"Joe the Trader" chronicles his experiences with life after Wall Street. Names of companies and individuals have been changed to protect the innocent, and the guilty.
After 11 years in emerging market finance, I figure I pretty much know everyone in the business. Or I know how to get in touch with them. I worked in London and New York. For seven years I had a client-facing job in research. And more recently, as a trader, I was a client of all of the other major banks. It doesn't hurt that the emerging market investment universe is relatively small--I can count on my hands the number of banks in New York that have viable business.
Being so plugged in is, generally speaking, a good thing. But every now and then things can get a bit too cozy.
A few days ago, the He-Men Unemployment Club congregated at Taza, my neighborhood café in Brooklyn. Roberto, Hal and I were still actively looking for work. (Read How to Feel Like a Bitch.) TJ, though he just filed for unemployment after a jobless year and a half, had stopped. He and his wife are expecting their third child any day, so he is more focused on family issues. He is also doing well enough trading his own money that he has created his own investment firm, Prospero LLC.
Once TJ got through with his news, the rest of us took turns. I volunteered that the continued recovery in financial markets could only help our cause.
"Whether you believe the green shoots or not, the recovery in financial markets is a positive for us."
Hal was even more optimistic: "Absolutely--and emerging markets are ripping. Russian stocks are up 70 percent, China 50 percent, and Brazil's up 40 percent. I think the long term thesis for investing in EM is still intact and not enough banks have businesses."
"That's right," Roberto joined in with a smile. "IBC bank just contacted me to build a research team. They said that they wanted a star and frankly there aren't that many of us with a big name. So I'm pretty optimistic."
"IBC???" I spat out a mushy mix of crumbs and coffee. "They called me yesterday for the same job."
"Well boys, let the cage match begin!" TJ said. "Coffees are on Prospero."
A couple of months back I had lost out on a job to someone I knew. While it stung, at least I found out who my competition was after the fact. This time, I was sitting across the table from my competitor--who was also my friend. Not only would the job application process be complicated by our friendship, but five years ago I worked for and reported directly to Roberto. Thoughts began racing through my head. Was this an opportunity to show him who's the boss now? Or would I be condemned to play second fiddle to him again? Hold on, I was getting ahead of myself, neither one of us has the job--although Roberto doesn't exactly lack for confidence.
By the time I had walked home I had gotten myself into a serious funk. Roberto's very good. He's run a department before and being seven years my senior, he's got more experience and a better resume. A year ago, Roberto was talking about retiring from finance; now he was probably going to take my lunch money.
What the hell was I going to do? I frantically ran down a list of strategies. Good cop, bad cop. Divide and conquer. Never get involved in a land war in Asia. Stop.
Stop. My resume is strong and my reputation is excellent, let's start there. In the five years since I worked for Roberto, my career had blossomed, absent an unfortunate period last October, which ultimately contributed to the closing of my group. I had successfully made the switch from research to trading for the bank's account. My experience actually investing, instead of just recommending investment ideas, gives me a different point of view from that of almost all other researchers. Despite my previous subordinate relationship with Roberto, over the last several years we had become peers--each of us had moved on to different jobs and we valued each other's opinions.
I had to forget about Roberto and focus on how to win the job. How would I want to run the business? What areas of research would I focus on? How many people would I need to have an effective team? I have a network of contacts: use them. Who do I know at IBC? Who do I know that is tight with the right people at IBC?
Of course, if all else failed...I could resort to subterfuge. As talented as Roberto is, not everyone likes him. He can be cocky, and he's managed to piss a few people off along the way. Was there anyone well-placed at IBC with an axe to grind with him?
Yes, all this really did cross my mind. Eleven years on Wall Street sharpened my elbows.
But in the end, it's going to come down to who tells the best story about why he should run the group. Undermining Roberto isn't going to help me with that. Finally, I realized that there was a strategy that would double my chance of getting a job--even if Roberto took the top spot. So I called him. Knowing everyone might pay off after all.
"Hey Roberto," I said. "What do you think about getting the band back together?"
Joe the Trader spent 11 years as a proprietary trader at a major U.S. bank. He has three children and currently lives in Brooklyn. Read more of his Out on the Street columns on Recessionwire. Subscribe to Recessionwire's RSS feed or continue to Recessionwire: The upside of the downturn.