I've noticed there were some very bright people in this sub-forum so here is my question.I've been talking to the HR manager of QIA about their scholarship program. They want me to study Finance @ University. Not accounting and finance mind you a pure BSc Finance and to pick up modules such as Derivatives,Risk Management etc. Afterwards I'd join them up as a trainee for 2 years( they send you to places such as Barclays,Credit Suisse,G&S) and then you join the team.I haven't been told anything besides the fact that I will have a say in which division I want to work in(investments,assets management etc).
The pay is astronomical and the bonuses are comparable to JP,GS etc except it's all tax free.
For example the 2 years as a trainee I'll be pocketing 50k tax free.
Now the thing is even tho this is a great opportunity don't think this is my long term plan it's more of a 10year or so thing and then out.
How would working for a sovereign wealth fund go down with GS,JP and such?
I'll try to be on the investment team however some of my concerns:
- I'll probably get the MSc Financial Economics from Oxford or the MSc Finance from LSE however my Bachelor will be at either Cardiff,Lancaster,City,Essex or Strathclyde since they are the only ones which offer the modules they want me to study as part of their BSc Finance. How is that going to look on my CV long term?
- The work they do is 100% private, the full fledge of their investments aren't known and all deals are highly secret so I don't think I'll be able to kind of ''stand out'' on an international level.
-How does one go about joining an investment bank after years of work experience? You won't obviously start as an analyst.
-Do the top IBs headhunt from sovereign wealth funds?
Some things to consider:
They'll be paying my full tuition fees.
Their assets are estimated to be around 66 billion $. They own Harrods,Hyde Park,15% of the LSE,17% preference shares Volkswagen,Miramax Films,Qtel as well as gold,silver and foreign currencies and that is only what's known.
Their work ethic from what I've seen during my two visits are impeccable and these people mean business (they only recruit people with 3.8+ gpa/first)
The top players at the investment tables earn 3-4 million a year in bonuses alone and they are all under 30 years old.
With all the goods things said now comes the bad part:
They are relatively unknown as far as I know.
The work is very restrictive basically you do not have a lot of autonomy.
There is absolutely no client contact from the investment team.
All the money they have is granted to them from the State so if something happens, political unrest,economic downturn etc won't be glorious even tho Qatar was pretty good at sheltering itself from the 2008 crisis.
Thoughts?