I'm one year in from IB and had some luck with recruiting for a mbb
Was hoping to understand if anyone had made the move and how they felt in terms of wlb, overall satisfaction, career progression, comp (decrease)
| +16 | Lateral to MBB from Investing Seat | 13 | 16h | |
| +12 | Premed to MBB Recruiting | 2 | 4d | |
| +11 | Chances at MBB - Reality Check | 2 | 6d | |
| +9 | Seeking Advice: Applying for Consulting Roles Post-MSc—Home Country vs. Study Abroad Location | 1 | 2d | |
| +3 | On campus jobs? | 3 | 18h | |
| +3 | Am i cooked for MBB | 6 | 1d | |
| +1 | Portfolio Operations Group--DFW area | 2 | 5d |
Career Resources
Get instant access to lessons taught by experienced private equity pros and bulge bracket investment bankers including financial statement modeling, DCF, M&A, LBO, Comps and Excel Modeling.
I went from consulting to PE. WLB is materially better in consulting. Pay is lower but my lifestyle hasn't changed (e.g., you won't be stuck without luxury vacations or fine dining). The work is much more interesting, especially if you like project based work. Career progress is more of a preference once you understand how each works so to each their own. The downside is if you actually like finance it's not the place and if you're trying to maximize comp, nothing else matters, it's not the place.
They're materially different careers. Which is better depends on the person.
WLB: Consulting > IB
Overall satisfaction: Depends on work interests, but probably consulting since (1) more varied work and (2) typically better boundaries (i.e. late night urgent fixes are rare / never happen if you work for a decent manager)
Career progression: Both quick with significant pay bumps between levels, consulting typically has more varied exit ops but if you want to do something in finance or PE you're better off in IB
Comp: Consulting < IB
Is the WLB really that much better? I heard the travel is really harsh and you still work until 11ish on most days M-Th with little to no downtime (unlike IB). Understandably you get your weekends back though.
From an hours perspective I would say it's materially better than IB, but it's still bad compared to most other jobs
From a travel perspective, as a young person with a lot of freedom I preferred travel because it let me see other cities and alt travel on the weekend (i.e. visit somewhere other than home for free instead of flying back home), but it certainly can be a downside. E.g. if you have a wife and kids you might prefer more brutal hours in exchange for getting to see them in the morning on weekdays. Worth mentioning that this is still TBD, but I'd be surprised if the traditional M-Th every week travel schedule remains the norm in the future
There's a high variance, and you can see a breakdown by firm of hours/week on the consulting reddit's survey, but the following is probably fine as a generalization of travel weeks:
M: Wake up early to travel, proper work ~11am-9pm
T-W: ~9am-9pm
Th: ~9am, flight out ~3, usually don't work too late on Thursday nights
F: ~9am-3pm
No weekend work. Subtract out a bit of working time for team dinners/other misc. Add some working time for wrapping things up here or there at the hotel room (I'd usually go back to my hotel room at ~8 if no team dinner)
Ipsam ut rerum velit nostrum in. Ut impedit enim ipsa quibusdam quidem. Beatae ut dolorum in pariatur totam sed. Omnis non aut accusantium. Omnis facere nesciunt unde vitae sit nemo itaque.
Cupiditate deleniti ut repellendus non eos. Est accusamus voluptas est libero nihil et. Qui dolores cum sed aut magni earum est. Non inventore tenetur accusamus sint esse unde delectus officia. Voluptas labore saepe ut animi sit doloribus accusantium esse. Delectus minima occaecati nesciunt mollitia. Pariatur laboriosam omnis voluptatem in.
Possimus aut quaerat et mollitia. Eum veritatis necessitatibus impedit perspiciatis totam. A est quae ab in. Illo quod et laboriosam soluta qui. Est debitis similique adipisci explicabo quia aut. Corporis iure rerum tempore dicta libero velit.
Vel voluptates eos recusandae aut dolores ut. Eos labore consequatur nisi libero. Quis aut ea facere sit sit omnis. Eaque et animi et et qui. Iste saepe quos omnis et.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...