Blame Gordon Gekko, or jealousy from lesser-earning beings, but the word “banker” is seldom greeted with cheers or sighs of admiration. Is all this bitterness and naff stereotyping unfair? Here are some of the myths that make bankers go red in the face and snap their braces. Stuffed shirts and hierachies “The industry has moved away from being very stiff-upper-lip because customers are not after that now,” says Rob Woolley, the director of learning and development at Cooperative Financial Services.

The days of pinstriped suits and hoity-toitiness are over. “I am sitting here on a Friday afternoon in a pair of jeans and a shirt in the middle of an open-plan office,” he says. “And my desk looks the same as everyone else’s.” There’s no room in banking for Mr Nice Guy “When we talk about ethical banking... we do it,” Woolley says. Over the years, the Cooperative has turned down millions of pounds because the sources of those funds have conflicted with its values, he says. “Thirty-five per cent of the people who work for the company state that our values and beliefs in the way we do business were a major part in their decision to join [us].” Long, long hours... And now for the bad news: banking is no different from any other profession, according to Sarah Li-Ting-Wai, who works in group procurement at Lloyds TSB.

Her working hours are “however long it takes to get the job done” and some days work-life balance goes out of the window, she says.

...and no fun or games Where there’s work, there’s also play. “Working in banking and finance is not about numbers. It’s about people. We do go out regularly and social-ise,” Li-Ting-Wai says. Money clips and flashy cars Do bankers live an extravagant lifestyle? “I wish,” Li-Ting-Wai says. “I don’t drive a big red car and my bonus is based on performance.” That sounds fair and reasonable (unless you work in an industry where you don’t get paid a bonus at all, that is).

Graduates can expect to earn between £30,000 and £35,000 in front-office roles within mergers and acquisitions, equities, credit, debt and structured finance, according to a salary survey by Michael Page Financial Services, a recruitment consultancy.

Bonuses vary according to personal performance and profits made by a team are typically 20 to 50 per cent of take-home pay. Salaries jump to about £150,000 for the most senior managers, who expect a bonus of up to three times their salary.

Straight, white men only need apply Banks and other financial institutions take diversity very seriously, says Sandra Kerr, the national director of the Race for Opportunity business network at Business in the Community. “They are not only looking at how they recruit, but looking at what can be put in place to make sure they they keep those talented people,” she says.

There are opportunities for lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans-gender (LGBT) jobhunters in investment banking, says Ketan Patel, a diversity recruiter at JPMorgan, who is also involved in the next Inter-bank LGBT Forum, backed by 12 investment banks. “Our motivation is getting the best person to do the job and that is what it all comes down to.”

Investment banks are the best performing sector on average in the Stonewall Work-place Equality Index in 2007.

To find out more about the next LGBT student networking event in London on Nov 28, visit insideandout-banking.com

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