Can I move from a Back Office role to a Front Office role?

There have been so many rumours that seem to suggest that it’s next to impossible moving from a back office (BO) role to a front office (FO) role. If you don’t know the difference between these two check this out wiki (scroll down to the middle).

To demystify this so called difficulty that it is almost impossible to move from a BO role to a FO role, I thought I would ask the banks themselves. I sent an email to several banks and surprisingly a few replied!

This was the email I sent: Email By me. The following are the replies.

This is JP Morgan’s email reply.

This is Morgan Stanley’s email reply.

This is Barclay's Capital email reply.

This UBS’s first email, they didn’t seem to get the question! I asked the same question in a different way here and then still couldn’t give me a straight reply! Oh well, they must be suffering from the thousands of job cuts!

Please Note: All contact details and names have been removed; only the main body of the email has been used.

As you can see it is not impossible, in fact it is “do-able” and it’s nothing unheard of. All the investment banks will accept applicants that have different backgrounds and because you have worked in a BO role or any other job it isn’t a disadvantage.

Any job experience is worth having, you will only learn something from it. I guess the real test will be the way you put this across during interviews.

You may also be wondering could I move from one division to another within the same back? Again, I think it's possible but this is dependent on the bank. Your comments are always welome as usual.

WikiJob

I thought I would make a post about a site I've known about for a while that some of you may find useful. From now on, I will try to write reviews on good quality online resources that are relevant to those that wish to pursue a career in investment banking and consulting.

WikiJob is an online community where users can create, edit and publish articles. It is basically the wikipedia of investment banking, accounting, consulting and law. I think most of you here will be interested in the investment banking section! What I like about it is the simple and clean look of the site and the relevant content that is on there. I mean each sentence is worth reading, in other words no small talk, it gets to the point unlike many other sites.

A quick summary below to help you find things. I will go through the sections that you are likely to need.

Interview questions - detailed accounts of the application process. From online applications to offers with all aspects of interviews and assessment days covered. You can find Goldman Sachs Interview questions and JP Morgan Interview questions! I am sure most of you wonder what you will be asked on your interview day!

Industry pages - This is my favourite section because there are clear and simple explanations about different things even the most basic things such the different tiers that investment banks have. A very simple concept that many seem to ask! This is very useful for those that would like a starting point to learn about investment banks.

Application Technique - A selection of useful articles on application technique, including competency based interviews and competency based questions. Gold mine!

To top it off they have a forum, a community of job seekers and graduate trainees at firms who give advice and answer to each others questions on all aspects of job search/interview process.

If there are other sites that you are aware of please comment and post them so that others may benefit from it.

I found this amusing - where i found this, it said it was a training video!!