JPMorgan - Jobs for experienced professional?

Makkusu

Does anyone on this forum work or has worked for JPM? I live near one of their offices and would love to have a career there, it has 114 jobs advertised but I've never known where to start or what would be a good entry for me.

I'm studying ACCA and want to do an MBA after. 6 years experience in as an accountant.

Is there any particular department I could look into? Not sure how to find this stuff out apart from trial & error applying which seems a bit dumb.

EDIT: Also, any idea what a starting salary would be roughly?

asajj

Starting salary changes according to the location. Glassdoor (website) might be a good place to start.
You would look into finance jobs obviously but there are different teams with different requirements and you need to have a look and see what interests you.
My advice is, don't pick a company to work for. Pick a job.

redpete

Makkusu wrote: »

I'm studying ACCA and want to do an MBA after. 6 years experience in as an accountant.

Is there any particular department I could look into? Not sure how to find this stuff out apart from trial & error applying which seems a bit dumb.

Stupid even. You check the 114 jobs and ignore the ones for Java developers or programme managers or client relationship managers or...

Check the ones with job titles that look as though they might be suitable for an inexperienced accounts or finance person and see if the job descripton interests you. If you dont understand the description it probably isn't for you.

Makkusu

asajj wrote: »

Starting salary changes according to the location. Glassdoor (website) might be a good place to start.
You would look into finance jobs obviously but there are different teams with different requirements and you need to have a look and see what interests you.
My advice is, don't pick a company to work for. Pick a job.

Thanks I'll take a look on Glassdoor, and good advice about not picking a company but my next step in career is partner level and I know a bank like JPM would secure it. Plus, I wouldn't mind a bit of work travel which it can offer perhaps.

@redpete. It's still hard to pick one job out of 100 you have no experience of, no idea what chance I have at securing the job, no idea whether it's a pay cut or not.

I'd quite like to work in investment banking there but I always thought you have to be pretty much straight out of top Unis?

Malthusian

Makkusu wrote: »

@redpete. It's still hard to pick one job out of 100 you have no experience of, no idea what chance I have at securing the job, no idea whether it's a pay cut or not.

It was the original JP Morgan who said "If you have to ask what it costs, you can't afford it". Similarly, if you have no idea whether you have a chance of securing the job, or what it pays, you don't.

I'd quite like to work in investment banking there but I always thought you have to be pretty much straight out of top Unis?

That's for graduate schemes. You could take an entry level job and work your way up. Or take an accountancy job within a bank, while studying for a banking qualification in your spare time, and applying for relevant jobs until someone - I wouldn't suggest limiting yourself to one company - takes a punt on you despite your lack of practical experience.

It seems rather strange for someone who is on the verge of reaching partner level in accountancy to want to make a career change with the drop in remuneration that implies.

I can't help but be reminded of a Monty Python sketch about an accountant who's decided he wants to change profession but doesn't seem to have done any planning for how to get from A to B.

*edit*

As you were recently unable to work for several months due to depression and anxiety, I strongly recommend you wait until you are in a better place mentally before taking any drastic career decisions. Moving from a profession in which you are experienced and qualified to one in which you aren't nearly always involves a substantial drop in income, and the grass isn't always greener.

Makkusu

Malthusian wrote: »

It was the original JP Morgan who said "If you have to ask what it costs, you can't afford it". Similarly, if you have no idea whether you have a chance of securing the job, or what it pays, you don't.

That's for graduate schemes. You could take an entry level job and work your way up. Or take an accountancy job within a bank, while studying for a banking qualification in your spare time, and applying for relevant jobs until someone - I wouldn't suggest limiting yourself to one company - takes a punt on you despite your lack of practical experience.

It seems rather strange for someone who is on the verge of reaching partner level in accountancy to want to make a career change with the drop in remuneration that implies.

I can't help but be reminded of a Monty Python sketch about an accountant who's decided he wants to change profession but doesn't seem to have done any planning for how to get from A to B.

*edit*

As you were recently unable to work for several months due to depression and anxiety, I strongly recommend you wait until you are in a better place mentally before taking any drastic career decisions. Moving from a profession in which you are experienced and qualified to one in which you aren't nearly always involves a substantial drop in income, and the grass isn't always greener.

Thank you for the concern. I'd like to make the move in 1-2 years time so it's early days still, hence why I thought I'd post to ask for opinions, there's no shame in not having done any research to date (this is what the thread was partially for).

My ancestry is lined with bankers and I always wanted to work for one as a kid. Moneys not really a concern of mine, I prefer challenge and I want to work for a large organisation at least once in my life, it's the largest in the area. I worked with a fella who moves to JPM and he's travelling the world alongside his job which is something my partner and I have considered for a while... so, with all these points in mind I'm not just taking a wild punt at a random company there are reasons behind it.

I'm rapidly recovering since moving jobs thanks, I was putting in 90+ hours a week and its down to 37 now, no meds all good. So now is the perfect time for me to plan my future out.

P.S. Im seeing some salaries at around £40k for associates, with an MBA I would have thought this is likely or no??

cardsguy

Makkusu wrote: »

P.S. Im seeing some salaries at around £40k for associates, with an MBA I would have thought this is likely or no??

I highly doubt an MBA would only be paid £40k.

becominganobsessivesaver

Working in a similar area, and having also suffered stress in the past, I'm not sure banking would be high on my list of career moves (but everyone is different). How much post-qualification experience do you have in accountancy? In my experience most employers look at this rather than the time spent training, so someone who spent 3 years training and had 2 years post-qualified experience would be deemed more experienced than someone who spent 5 years training with one years post-qualified experience (and salaries reflect this.)

GarthThomas

cardsguy wrote: »

I highly doubt an MBA would only be paid £40k.

Twenty years ago MBAs who joined at the same time as me got something like £90,000 a year starting salary.

xapprenticex

GarthThomas wrote: »

Twenty years ago MBAs who joined at the same time as me got something like £90,000 a year starting salary.

In exchange for how much of their life? I cant see you having any kind of work-life balance with that (but that suits some).

asajj

I work in an investment bank. Very few people really travel around the world. Especially in the cost-cutting environment, we are in.

I can't understand that you are talking about partner level yet you only have 6 years experience in accountancy. Assuming you mean director level, most directors I know have around 15+years of experience in the field, if not more.
Yes JPM may offer the progression but it comes with a big competition too. Just to give an idea, I had an interview with them in last October. 5 were short-listed among nearly 600 applications.

Graduate schemes mostly get top uni students indeed but there are lots of different entry level roles. Starting salaries are somewhere along the lines 40-45k in London.

If you want to be an investment banker, go for CFA, not ACCA.

And an MBA was much more valuable 20 years ago. Nowadays, many people have it and you will be paid according to your job band/level. You can have MBA but you might not be able to demonstrate the experience/knowledge required to be, let's say, a vice president.