征文 - 全球金融危机 - 我的部门裁员50%.

Artcore

其实裁员50%是夸大了, 但也是事实, 因为我的部门只有我和老板, 我们俩做公司所有的Corporate Advisory, IPO and M&A业务.
Lehman Brothers 倒闭后, 每天看Dow Jones and All Ord 跌几百点指数后的一个星期一, 我的老板把我叫到办公室. 其实每个星期一, 我和老板都会开一次会, 安排一下这个星期的工作计划. 但这次不同的是, 他脸色很难看, 而且他把他的办公室的门关了. 平时,我们这种在他办公室的例行会议都是开着门的.

“I am really sorry, Artcore (I have a proper Christian name, not Artcore). We are experiencing one of the most difficult financial crisis since the Great Depression. As you can see, I have a few mandates recently; two IPOs and 1 M&A, all of them got delayed and postponed indefinitely. With the current capital market condition, I don’t envisage to get out of this terrible situation anytime soon. As you can understand, I am running this practice as my own business, I can’t afford to the business to lose money.
It has nothing to do with your performance. In fact I was very impressed with your work so far. Just the market, last time we had recession after the collapse of Dot Com bubble, it took me over 2 years to get an IPO deal. I am really sorry…”

说到这里, 我想这个再也明白不过了. 我一点也不怪他. 市场就是这么回事, 有牛市也有熊市, 有起也有伏. 其实我在这13月还是学到很多东西, 基本了解了整个在澳洲上市融资过程. 我只问了两个问题. Q1: When is my last day? Q2: And do you mind if I include you as one of my reference? A1:1 month from now, but you can use the facility here as much as possible. A2: I am more than happy to be your referee.

前面两三个星期, 我还是有点不甘心, 想继续做Corporate Finance / Corporate Advisory / M&A /Private Equity / Investment Banking类似的职位, 但是现在什么时道啊?! Bear Sterns 给JP Morgan 接管, Merrill Lynch 给Bank of America 收购, Lehman Brothers 破产, Citibank 从去年8月份全世界裁了2万, UBS 全世界裁员1900. 这些国际投行不裁员也Recruitment Freeze. 在看看本地的投行. Macquarie Bank 从去年将近$100的股票,现在少于$30. 市场流传back office还要裁20%. Babcock & Brown (Macquarie 第二)基本完蛋了, 估计翻不了身了. Austock裁员40, Wilson HTM cuts 5%, 还有之前的Tricom, Opes Prime, Lift Capitals, 最近的CMC, 征劵公司也是一片狼棘.

Seek.com.au 和efinancialcareers.com.au 是有一些广告. 但大多数是无良中介CV Harvesting, 申请了不回复你, 或者说你不合格. 但是两三天同样的广告有重登了.
见了7/8个中介, 都没有具体工作和你谈, 只是把你的CV放在他们的database, 等有了工作在找你. 而且很多Recruitment Agent 都是来这里holiday visa, 长得很年轻漂亮, 操着南非, 英国,或西欧的口音, 倒过来问你你走以后, 你公司还要人吗?!

而且同一公司的agent也不互相介绍Candidate, 如MPF我因为3份工作, 见了三个不同的agent, 也没有看到一份Job Description, 要了我三分passport附件, 就差问我添同一样的表格三次. 更有甚者竟然忘了我和他的appointment, 要reception催他回来和我见面.  还有agent连俺的CV都没有打出来, 说现在去打, 我说我有多一份, you can keep it. Thanks, can you help me to go through your CV?!

还有的Recruitment Manager自以为是, 你的经验不够, 现在这个市场从国际投行出来的4-5年经验, 他们受过正规训练, 做过几亿,几十亿的deal.你做的几百万deal太小了, 不够资格. 而且由于裁员, 市场做投行,金融的泛滥, 你和他们比绝对没有优势. 我的客户现在可以精挑细选 (Cherry pick). 我也觉得对, 除了会中文, 我没有比他们更大的优势. 现在想想, 我靠, 既然金融专家泛滥, 为啥你那么长时间还没有招到所谓的人才, 同样的广告还在每星期刷新. 不是为了CV harvest, 还有别的用意?! 还有的说我的CV很impressive, 但是准备递给employer的时候, 就说不好意思, 他们由于受市场的影响, recruitment freeze了, 要到明年一月份在说.

我衡量了我的时间和Option, 刚买了房子, 定了婚, 添置了很多家具, 如果我2/3个月没有收入的后果不堪设想.得改变找工方向, 放弃Corporate Finance / Corporate Advisory, 回我的本行, compliance/business analysis/superannuation/tax, recession proof industry.2 个星期搞定!

• 找出以前帮我介绍工作的Recruitment Agents’ Business Cards, 逐一打去.我靠, 如果澳洲哪行, staff turnover 最厉害的, 一定是Recruitment Agent, 6个里面除了一个还在, 全走了, 还有两个我有手机号码. 一个转行了. 另一个去了另外一家人事中介了.找他们, 他们知道我的能力优势, 省去和陌生agent 见面的麻烦, 告诉他们我的工作要求.
• 其中一个很快就叫我把最新的CV email her, the next day email me a job description, see if I am interested. I replied yes.
• 3rd day she mailed a bit more information about the company and its CEO profile, said they would like to arrange an interview with me, but she wants to meet me first.
• 4th day, she came to city and met me at a café and gave me a brief about the role and the company, try to prepare me for the interview.
• Next week (Monday) I had my 1st interview with the CEO
• Feedback from 1st interview was great; they want me to go back on Friday for a product demo, and 2nd interview with the product manager.
• I got the job offer following Monday.
• Accepted offer (COB Tuesday) while I was in my last week of the corporate finance executive role. Last Friday I had my farewell lunch at one of top restaurants in city, my boss paid for it of course . Next Monday I start my new role as the Head of Compliance / Senior Business Analyst for a boutique software development company.
  

