The Worries of an Incoming Analyst
Hey everyone,
I thought it would be helpful to have an up-to-date recap on choosing investment banking as a fresh college graduate framed in the context of today's world economy and social environment. I am one of thousands of incoming 1st year analysts in their senior year of college, and many thoughts have been going through my mind as graduation approaches and time runs out on trying to find some other dream job. It is also at this point that I feel like many young adults like myself begin questioning their career choice and lamenting the lifestyle that awaits them. The real world, ew.
What kind of skill set in investment banking do you guys think differentiates yourself and signals value in the market? In particular, will these factors still be important in the long-term given the rise in technology? Important enough to still be sought after in a recession? It seems really easy to make a list of these for fields related to statistics/engineering, but the one for banking seems rather unconvincing (things from threads I searched through before posting).
I hope that discussion around this topic can be helpful to myself and others in a similar situation.
Regards,
Overanxious Millennial
I now know how to spread my butthole way better than before I was in banking. I mean it's funny to think about but a lot of it is just learning how to shovel through shit and being able to keep it together when you're up at 3am and all you want to do is jump out a window. Put nicely, learning how to be disciplined and taking advantage of whatever resources that are available on hand. That's why people coming out of banking have such great exits - employers know ex-IB analysts will be able to get shit done, and that it'll be done correctly and in a timely manner without needing to have their hand held. Excel skills nobody will give a shit about in the future when you're not a junior employee anymore.
If anything one of the most valuable things you learn as an analyst is how to engage with others in a really professional business setting - the soft skills I'm developing while communicating with clients / and potential investors / acquirers are things I'll actually hope to use the rest of my career. Doubt any of my friends working as a business analyst at like Target or whatever are able to have the same sort of "professional development" if you will.
I might revisit this question when I'm not on the verge of cutting my dick off.
This is an excellent answer, +SB
Just to build on your first point of IB developing a skill set highly valued by employers, I could not agree more. Moving from IB to MM or MF PE will be even more competitive, but if you have your eyes set on anything else, you will find that interviews almost fall into your lap. The switch out of IB has been very interesting for me so far. I imagine the way I feel is in part how someone coming from an infantry unit in the Army feels after leaving the service and starting working at Home Depot (arbitrary example). I stayed until 10 PM one day at my corp dev position to finish a board presentation that we needed for an IOI (our firm requires board approval for all bids). My boss asked me the next day how long I stayed, and I mentioned 10 PM because to me, having come from IB, that was not late at all. My boss profusely apologized and said that he would get me my work earlier next time. I thought that I was on some hidden camera show for a minute, but then realized that my boss was serious. Very strange having come from an environment where my senior bankers had no problem asking me at 7 PM to prepare a pitch for the next day.
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