"I lost my equity sales job because I didn't frequent a pretentious London club"
I spent two decades of my life working in equity sales for a major US bank in London. However, I lost my job and it had nothing to do with my ability. I was made redundant because I did not spend sufficient time at clubs like Maison Estelle in Mayfair.
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For those who are not familiar, Maison Estelle is a London member's club in Grafton Street, Mayfair. It's been around for nearly a decade and is run by Sharan Pasricha, the man also behind Estelle Manor in the Cotswolds.
I am not a fan of Maison Estelle. It is not my scene. I find it very flashy and full of European hedge fund types trying to outdo each other by spending on magnums of champagne. Equity sales jobs require 6am starts and they do not combine with late nights on the Mayfair club scene. Personally, I built my client list more methodically with decades of good advice and client service.
However, when you work in equity sales there's always a friction between people like me who get in early, go through results at 6am and are well-informed, and those that put their card behind the bar. At the bank I worked for the latter kind of equity salesperson is now in charge. My more diligent type have been let go.
Maison Estelle is only one of several Mayfair clubs popular with equity salespeople who like to flex their plastic. There's also the Arts Club and 5 Hertford, but it seems that Maison Estelle has become particularly popular with my ex-colleagues. If you're not there often, you're not part of the clique and if you're not part of the clique, your job is at risk.
I think it's a shame. The card-behind-the-bar version of equity sales often involves alcohol and late nights that are at odds with the way that younger clients like to operate. Many of them don't drink. When the Mayfair club guys arrive at their desks at 11am on Friday mornings, this new breed of clients has already been at work for hours, talking to people like me.
Glenn Livingston is a pseudonym
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