[centrallaborer]

I switched from a consulting job to a position at a large ibank just before the financial crisis. It has been a terrible move, as this position hasn't offered any of the development opportunities I had expected. My boss is vain, does little work (except to show up and claim personal credit for everything) and has no concern for developing anybody's career. Our performance reviews are never completed and HR doesn't seem to care. We are worked around the clock and discouraged from communicating with other groups and doing anything that would gain us any individual visibility. An amazing amount of our time is diverted to doing things with dubious benefit for the firm, but which serve to raise the boss' profile. It's quite sickening how senior management constantly lavish praise on this person without acknowledging the existence of a team. More alarmingly, the boss frequently bad-mouths the firm, feuds with other teams and alludes to better offers. We are probably considered disposable.

So I'm desperate to break out of this situation, but haven't yet built much of a track record in banking and am not especially attached to the industry. The boss would not be supportive of an internal transfer and few advertised positions are a fit for my current area of work (which is not in a traditionally defined category). On the hand, I'm working for a prominent bank and working closely with prominent people. What is the best tactic for scouting another opportunity? I have very little free time. I'm thinking it would be best to contact prospective employers directly, but it's a small world and word could get out. Any suggestions? Are there any career coaches/headhunters who will work on behalf of the applicant?

[aussiegal]

If you want to stay in IB then it's only going to be through headhunters that you land another position.
This is a good site - Finance Jobs UK: Investment Banking Jobs, IT Jobs in Finance & Accounting Recruitment in UK

It would be pretty easy to work out which head hunters are involved in the industry here by looking at the job adverts.