I just wanted a sincere comment, from people who are already in the field, about the present situation of the market.I am looking for the first job (I am a career switcher from Physics) and the situation looks awful.After an initial period of excitement, when I had several interviews and everybody seemed interested about me (it was last summer), I did'nt have a single chance in the past two months, and the recruiters who were pushing me hard before now don't reply to my emails.In particular, January should be a good month, and it was pretty dead..In other words, I would appreciate a frank opinion about the current moment, and if possible an outlook over the next couple of years; if the situation is bad indeed, how can you find a job? Is an additional course (MSc or MBA with different goals) a necessary step?Thanks to you alltigerman

I suppose I'm supposed to answer that one ?I don't really understand what is going on, and I'm not sure anyone does know at the moment.We hear stories of "hiring freezes", but upon close inspection, they seem rate. What is happening is a clog up in the process. More people have to sign off on many hires, and there seem to be quasi-official headcount lmits, which can lead to the situation where a manager wanting to (say) hire a front office developer is competing with someone who needs more people dong credit risk.Over the last few years many managers have fallen into the habit of finding then getting headcount approval. This didn't go wrong all that often, but now it can and does.From the last slowdown banks seem mostly to have learned that dumping lots of people will cost huge money to replace when the market picks up. But it's not clear what the schedule is for an upturn (suprise), and the "shape" of this in terms of what will get better quicker.This uncertainty means that the (occasionally heated) discussions on what people to hire aren't based upon anything that resemble objective facts.

thanks DCFC for your reply, actually I did'nt refer to you specifically, and I am sorry if it sounded like that...Given your expertise, your comment is indeed highly relevant, but I'd like to have a feedback from other job seekers as well, in order to understand how much we can call this as a "collective" phenomenon....unless the whole community decided to put tigerman alone aside

QuoteOriginally posted by: tigermanIn other words, I would appreciate a frank opinion about the current momentThere is a lot of randomness in the market. There are good years, and bad years. This is a bad year, although there have been worse years.Quoteif possible an outlook over the next couple of yearsI think the long term outlook in finance is good. The trouble with long term outlooks however is that rent is based on the short term.Quoteif the situation is bad indeed, how can you find a job?One good thing about a physics/math Ph.D. is that it is a very good degree for this specific problem. If there are few openings in finance, then there are few openings in finance, and you can look for things in medical imaging or petroleum exploration, or something else. When whatever industry you are in crashes and burns (and this *will* happen), you can switch.Also the hard part is not finding a job. Finding a job is easy. The hard part is finding a job that is close to what you want to do.QuoteIs an additional course (MSc or MBA with different goals) a necessary step?Personally, I think that school would be a last resort.

Btw from my experience January is/was not really a good month:1)People waiting for their bonus2)Manager waiting for budget and directionAnd I think it might be especially true this year....

I'm in a similar situation-- Mathematician trying to move from academics-- and I've had similar experiences. It's been very tough to get interviews. Just trying to stay positive, and keep working leads. Good luck!

Several banks are still going through headcount reduction, so even if some managers have a headcount to fill (and that has not been taken away because they hadn't filled it in the second part of last year), they cannot tell if this headcount will be there in 2 weeks time.Also we haven't seen the start of the merry-go-round (I know a couple of places where it's "1-out 1-in" hiring policy unless you get very senior approval), so you don't see the hiring needs coming from positions recently vacated. the hiring freeze has only been partially lifted after all.january is indeed not a month where people much.my 2 cents.

One in, one out does seem to fit the facts, but more commonly it's the oppressive weight of sign offs that is causing stress.

it is really tough out there. People who are working in the mortgage-related structured finance are trying to hang on to the job. More so than ever, if you have certain competitive advantage (strong product knowledge, cross-discipline skills, C++ knowledge) sharpen it and market it aggresively. Take a go for broke approach.

thanks for the comments. Actually, right now I am working 100% on C++ and finance stuff, so at least it's not a waste of time, but it's not pleasant to wait...it reminds me of a blondie song, you keep me hanging on the telephone....seriously, when do you think guys there will be a growth in hiring, if not for a market improvement, at least for a season-related effect? Are jan and feb so bad usually for finding a job?

Many economists and analysts are forecasting a recovery in the second half of this year. In general, companies haven't expanded as aggresively in the 9/11 economic expansion as in the late 90's boom, so employers haven't had to let go of that many excess staff. So that's a positive going forward. In finance in particular, I think it will take a while for the companies to sort out the mess and start hiring in great numbers. However, I have read somewhere that several financial investment banks have been aggresively position themselves in the energy and commodities (incl. food) sectors. So I think that's an area that you want to look into for potential openings.

thanks irongater,let's hope that your forecast is correct. Somebody else is less optimistic about the time of the recovery.As far as the asset class, I was interested in the Energy/Commodity field as well, but nothing happened in the past two months even there