Lessons Learnt:

• 一定要把握机会: 3个月前, I was headhunted by 1 recruitment agent and 1 business associate. 其中有一个是个有名的国际投资银行, 我那时候忙着搬家和定婚, 等到回过头来要申请, 已经晚了. 这个后悔呀! 三个月后, 我还想留在这行都难.
• 如果agent不先寄个job description, 我再也不愿意和他们见面, 浪费时间!
• 别指望同一个人事公司会share job candidates, 如你申请的Banking and Finance的工作, 别指望这个agent会把你的资料推给IT area, 虽然你跟这个agent提过, 虽然你可能两个工作都能胜任, 还得分开逐一申请.
• Keep a good record of previous recruitment agent who has successfully helped you with a job.
• 尽量不要和市场对着干, 如果银行都在裁员, 你还往火坑里跳, 你不是吃饱了撑的! Be realistic.
• 不要给华人公司打工, (consultant charged by the hour可以). I delayed my acceptance of the offer for 1 week because there is an opportunity for me to work for mining company (Chinese subsidiary) as a CFO/Financial Controller position. 我的中介催了n次, 音讯全无. 即使我不成功, 也知个声啊. 我还以为碰到张国荣的粉丝, 沉默是金. 后来得知, 总裁和副总裁还在招于不招, 走后门和正当录取的问题上面做政治斗争呢.
  

结局:

• 收入多了X0,000, 还有employee shares + Bonus
• 如果将来还有好的deal, 仍然可以介绍给老板. 他建议俺尽快申请ABN, sole trader/company and建立Family Trust.
• Part-time 给客户做Corporate Advisory, charged by the time.
• Get off Town Hall now, instead of Martin Place.
• Go back to open plan office arrangement, don't have my office anymore . 以后看足迹比较麻烦
  

[ 本帖最后由 Artcore 于 2008-12-3 17:19 编辑 ]

astina

怪不得最近少见到artcore了，原来一个月里发生了这么多事

zmzhu

niuability + baitiao

astina

有能力的人总能找到自己的位置

关于recruitment agent的总结非常有共鸣

patrickzhu

artcore人才啊

MingDeng

恭喜多喜临门...

一喜之恭贺新婚,新居之喜.
二喜之恭贺新工作收入增加,额外创收之喜.
三喜之恭贺得到一份难得人生经验,从而大家得以分享之喜...

哈哈,玩笑了!其实是金子就一定会发光地,不论在什么情况下...
谢谢分享!

旋木

LZ好厉害啊, 佩服

Artcore

原帖由 astina 于 2008-11-8 16:33 发表
怪不得最近少见到artcore了，原来一个月里发生了这么多事

不好意思, 和老妖一样最近是比较忙.

LD和女友去看婚纱了, 俺以给客户写报告的理由逃出来了. 没想到, 来足迹交作业了.

黑山老妖

Artcore，你太牛了。
我对你的景仰犹如滔滔江水，又如黄河决堤。。。
这年头能够在1个月中找到工作还涨薪的你太厉害了。

coolioo

确实是牛人，嫉妒一下  (paopaobing(79))

黑山老妖

上班看贴用这个，可惜还不能回帖，也不能看有权限要求的帖子和板块。
http://www.oursteps.com.au/outlook.php

coolioo

What's the work as a Compliance / Senior Business Analyst ?? Does this role require some technical background??

chinara

额的神呀，CFO候选人，牛人呀。非常钦佩。只要市场好一点。楼主还是会回到自己更感兴趣的领域的。

阿Ka

高人啊，怪不得不见多日，恭喜啊

A8L

这不是因祸得福吗，恭喜大熊猫！

loushenghong

值得学习。值得借鉴。

psveind

楼主太厉害了！佩服

pumpkin

恭喜。

degra

niubility!!!

jasonliu234

向牛人学习

Artcore

原帖由 coolioo 于 2008-11-8 17:14 发表
What's the work as a Compliance / Senior Business Analyst ?? Does this role require some technical background??

The term Business Analyst (BA) is used to describe a person who practices the discipline of business analysis. A business analyst or "BA" is responsible for analyzing the business needs of clients to help identify business problems and propose solutions.

A business analyst works as a liaison among stakeholders in order to elicit, analyze, communicate and validate requirements for changes to business processes, policies and information systems. The business analyst understands business problems and opportunities in the context of the requirements and recommends solutions that enable the organization to achieve its goals.

From Wikipedia :)

astina

原帖由 Artcore 于 2008-11-8 21:32 发表


The term Business Analyst (BA) is used to describe a person who practices the discipline of business analysis. A business analyst or "BA" is responsible for analyzing the business needs of clients ...

正想说回答的真好啊，看到最后一句，被小小雷了一下

Artcore

Technical side limited, mainly from business side, subject matter expert.

西门吹哨

恭喜大熊猫找到新工作，之前的那个工作感觉不适合你，公司吹牛的成分多。

韬光养晦

Artcore GG

好像是传说中 HSC 考了ENTER99%的那位


看来我要加油！

degra

绝对是你学习的榜样

sas66ct

Congulation!!!

jewar

niu

theie

好文章。厉害

Ozalone

嗯，很牛！可惜专业不是我要找的，另外估计楼主目前肯定不会考虑回亚洲工作的。如果楼主恰巧认识experienced quantitative analyst (俗称Quants)，还请推荐，谢啦。要会说普通话，愿意去香港或上海工作一段时间，美国顶尖金融评级机构。谢谢！