[wilhemypy]

Hi all! Happy 2007!
I'm not sure whether it's the right place to turn to. But here seems to have a lot of eager helping-hands regarding job-hunting.

Well, I'm not an expat. And am now working as an management trainee in a airline caterer in HK. Just find out that the job may not have suited me in several aspects, and looking actively for alternatives. What caught my eyes recently is an entry position in Bloomberg, the research contribution analyst.

Just want to know more about the working environment of Bloomberg, the people there, and most important of all, what an entry level analyst is expected to do. The job ad. states pretty general things like "detail-minded", "good team-player", "good technical aptitude and PC skills", etc. I look for more substantial descriptions on that.

I really wanna know if I'm suitable to apply for this job, since I was a psych. major in a local uni. (one of the top three) with no prior training in finance whatsoever. My knowledge of the markets mainly comes from reading newspaper and watching bloomberg programmes. I'm also introduced to materials of CFA Level 1 by friedns working in IB. I regard my English standard to be above average in HK, but not necessarily reaching the native-speaker level. I went on exchange to NZ for a year, so generally, my conversation skills are not poor.

That will be great if anyone working in Bloomberg can shed some lights on my queries. Alternatively,I'd also be happy to be introduced to any websites or forums regarding Bloomberg and/or other financial news agents!

Millions of thanks in advance!

[freeier]

i don't work in blg but i can give some comments
- i think its one of the very pro employee organization. as most american companies are. good benefit and etc.
- but i think the jobs there are generally quite dead end. unless you are in the IT support roles. or IT development roles.
- very high turnover.
- the descriptions on the job is as common as what everywhere else would want their staff to be.

[urbanoxide]

I agree with everything Freeier has brought up. To elaborate on some points:

Don't worry too much about whether you're "qualified" for this position based on the sparse details in the job description. Like all generalist, entry-level posts in finance with a large global firm, they're just looking for people who are keen to learn. Previous knowledge/experience (eg academic) might give someone a marginal edge over an otherwise identical candidate, but is seldom useful on-the-job.

About the job being "dead-end" - make sure you understand what you're getting into. Bloomberg is by all means a very respectable name in the finance industry, but this probably isn't remotely close to your glitzy-glamorous front-end i-banking job that many yearn for. You'll be in the financial data / content services business, to be exact, with the likes of Reuters, Dow Jones, FTSE, etc.

Turnover in this niche segment of the industry is indeed high, as Freeier has pointed out. Many of the entry-level jobs are back-office, data/operations type posts. You'll most likely be doing a lot of "Excel monkey" tasks - data checking, etc. A lot of people take off after a year or two; either the job is simply too boring for their tastes, or it just wasn't their expectation of what "working in finance" is like.

That said, a good number of entry-level hires at Bloomberg (someone correct me if I'm wrong) are on the business development side of the things. Sales, support, training, etc. Those will inevitably be more linked to front-office activities and perhaps give you more exposure to clients and the industry as a whole. Perhaps less "dead-end", though that might not be a fair statement. I've noticed, however, that Bloomberg HK has increasingly brought in people from Singapore to fill those posts, rather than hire locally, presumably because of the higher overall level of English proficiency from candidates there.

[wilhemypy]

Thanks a lot for your advice! I appreciate it very much!

Freeier and Urbanoxide, I've been asking myself whether I've mixed the Bloomberg with the glamorous front-office of IB. Surely I can tell you, entering Bloomberg is my first step of entering the finance industry only. What I do eye on are two different options:

(1) Gain experience and hands-on knowledge to bridge myself to the IB. I may see myself in the research branch.

(2) To stay in Bloomberg, or any other news agents, and become a journalist specialised in financial news if opportunities come.

By now, I lean more towards the second option. What interest me most are the stories themselves, not necessarily the trading, the sales, or else. I'm not sure whether taking this path would be appropriate if I want to become a financial journalist at the end of the day. If not, where else should I cast my eyes on?

[urbanoxide]

Wilhemypy,

You seem to have a pretty good idea of what you're getting into, that's great. 120% of the people I meet these days just want to get into IBD at some bank, and make the mistake of thinking the rest of the finance industry is like that.

