The Economy According to Recruiters
Forget global economic indicators, non-farm payroll numbers or figures about the consumer sentiment in the Bible Belt. All it takes to know how the economy is doing is a cold call by your friendly neighbourhood recruiter.
In case one hasn't noticed, the financial world has changed a fair bit over the last two years. In the early 2000s, the thinking of a recruiter was that if you had been in your current job for 18 months, it was time for you to move on (and for them to pick up the fee). There was no concept of reaping rewards from loyalty because for them a loyal banker was a dead asset. Chatting to your recruiter made you feel wanted and cherished, and by merely talking to them you knew the world was a happy, lucrative place.
By the time we got to 2004/2005, things started to get silly. A few years experience in credit derivatives suddenly made you a hot commodity. The alleged prices that less-useful colleagues were hired at were a sure-fire indicator that the market was going into bubble mode. Headhunters kept telling me that I would regret not moving on since I would miss out on huge potential earnings. If it hadn't been for the lack of flowers, this job market would have had tulip mania written all over it.
Bubbles tend to burst and this one was no different. Early indicators for this were a cancelled job interview at Lehman after the market for asset-backed securities started collapsing (largely unnoticed) in early 2007. As we know now, not getting a job at Lehman was a blessing in disguise. But suddenly my phone line went silent. As we watched the financial world fall apart, calls from recruiters became a commodity compared to which a Blue Mauritius is wide-spread. I don't need Alistair Darling to tell me that the UK is done. I know it after having been ignored by headhunters for the largest part of the past two years.
Then a few months ago, I got a flavour of the brave new world of life in banking when a recruiter calls me about a role. He tried to sell me on the long-term prospects of the institution because "I still have many years of work ahead of me".
Whilst in the past I felt a sense of satisfaction from being chased from job to job, I will be avoiding phone calls coming in through switchboard in the future. I certainly do not need anyone to rub in the fact that I am going to work until I am 75 - when in my original plans, I would have been heading for retirement by now.
By the time we got to 2004/2005, things started to get silly. A few years experience in credit derivatives suddenly made you a hot commodity. The alleged prices that less-useful colleagues were hired at were a sure-fire indicator that the market was going into bubble mode. Headhunters kept telling me that I would regret not moving on since I would miss out on huge potential earnings. If it hadn't been for the lack of flowers, this job market would have had tulip mania written all over it.
Bubbles tend to burst and this one was no different. Early indicators for this were a cancelled job interview at Lehman after the market for asset-backed securities started collapsing (largely unnoticed) in early 2007. As we know now, not getting a job at Lehman was a blessing in disguise. But suddenly my phone line went silent. As we watched the financial world fall apart, calls from recruiters became a commodity compared to which a Blue Mauritius is wide-spread. I don't need Alistair Darling to tell me that the UK is done. I know it after having been ignored by headhunters for the largest part of the past two years.
Then a few months ago, I got a flavour of the brave new world of life in banking when a recruiter calls me about a role. He tried to sell me on the long-term prospects of the institution because "I still have many years of work ahead of me".
Whilst in the past I felt a sense of satisfaction from being chased from job to job, I will be avoiding phone calls coming in through switchboard in the future. I certainly do not need anyone to rub in the fact that I am going to work until I am 75 - when in my original plans, I would have been heading for retirement by now.
Here Is The Writer : Square Mylo
Square Mylo came to London with the intention of staying six months and never left. He has worked in Canary Wharf and in the Square Mile, but still maintains a clear conscience since he's never worked in Mayfair. Being a banker is his true calling. Maybe he should have listened more closely.
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