27 Nov 2011: 'One of the greatest pitfalls for fund managers is thinking we are more important than the clients whose money we are managing. That's why there are not a lot of Gordon Gekkos among us'123 comments

• Voices of finance: salesman for a brokerage firm

  23 Nov 2011: 'You have to be very thick-skinned and insanely optimistic about life to get through without too many breakdowns, or alcoholism'117 comments

• Women in finance

  3 Nov 2011:

  Twelve women give the inside view of working in the testosterone-fuelled City

  298 comments

• Voices of finance: risk and compliance consultant at a major bank

  3 Nov 2011:

  'My sense is that a lot of people in finance hate what they do. There's no passion. But they are trapped by the money'

  21 comments

• Voices of finance: employee relations manager at a major bank

  2 Nov 2011: 'I do none of the fun things. I don't hire people, I don't give bonuses. I tell people they have lost their jobs'56 comments

• Voices of finance: fundraiser at sharia-compliant venture capital firm

  31 Oct 2011:

  'Some people need to see that you have made a pact with the devil, compromised something. They want me to be one of those lonely career women'

  35 comments

• Voices of finance: chief operating officer (equity division) at a bulge bracket bank

  30 Oct 2011: 'Why can't women be proud of those who made it in finance? Feminism for me is the opportunity to do whatever you want'76 comments

• Voices of finance: the institutional stockbroker

  28 Oct 2011: 'People need to understand that we are essential to their pensions and lives … but I am in favour of a tax on financial transactions, and for more regulation'122 comments

• Voices of finance: partner at a major accountancy firm

  27 Oct 2011: 'Suppose the trader is a typical alpha-male and he shouts down the back-office guy, who, intimidated or unsure, goes along. This is how rogue trading could happen'23 comments

Archive (16-30 of 33)

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• Voices of finance: IT business analyst (vice president level)

  25 Oct 2011: 'I'd never tell my friends back home how much I make. They are all working-class, like me. I really feel a bit fraudulent'29 comments

• Voices of finance: investment management adviser

  23 Oct 2011: 'I know when I walk past the desks at some divisions in an investment bank, the guys are instant messaging each other with score cards'49 comments

• Voices of finance: head of marketing

  21 Oct 2011:

  'Try not to make men look too stupid. That would be my advice to women entering this profession. And try not to become a man'

  44 comments

• Voices of finance: recruiter #2

  19 Oct 2011: 'It can get tough. I know of a candidate who handed in her resignation and returned to her desk to discover that everyone had been instructed to ignore her'30 comments

• Voices of finance: bond pricer

  16 Oct 2011:

  'I wish more women took an interest in finance – knowledge is an extremely important part of being financially independent'

  18 comments

• Voices of finance: recruiter

  13 Oct 2011:

  'I never thought I'd become the person I am now. I used to work in a job where I'd help people improve their lives. These days I am cheating, lying, manipulating – all in the name of targets'

  51 comments

• Voices of finance: banker's ex-girlfriend

  10 Oct 2011:

  'Bankers like him have this need to impress, and when they can't use money to do that, they don't know what to do'

  162 comments

• Voices of finance: investment bank intern

  4 Oct 2011: 'You have to be your own harshest critic. Unless you have a good relationship with a colleague, you'll never be told if you are underperforming … but everyone will have noted it'37 comments

• Voices of finance: competition lawyer in mergers and acquisitions

  15 Sep 2011:

  'Boring is good, for lawyers. We sell reliability, solidity and caution. We want our presentation to mirror that'

  60 comments

• Voices of finance: computer programmer at a trading company

  15 Sep 2011:

  'Humility is essential for programmers like me. You must always assume something is your own fault'

  64 comments

• Voices of finance: financial journalist

  15 Sep 2011:

  'If for political reporters Watergate is the gold standard, the scoop financial journalists dream of is Enron'

  19 comments

• Voices of finance: MD, mergers and acquisitions, at an investment bank

  15 Sep 2011:

  'The sorts of deals we do are very, very important to our clients. Crudely put, we can make them very rich'

  33 comments

• Voices of finance: MD, corporate finance, at a major bank

  15 Sep 2011:

  'You are doing deals worth millions. Almost every deal is a truly major event in the life of the company concerned'

  61 comments

• Voices of finance: primary research firm manager

  15 Sep 2011:

  'The financial sector is not rocket science. You have to be willing to put in really long hours – it is an endurance game'

  8 comments

• Voices of finance: analyst at a private equity and corporate finance boutique

  15 Sep 2011:

  'We do some of the things that major investment banks do, but for smaller players'

  19 comments

• • Voices of finance: PR officer for a brokerage company

    15 Sep 2011:

    'I am a barometer of the City. I follow developments, go for lunch, am on the phone a lot … People skills are everything'

  • Voices of finance: research analyst at a primary brokerage firm

    15 Sep 2011:

    'One of the things I like about the financial sector, it's meritocratic … the boardrooms are often really multicultural'

  • Voices of finance: sales manager for data management services

    15 Sep 2011:

    'If clients seek out my view on a project of theirs, it means they value my expertise and take me seriously'