Thought I might add my career path to the thread.
School: Failed 13+ common entrance to get into the good local private school. My dad was adamant about private education, as he worked hard in order to be able to afford it. I ended up at the private school you go to if you fail to get into all the good private schools. Failed my AS Levels spectacularly (1 E grade and 3 U's!). Went to a local 6th form which opened my eyes quite a bit.
2003-2006 spent at the illustrious University of Plymouth. Enjoyed it. Spent three years making documentaries, was angling towards a career in that industry. Got some great summer internships at literary agents and publishing houses that looked pretty good on my CV and allowed me to dodge a career in publishing as I realised publishing wasn't for me. My sister was working as an HR manager for a City headhunting firm. She told me I'd be crap at headhunting... so I decided to go into headhunting.
2006: Joined a rival firm to hers. Very ambitious company with charismatic owner. £17.5k base with commission. Worked like a dog. 8am-8pm minimum hours in the office. Commute would take over an hour each way, so I don't really remember much of the first few months. Somehow managed to afford a bedroom in a flat share in Parsons Green, 10 doors down from the office. Lived with 5 Australian women (during my time in that flat I lived with 15+ of them, although they didn't like me as I was working so much). Total comp from starting in June through to end of the tax year in March was around £30k.
2007: The company started growing, and I hit a couple of targets in order to establish and run one of the teams - institutional and corporate sales in banks, hedge funds, asset managers, brokerages, etc. Had a decent year at work, hit targets, slaved away at the desk but there was a decent camaraderie amongst us as we were all in the same boat - think about 6 of us out of 20 consultants hit the annual target, which was purposefully set at a very high level. Very stressful environment. Moved to plush offices off Pall Mall. Didn't really have much of a life as I worked so hard. Salary £18k, total comp with commissions of £100k on the nose.
2008: The markets fell apart and the whole environment was awful to work in. Company had grown to about 40 people, although staff turnover was insane. I reckon 75 people worked at the company across 2018. Only 3 of those 75 hit the annual target, but from the outset I'd looked for opportunities within a crumbling banking market, so as banks and funds collapsed I looked to move teams or team heads into smaller firms. I ended up at almost 200% of my target for the year, but the stress placed upon us top performers to essentially prop up the company was starting to take its toll. I was regularly having panic attacks, particularly towards the end of the year, would go to A&E most weeks thinking I was having a heart attack. Ended up having a total nervous breakdown. Anxiety and chronic fatigue meant that I barely saw the office in December of that year, and I quit the first day back in January. I was a quivering mess by the end of it. Salary throughout the year jumped considerably going from £18k to £24k to £36k to £75k - the £75k raise was implemented the month I decided to leave, so I don't think I saw any of it. Total comp for the 9 months I worked was again £100k.
2009: Lay in a dark room and didn't get dressed for two months. Went and got a load of physical health checks done, which started to improve my mental health. Then realised the only way to get back on my feet was to get away, so a mate and I did 4-5 months in the US on a roadtrip. I wasn't totally back to normal but I was getting there. Came back to do an MBA op norf, started seeing someone in London so the MBA became part time. At the same time a couple of former colleagues had set up a headhunting firm, asked me to build the framework and database for capital markets on the basis that I'd get a cut of any revenues generated from it, but I didn't have to actually work beyond building the thing. Caught the bug again whilst putting it together, and then decided to join full time with my MBA put on hold. The plan was to have a go at it for a year, if it was successful then set up a sister company with their backing. Took a salary of £12k! Strangely going from £75k base to £12k didn't hurt at all, and I was invigorated. Rented a great place in London for double my salary which gave me the incentive to work hard - the flat is actually on the market right now
https://www.primelocation.com/for-sale/details/47287557#5Rio2FceOvPcj2qW.97
2010: Markets rebounded and I had a great year. Started really getting back into the swing of things and became genuinely good (and appropriately knowledgeable) at my job. Building a headhunting database from zero candidates or clients into a very profitable business within 12 months is tricky, but improved market conditions helped no end. Salary went up to £24k, but all in I had a cracking year - total comp £185k.
2011: Had a go at building the sister company out, but suppressed markets meant a difficult environment in which to recruit into. Hired a guy to join my team and advised my bosses caution about expanding during tough markets. A lot of people left the firm and the company started to resemble my first employer, which was very depressing. A couple of good mates left the firm and I went to leave too, but they'd cocked up my tax code so as I was about to quit I got hit with an unexpected tax bill and had to stay in order to replenish my savings. Salary went to £50k and all in comp reached £115k.
2012: Hated it. Company moved from the heart of the City to Vauxhall obscurity, commute was crap, the whole company had basically become a mini-me of my initial firm. Had a strangely decent year up until I quit at the beginning of December, wasn't doing much work. They made me a number of ridiculous counter offers as I was the most experienced headhunter at the firm in London as the bosses were building a US office at the time - final counter offer was 3 months paid leave before coming back to work, massive salary, 8 weeks holiday a year, etc. I told them to retract the offer as I'd probably accept it and then quit a year later. They paid my outstanding commissions but stiffed me on the purchase of my share of the firm. I didn't really mind as I just wanted to cut all ties. Total comp was £90k for 7 months work from April '12 to December of that year.
2013: I. Did. Nothing. It was great. Played computer games, read loads of fantasy fiction series that I'd been putting off. Watched a lot of football. Brilliant year. Got fat.
2014: Not particularly wanting to work in headhunting any longer, I took the time to sit out my non-compete clauses but in the end decided to pursue a wholly new client base and candidate pool to avoid any issues - the old firm still chased me and I had to spend a fair bit on legal fees proving that I wasn't breaching anything. Was a right pain. I mostly played Football Manager for 8 hours a day, and worked for 4 hours. Suited me fine. Could take as much holiday as I wanted, didn't have an alarm clock, etc. But I was always switched on and "on call" so despite the relaxed position I was without a proper break. Something that's continued ever since. I won't go into company details as that might be a bit weird, but financially I was around the same level as before but putting in about 25% of the hours I used to.
2015: Same as above really, with a slightly improved revenues. End of the year my girlfriend and I bought my mate (Alex) out of his share of our flat and then renovated. This meant I couldn't work from home, so I decided to have a go at becoming a real company, hired that mate and got a small office close to the City.
2016-2018: The business has gone extremely well. Revenues across my market have dropped somewhat since the heady days of pre-2008. That said, we've been building two great business areas - M&A and Private Equity on one side, and Credit and Fixed Income on the other. Brexit probably hasn't helped in particular, as City hiring levels are definitely down, but instead we've started undertaking work in the US, which of late has proved extremely lucrative. 2016 and 2017 revenues were very pleasing indeed, with me being able to earn more than I have previously. 2018 looks set to double our revenues of the previous year. We had a former colleague sit with us for 2017, which really helped my colleague Alex to realise his potential. We're now moving to a cracking 10-15 person office just of the Southbank, and looking to grow the team in London before making the most of my sister's spot in NYC - she worked in senior HR for one of the world's biggest hedge funds and her husband was an MD at a top tier US bank out there, so she's planning to join in the next year or two to open up business opportunities throughout the US, which is going to become our target market due to London/Europe being comparatively subdued at present (and likely for a few years yet).
Hopefully my supercar collection should start soon, when I can maximise the fruits of my last few years labour. I'm 32 though, have 3 kids, 2 dogs and just need my Hurracan Performante and house build to finish it off haha
