It’s shocking and, just 5 years ago, it was absolutely incomprehensible, but facts are facts: the finance jobs market is going strong.
It’s a shock because, ever since 2009, job losses and cut bonuses have been the norm on Wall Street, and it seemed that the financial industry would never be a good place to work again. As a result, a massive sea change at the prestigious universities was obvious; whereas many non-finance majors at the Ivy League schools could choose a job at Goldman if they wanted before the Great Recession, in post-2009 Ivies were deciding to take jobs in Silicon Valley instead. Back in 2012-2013, many graduates said they wanted to work in the Valley and had no interest in finance, and the students usually cited better pay, better working conditions, and the “cleaner” ethics of Silicon Valley companies as primary motivations.
Oh, how things have changed.
The Valley is no longer seen as the ethical bastion it was just 5 years ago, with endless controversies regarding Google, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, and others resulting in Big Tech becoming the insult that Big Banks were just a decade ago. With great success comes great envy, great scrutiny, and great ire.
This was predictable even then, and many in investment banks and hedge funds would discuss amongst themselves how they awaited the day when Google and Facebook were hated as much as Goldman and Wells Fargo. And now it’s happened.
Meanwhile, pay at finance companies has begun taking off again. While we’re nowhere near 2006 levels of excess, bigger bonuses and better starting salaries are becoming the norm on Wall Street, in part to entice those prestigious grads to come back. At the same time, the number of open positions has started to trickle up in some pockets of finance, thanks in no small part to a robust economy demanding more financial services.
What this means for you if you’re an aspiring banker is simple: you’re more empowered than you might think, and you can negotiate a bigger salary and better working conditions than if you were applying for a job just 2 or 3 years ago. Don’t forget that; you now have power in the job market, so use it.