Your interest in financial journalism is particularly interesting - that's certainly an off-the-beaten-path option. I think you should find out whether any of Bloomberg's news/media activities are actually based in HK, and whether there are entry-level opportunities in this particular area. There's a possibility that HK may be strictly a data-center (eg. back-end stuff) or sales/support center. Check out Reuters as well - they're also very strong in this area. Or maybe the Economist magazine.

Originally Posted by wilhemypy

Thanks a lot for your advice! I appreciate it very much!

Freeier and Urbanoxide, I've been asking myself whether I've mixed the Bloomberg with the glamorous front-office of IB. Surely I can tell you, entering Bloomberg is my first step of entering the finance industry only. What I do eye on are two different options:

(1) Gain experience and hands-on knowledge to bridge myself to the IB. I may see myself in the research branch.

(2) To stay in Bloomberg, or any other news agents, and become a journalist specialised in financial news if opportunities come.

By now, I lean more towards the second option. What interest me most are the stories themselves, not necessarily the trading, the sales, or else. I'm not sure whether taking this path would be appropriate if I want to become a financial journalist at the end of the day. If not, where else should I cast my eyes on?

[grandcider]

I would say that the chance of crossing over from a back office position to a job with Bloomberg news is pretty slim. First of all, English language news is on the decline in Asia. Just look at all the esteemed publications that have scaled back or folded in recent years (FEER, Businessweek, AWSJ). There's no shortage of experienced financial journalists who are desperate for employment. If for some reason, you still want to become a financial journalist,the place to start is as an intern at a place like the Standard. Jobs with newswires like Dow Jones, Bloomberg, AP & Reuters are highly coveted because they pay better. No one will hire you because you already work at Bloomberg in another capacity. They will hire someone with a track record in journalism (ie, lots of clips), knowledge of the markets, excellent writing skills and lots of contacts. Occasionally they might hire someone from a journalism school as an intern.

[KnowItAll]

>> There's no shortage of experienced financial journalists who are
>> desperate for employment.

(going on a slight tangent)

Unfortunately, from my experience they still demand a HUGE premium (which does not go in line with your statement about them being desperate).

Need to bring back slavery ...

[wilhemypy]

Tks a lot, every one of you!!

Urbanoxide, I'll definitely look for opportunities in Reuters and other news agents as well. How stupid was I to have listened to my parents not to study journalism in uni...anyways, I'll try my best!!

As some extra info, I think I should also know more about the prospect, if any (?!), of those "dead-end", "back-end" jobs about data. What will I be facing if I manage to endure years of boredom in this post? Who knows? I may feel interested in being a data-guy for a considerable portion of my career!

Just noticed from the recruitment page of Bloomberg that they are also hiring sales trainees. What is it all about? Apart from the clientele, what're the major differences between a "sales" of financial services in commercial banks and this job? Throughout the msges, it appears that sales-jobs allow more exposure, and thus, development, than data-jobs. Why is it the case?

Many tks for listening to this long-winded, don't-know-what-to-do fresh grad!!

[icmad]

hi guys

just a question out of curiousity, is that common in bloomberg that someone work in middle/back office such as the data dept move to the front office (sales, training) by internal transfer?
I am quite interested in joining this company and want to know more about it
Thank you.

[urbanoxide]

icmad,

First of all I should correct my earlier references to back-office/data jobs as "dead-end" or otherwise negative-sounding; that would be unfair to the many people in these positions, and (from personal experience) even from these less client-facing roles there are opportunities to gain exposure to the wider world of financial services.

As for the prospect of moving to more front-office positions (both you and wilhempy asked), especially in the financial data/content services business, I don't think this is very common. Others with more experience, please jump in. You can think of data as the entry-point; from there people might gradually specialize - common destinations may include IT, research, or product-management type roles. That's by no means an exhaustive list of the possibilities open to you; I've known people who've spent some time in data ("the trenches") then moved on to jobs in trading, quantitative portfolio management, etc.