Reply to: I want to escape banking...

[BlasterBates]

If you were technical it would be no problem. As a PM it's a lot harder as domain knowledge is important. You need to look at related industries such as retail banking or insurance.

I suspect though you'll need to go permie for a while to get experience in another sector.

[edison]

If you spread your net a bit, you will find some big non-financial companies in and outside of London that can afford to pay good rates. Some will be near similar rates for banking. Some good paying sectors include pharma, oil and gas and FMCG. I've seen PMs on around £450-£550/day at these types of companies.

I worked at a FTSE100 company last year and a lot of the contractors on the delivery side came from telco and retail which are both very different to the industry the company operated in. There were plenty of other contractors and permies who had worked in lots of different sectors. As a PM you should have very transferable skills.

[blueislander]

I can relate to this, I really can.

Anyhow, if I was you I'd consider getting away from the South East/London altogether. Overpriced and no quality of life.

My advice to you would be to move into something like retail banking (I did the opposite - Retail -> Investment). Your skills would be relevant but it's a very different environment, much more relaxed. I know that there are loads of PM and BA roles at Lloyds Banking Group in West Yorkshire - the Copley Data Centre - beautiful part of the world, house prices half down the SE, and those roles are paying £ 500 and above.

I'm a developer and would love to get back there but it seems most of the dev work of offshored. I live in eternal hope that something crops upthough as it's only 20 mins from home. Instead I'm stuck down London midweek every week, looking for a way out like you are.

Good luck.

Thanks mate

[blueislander]

Thanks for all the relies guys, much appreciated. Am going to take stock of things and see what I want to do.

I used to live north of the border and the quality of life was exceptional.. circumstances change and with my family etc we are down South although we are looking to get as far out into some rolling fields as possible. London will always be the centre for well paid contracts, I appreciate that, and it's my default for when the pot is empty, but I am going to really try and tailor my cv and skills to other roles.

In the meantime just going to ride out my last few weeks here and then probably end up in another Bank lol. I would just love a change of environment - I will always be tied to a desk and a phone but it would be nice to do it for something other than a financial institute at some point -seems I am not the only one!

[adam42]

One of my biggest bugbears is that I really am not managing anything - it's the usual story of some horrid governance, doing a load of analysis and just jumping from one panic-stricken reactionary enviroment to another. I don't expect other channels of work to be all that different but a change of scenary and the change to apply some skills that I actually trained for would be nice.

What skills did you train for that you don't use as a project manager?

I guess the title "project manager" can encompass quite a lot of different things, but as a developer the way I see a PM is as someone who organises the whole project and makes decisions about resources in the scope - manpower - deadline area.

In that light, what is your experience of working on greenfield projects using the Agile methodology? Surely that would drastically improve the environment you're going into.

A greenfield project is likely to be better resourced, and as a developer, I wish I had more Agile skills because it is in demand at least on Jobserve.

Sorry that doesn't offer much help in aiming for non-banking sectors, but I'm sure there are many greenfield, agile projects starting all the time outside banking just as much as within.

[NickNick]

Problem is that the recruitment agencies won't put you forward for roles outside banking, even if your skills are perfectly well usable for other industries.

I've not found this to be the case, having worked in banking, telecoms, defence, Public Sector and for a charity over the last ten years. It does come down to how well you can sell yourself.

[rashm2k]

Your problem is you want to get out of banking and my issue is I want to get into contract banking!

I have been working for a hedge fund for about 2.5 years! But can't seem to get to the interview stage. Since you are a PM - pm me if you need a Java/open source/data warehouse/SQL Server/Tableau (Visual Analytics)/Collateral/Liquidity/Risk techie!

[Eirikur]

Problem is that the recruitment agencies won't put you forward for roles outside banking, even if your skills are perfectly well usable for other industries.

[oliverson]

Hi all,

new here... looking for some inspiration!

I'm a PM who has done the last 4 years in and out of a large bank in london on contracts. Prior to that I was a permie for two other large banks across 7 years. I've just called time on my contract as I am somewhat dissilusioned with the never-ending nature of what I am working on.

Everything that is out there seems to be banking - risk, regulatory, fund accountants etc. Problem is, I don't want to do that anymore - my PM skills could really be used on something different - i've had enough of working in this environment for at least a year or two.

So what else is out there? I am SE based but can work across home counties and midlands if need be - I invoice at around the 500 mark but can and will be flexible and I just want a change. The wife is all for it to put a smile on my face,

I see other people who seem to have worked all over for the police, car companies, aerospace... am I looking on the wrong recruitment sites, or am I forever doomed to work in banking?

