Tough Times On The Milk Round

No sign of any movement today regarding job cuts, although a chap in Synthetics mentioned earlier that he has already cleared his desk and gone so far as to draft a goodbye letter to his team in readiness. Optimism seems to be but a distant memory, although with unemployment in the UK forecast to spiral upwards by 1 million in 2009, perhaps that is justified.

The spectre of unemployment is something all of us in the City are having to live with right now. I must admit, I am feeling a bit guilty about all the rumour spreading now. Oh well, I'm preparing them mentally for the big push when it happens - and I heard from another source just now that the cull has merely been postponed for a week. I suppose it partly depends on the firm, role and all manner of other factors. There is no harm in me divulging more interesting detail at some point - after all nobody is reading this anyway I expect.

To my surprise who should have wandered past me on the Desk this morning but Shriek herself. I've been lucky enough to never meet her before, and so it took somebody to point her out. In this world of globalisation, it is quite impressive how daily working relationships can be by voice alone, such that you can pass that person without even recognising them. Fortunately that worked both ways, as Shriek does not seem to know me either. She is a real oddity, with bright red (dyed) hair, and seems to have a botox habit judging by the size of her lips. In person, she seems quite different from the aggressive avatar I have known through various phone arguments, and appears to whisper rather than speak.

As such I made a sharp exit from the office before anybody noticed - the last thing I wanted to do was get dragged along to lunch with her. Obviously the 'dodgy dossier' being compiled against her can't be too serious if they've authorised travel expenses for her over to London this week.

I have been asked to take part in some graduate recruitment for the bank. As the Boss explained, this cannot impinge upon market hours, and so instead he seems to be looking for me to show enthusiasm by giving up free time on this. If the cull had already taken place, I might be tempted to show my true colours - instead I said I would be thrilled to make a positive contribution.. saracasm missed.

These are certainly tough times for graduates entering the job market for the first time in 2009. The cut back in graduate employment is in a range of sectors, and it goes without saying that banking is no exception. Many graduates interviewing with top firms now, who would have been a shoe-in for jobs in the past, are unfortunately going to get the 'small envelope' reply. That's the one which reads: 'Thank you for attending the interview, regrettably we will not be pursuing your application further at this time.'

Before feeling too sorry for graduates, they might just be the luckiest generation since the City 'talent drain' first began after Big Bang. They have a genuine chance to ask themselves that all-important question: 'what should I do in life?', without the financial opportunity cost that tempted so many of us to the devil's path.

"Why exactly do you want to go into finance?" is often my first question in interviews. I have interviewed many grads over the years, and the response is usually vague; at best recycling meangingless PR waffle from the corporate website, at worst you might get a grunt from the less communicative ones.

As somebody on the inside, I would suggest that graduates strongly consider other options. They will probably have no choice in many cases anyway - including L's little brother, who is actively looking now. Although financial services will undoubtedly recover, it is likely that compensation will take years to ever regain the levels previously seen, and a whole shake-up of the bonus culture is underway. As such, graduates today face working longer hours for less reward, which doesn't make sense to me.

As I mentioned in my first ever post, I am really looking to find a way out of this industry sooner rather than later and have always dreamed of setting up my own business. On that subject, I have a web-based business idea brewing that seems to be an excellent synergy between my skill set, experience and where there might be future demand. It's just finding the time to turn that into reality that is the biggest challenge right now.