How does IB —> MBB lateral process work?

I am current a 2nd year analyst at a MM bank. Banking is fine and all, but I realized I would eventually hate my life if I stayed past my analyst stint and I really don’t love the idea of any buyside role at the moment (PE is too saturated and not very appealing, CorpDev seems too career regressive coming in as an associate). I like the industry I cover in IB and was wondering if anyone could provide info on the lateral process (how it compares to undergrad recruiting, timelines), how feasible it is from IB, if I complete my 2 years would I have to start over a first year associate/BA if I do lateral? Any advice would be helpful.

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was at Solomon before jumping to BCG

This person was at Baird before jumping to BCG

From what I know, it's more unstructured, so having someone on the inside to connect you with HR is helpful. Otherwise, you could cold reach out to an office's HR department. At BCG as an experienced associate, you start at $140K base (I think).

 
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Like to eventually be in a strategy role or a role that can eventually be leading a team around business development/strategy. I’m currently in the HC group covering pharma/biotech space and find that sector very interesting. Feel like by the end of my analyst stint I’ll have solid MM deal experience (high MMs to low BNs in M&A, debt, equity transactions).

I know PE is an option but I’m already late to that game and honestly it would just be more of the same in terms of work and don’t love that idea. I partly want to get away from the unpredictability of hours and weekend work (I’m all for working hard, but when I can’t plan my life around my work especially on weekends, it becomes a little frustrating). Don’t want to go straight into corp dev just because the comp drop would be a difficult mental barrier and I have friends who have not had many career advancement opportunities joining as an associate.

Comes down to I like the idea of building a new skillset that is more broad problem-solving and operational focused rather than deal execution and I like to think having hours billed makes my work more productive where I won’t be waiting around for most of the day on the clock. Having the opportunity to venture out of healthcare would also be interesting. Just seems like something that may be a better fit for me now.

 

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