Any help/advice would be appreciated - having been in my own bubble I suppose it's new to me in some ways. On the positive side I have a few weeks off to relax but I would like to start lining things up and doing my homework.

Cheers.

I can relate to this, I really can.

Anyhow, if I was you I'd consider getting away from the South East/London altogether. Overpriced and no quality of life.

My advice to you would be to move into something like retail banking (I did the opposite - Retail -> Investment). Your skills would be relevant but it's a very different environment, much more relaxed. I know that there are loads of PM and BA roles at Lloyds Banking Group in West Yorkshire - the Copley Data Centre - beautiful part of the world, house prices half down the SE, and those roles are paying £ 500 and above.

I'm a developer and would love to get back there but it seems most of the dev work of offshored. I live in eternal hope that something crops upthough as it's only 20 mins from home. Instead I'm stuck down London midweek every week, looking for a way out like you are.

Good luck.

[JRCT]

How did you get into those other arenas? Any specific job board sites? I seem to just hit banking and nothing else.

I agree about the concern of banking moving on but the way I see it I need a change and frankly the bamks will still be a shambles in a year or two and will still need PMs to clean up the mess

I don't think anyone will argue with your last statement.

In my case, I didn't look anywhere different to the places I did previously. I work in Edinburgh, mainly, so maybe it's different up here. Although there is still a massive finance sector here and I would say 90% of the roles I look at/ are sent are, indeed, within banking or finance.

I think if you have a good relationship with an agency (by good, I mean they know who you are when you phone them), then you can make them aware and they can bear you in mind when these roles come up. As someone said, generally speaking I think that non-finance industry roles can pay less so that gives you an advantage as one can safely presume there'll be less competition, all other things being equal.

[blueislander]

I've just done the same, moving onto a government project after bieng in banking for the last 7 years (2 as a contractor).

I don't think I did anything different, but my skills are very transferrable and that's definitely apparant on my CV. Previously, I've worked in brewing, motor and civil service, among others.

One thing that worries me is that, even if my current contract is only a year, will time have moved on within the Finance industry so much that I can't catch up again?

I was working on CRDIV stuff last year and I had other offers to continue with that, but chose to leave the industry, like you, for a bit of a change. Now I'm thinking that by the time I want to go back it could be a completely different set of regs that my CV can't sell me for. I'm sure it'll be fine, but it's a slight worry.

How did you get into those other arenas? Any specific job board sites? I seem to just hit banking and nothing else.

I agree about the concern of banking moving on but the way I see it I need a change and frankly the bamks will still be a shambles in a year or two and will still need PMs to clean up the mess

[JRCT]

I've just done the same, moving onto a government project after bieng in banking for the last 7 years (2 as a contractor).

I don't think I did anything different, but my skills are very transferrable and that's definitely apparant on my CV. Previously, I've worked in brewing, motor and civil service, among others.

One thing that worries me is that, even if my current contract is only a year, will time have moved on within the Finance industry so much that I can't catch up again?

I was working on CRDIV stuff last year and I had other offers to continue with that, but chose to leave the industry, like you, for a bit of a change. Now I'm thinking that by the time I want to go back it could be a completely different set of regs that my CV can't sell me for. I'm sure it'll be fine, but it's a slight worry.

[blazing]

Paste your cv on wordle.net and see if banking screams out. If yes, then reduce the occurrences of that keyword.

[blueislander]

Cheers - you are right, I should change my cv to focus more on my skills and less on banking Banking BANKING.

Acknowledge the rate drop - i would drop my rate for a better balance of job enjoyment and not being in the city. I have offers to go into other banks but urgh, just really would like to break out.

Having talked to the missus we realised that a bit of time away from the industry wouldn't hurt. One of my biggest bugbears is that I really am not managing anything - it's the usual story of some horrid governance, doing a load of analysis and just jumping from one panic-stricken reactionary enviroment to another. I don't expect other channels of work to be all that different but a change of scenary and the change to apply some skills that I actually trained for would be nice.

Maybe I am asking too much at the end of it all...!

[TheFaQQer]

I see other people who seem to have worked all over for the police, car companies, aerospace... am I looking on the wrong recruitment sites, or am I forever doomed to work in banking?

If you are looking outside banking, make sure your CV screams how transferable the skills are, or agents will always assume that you won't be able to do anything else.

If you aren't getting any calls back when you submit your CV for roles, then follow it up with a call, so you can stress how you can work across industries. That might not come across on the CV, so take the opportunity to explain it - they may even give you some tips about wording your CV differently so that that comes out better.

I would guess that it's easier to break out of banking than to break into it, though.