"No one wants to work in compliance once they realize what it's like. But we are stuck"
I work in compliance, and I have been keenly following the debate about compliance jobs here and here in recent weeks.
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I think they understate how bad compliance jobs have become. The reality is that very few people want to become compliance officers and when they realize that the job is high stress and long hours for comparatively little pay, even fewer people want to keep doing it. But we in compliance are stuck. Our skills do not allow us to transition into other jobs - except at the regulator, where things can be even worse.
The trouble is that most banks see compliance as a cost center, much like other back office functions. They say they care about culture, but few invest in compliance because they see it as an expense. Most firms hire compliance officers, but don't give them the tools to do the job properly. Compliance infrastructure is poor, so compliance time is wasted on manual tasks.
At the same time, compliance pay is poor and opportunities for promotion are limited. Firms have a tendency to appoint lawyers as heads of department, which can limit promotion opportunities for anyone without a legal background.
It means that compliance can be a career dead end. To avoid this, either avoid compliance jobs from the outset, or work somewhere that invests heavily in compliance and has sufficient technology to manage compliance tasks efficiently.
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