Help, job advice please. Anyone work in the city?

[CityMaybe]

Posting here for traffic.

I have a second round interview for a job in the city supporting a team of hedge fund managers, as far as I can tell this involves being a mix of a PA and front of house person. The starting salary is £22000 (I earn £18000 at the minute, no potential to earn more with time) going up once probation is passed.

I'm wondering what to do and if I should take it if I get offered it. At the minute my job is teaching an extracurricular activity to quite a high level to students and this was my dream but it isn't financially viable long term. I'm 28 now so need to make good decisions to set me up for the future.

Does anyone know how far I could progress in a city job or what the top tier PAs earn?

Also, I was told the hours would be 'usual office hours', am I right to suspect they could be very long in the city?

Does there tend to be a culture of working through lunch breaks etc?

I'm assistant to the CEO of a hedge fund and I earn 60k basic and my bonus this year was 27k. I would consider myself a 'top city PA', I work in a high pressure environment and my boss is v demanding. I'm unofficially available 24/7, I sometimes work on reports doing research, etc at weekends but only once a month max. My hours are generally 8-6.30, usually later. Well paid assistants are usually quite involved and my boss often asks my opinion on various issues, he respects my opinion and relies on me. My boss operates on a high level of stress and it's my job to ensure that his life is run as smoothly as possible on all levels. I'm extremely calm which I would say is v important attribute!

Can do attitude, no job too big or small, never think your too good to do anything, bend over backwards and oh the extra mile

Love my job, I'm treated well and given opportunities to make my day interesting

Extra hours, well, it's hard to quantify - but blackberry on 24/7, becomes habit forming to check, boss has my personal number as well so can get me on that, if they are stuck at the other side of the world and need help be it at 2am or Sundsy lunch they need help - I wouldn't abandon a friend in need, and when you work for someone one on one for so long you build a friendship with them that means you just do what needs to be done

Works both ways though and when my kids have been sick or my boiler has been bust etc, I'm given leeway like an adult to deal with it and work round it

Does that help?

Yes, definitely , iamusuallybeingunreasonable - thank you!

NoImSparticus, thank you too, more great info.

Good luck!

My friend was a secretarial manager at Barclays. She was on over £100k and started as an admin assistant. Secretaries at our legal firm are on about £40k-£45k

I know that I did better at my job salary wise than some of my co-workers because I got myself involved in some low level paralegal work, some marketing, just offered myself our there when I could and when there was time and my coworkers would sit there and scoff and say 'you're mad' while searching the internet but not when it came to pay review and coins time I wasn't.

Ooh Minibmw, good tip! Thank you!

Another question for those in the know - so if I land the job and go in at £22k, how quickly would I go up paygrades? Can I expect a payrise every year? Where could I be in five years if I'm good?

I know that might be a 'how long is a piece of string' question, so just putting it out there, I am full of curiosity!

When I left payrises had cut to a minimum of about £1000 and that was after a 3 year no pay rise drought so obv after tax not a huge amount but I'd focus on getting in and getting on. See it as an opportunity not a pay scale.

I had to take on considerable amounts to go up the pay bands in larger chunks, payrise now is usually just above inflation

That is very low for the city. When I first came to the city, as a junior person and aged 25, I was on £30k, and that was 8 years ago.
£22k is not enough to justify the expense of working in the city.

Hmm. So in ten years I might be on just over thirty thousand pounds a year. Not to be sniffed at for sure, but I definitely am champing at the bit to get stuck into a rewarding career now. Not afraid of taking on a lot of challenging stuff either

What role were you doing Enjoyingmycoffe1981?

I hope you get the job OP!

This is all very interesting. I can't imagine how difficult it would be to organise someone else's life!

Thank you BakerStreetSaxRift!

I know, that does occur to me, I could do with a PA myself in my personal life

Fortunately however I am the type of person that keeps my work immaculately organized, purely because it saves time, keeps everything simpler and I can't stand wasting time by having a chaotic workload - I love lists and plans and knowing what I'm doing!

OP - I'd ask about progression and research other companies (hedge fund too).

also do what mini says if that appeals to you.

seriously now you've said 38 and the salary. that is way underpricing yourself even though you're keen.

I did this 4 years ago am 42 and wish I'd bagged a higher salary.

don't sell yourself short or ask about possibility of pay rise within 3 or 6 months which is not unreasonable if you pass probationary period.

oh I just saw salary goes up once probation has passed.

that's good. is there any way you can find out (recruiter?) if they have annual pay reviews and what criteria is etc?

Superflyhigh, the salary increases to £25000 after probation.

How are you getting on now?

OP - sounds much better.

To be honest wish I'd never taken it, not got a pay rise in 4 years not likely to get one (small outside London company) and my boss rarely gives pay rises.

I'm trying to leave! You on the other hand have more scope for progression if it doesn't suit after 2 years you could move on easily and go further up. Good luck!

Pay at our place is reviewed once a year - no exceptions unless exceptional circumstances, e.g. a top fund manager wants to go and they do what they can to keep them. Bonuses also once a year. Last few years has been quite difficult - we had a few years of no increase at all in base salaries. However, when there are rises, we take the view that we need to ensure the more junior people are looked after first - so we will focus more on the increases for junior staff.

We're still talking anything between 1 and 5 percent however. Nothing huge unless someone is deemed to be an outlier to their peers / industry benchmark.

Thank you Superflyhigh! Really hope you find something that suits you better too

The market has changed enormously by the sounds of it.

When I was in the city 7 years ago (before global economic crisis) Legal Secretaries and PA's for banks and fund managers and stuff were on 35k+

I was a PA nearly 15 years ago locally (about an hour out of the city) and was on 18k and went up to 20k and that was in 2001.

Its not much help but perhaps I am seriously out of touch with the job market.

No wonder people are struggling, its not as if the cost of living has gone down!

Exactly, TattyDevine. It's crazy, jobs are hard to get above the £20k mark I find, unless you have lots of experience in a sector.

The city jobs would include a bonus (profit share, percentage of salary) and the local job included things like a car park (which can substantially increase your take home!) and a few other perks.

I think that's very low. My PA in my last role was earning mid thirties plus a decent bonus of another £10k or so. She didn't work exceptionally long hours but did manage and attend corporate events so it would involve out of hours work at least monthly. It sounds like the role may have potential.

It could be quite an aggressive culture, just bear that in mind if it's something you could cope with?