A very brief summary of where i am at in life... Im 23, with BSc(not the masters) International Securities,Investment and Banking. Was an analyst (basically lots of excel number crunching) for an energy trading firm for 18months and was made redundant April 2003. Due to poor job market decided to learn french(basic level), so joined a language school in Touloue, France. I will be back in Uk in July....now what do i do?Options...I want to work in a hedge fund, but they want more experience...relevant experience.In general, im in a difficult situation the current jobs in financial markets want people with experience, i cant get experience unless someone gives me a job. (I even offered my services for free for first month to some firms)Re-educate...I have been told IT management (not programming) is becoming more significant within firms. is this true? May consider doin a masters in it.Last option...go back to France!Any advise would be welcomed. If you like to see my CV please email me at Sidiquekhan@hotmail.com.regards,Sid

The French course sounds like an excellent idea.Have you considered doing "the masters" ? In fact, this months Wilmott Magazine has a list of good masters courses, but I think the deadline for applying must be very soon for October start. You could even take one part-time and carry on job hunting. Other options...?Or if you can afford it, the CQF? You could take a programming course in something like C++ ?You could study at home while taking a full/part-time back office job ?You could apply for fixed length internships at places (e.g. 3 months over the summer), rather than offering yourself free to them for a month - which I think can be difficult to get through in a tight headcount place even though you are free - you still require a computer, a desk, "why is that desk over there got a new guy when we laid of John Doe last week" etc. etc.I recommend the Masters if you can.Good luck.

hiby masters do you mean the M.Sc ISIB at ISMA centre?how is it?

errr I actually meant any masters course in a finance related field.

Thinking of doing MSc Financial Markets with Information Systemshttp://www.lgu.ac.uk/courses/pg/econ04.htmlNeed to improve my IT knowledge.Sid

I have mixed feelings about your plans. I agree that IT management is a good direction for right now giving that just about every company is outsourcing their IT depts. offshore. Many economists argue that this will create more jobs in managing this whole outsourcing process. However, I am not sure this is the case, as time progresses there many be less need for internal management and an entire company's IT operation may be run by one or two managers. My 2 Cents...