Informational interview, can you answer my questions please, thanks?

1. How did you get into this occupation?
2.What attracted you to this career/organization?
3.What is the way people usually begin in this career area?
4.What does the company expect you to do in your job?
5.What are your company's products, services offered, customers, and competitors?
6.What are the essential abilities and skills you need to do your job?
7.What is the preparation and training required for your position?
8.What personal satisfactions do you get from doing your job?
9.What is it like to work at this company? Do you need to work with many different people? Is there good morale in your company?
10.What personal traits are helpful to succeed in your position?
11.What creates dissatisfaction in this type of work?
12.Can you tell me about working conditions that I should be aware of? For example, what is the dress code? Does the job require extra work after hours?
13.What is the beginning wage? Do you get yearly raises?
14.What is a typical day like working here?

I work in finance.

1. When I graduated from college, I wanted to find a job that would send me to Japan (the language was my minor, with a major in finance). I got a job at a Wall St firm in the operations area, where I would train in NY and then relocate to Japan. So I took it!!
2. The firm had a good reputation, but what was most important was that they would send me to Japan :)
3. Most people join this field directly out of college, but others can make career transitions. We've hired engineers, ex military, and other fields.
4. Depends on the exact role, but generally speaking we manage operational risk for financial transactions.
5. Our company is a service oriented firm. We make markets in traditional financial products, provide advisory financial services, invest our own capital for growth purposes, and provide asset management services. Our clients range from individuals to governments to corporations to hedge funds to a variety of other client bases. Our competitors are other financial services firms.
6. In the operations area, you need to be able to solve problems. You also need to be intelligent, have good client service skills, attention to detail, and be a good team player.
7. Most of the training is on the job, but some financial knowledge helps.
8. You get to travel along a steep learning curve. You can solve problems, and help clients. You can see projects get completed. You can participate in industry changing initiatives, some of which are in the news.
9. Our company expects a lot from you, and gives good rewards based on a meritocracy. The firm is global and has employees from many different backgrounds. Morale is different team by team, but generally speaking it is quite good.
10. People have to want to learn, to show leadership, to have ideas, and to make an impact.
11. Work - life balance can be challenging.
12. Our dress code is business casual, and it's an office environment with trading style desks. Our work tends to be from 8am to 7pm, but can differ based on that day's workload.
13. New grads earn approx $50K. Most employees receive a performance-based bonus, and salaries tend to rise each year, again, based on how the firm does and how you perform.
14. Typical days are hard to define. You know what your responsibilities are, but you cannot predict what problems will arise, which clients will call, etc. So you usually cannot tell in advance if a day will be busy or not, unless you've got a particular project to work on.

Hope that helps!!