Seeing all the negative things about ER recently, I’m a bit concerned. Personally, I can’t imagine a better fit for me than working at ER. However, seeing that everyone’s talking about people getting fired, cuts to salary and so on... I am not sure anymore. I love the work but I also want to have a career. Ideally I want to work in ER for 2-3 years and either stay there or transfer to a HF.
Should I try to get into IB for example just to be on the safe side?
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Was wondering the exact same thing
You should be concerned. But what are your other options?
Well I would love to stay in ER. But after I complete my internship I could look into recruiting into IB/Consulting. Assuming I have a return offer to ER wouldn't that make me a really strong candidate?
Feel free to take the ER position but yes you should recruit for IB/Consulting if the lifestyle (hours/travel) isn't a problem for you.
One thing to acknowledge is that head count cuts usually start from the top, not the bottom. definitely a lot of issues still present though.
Since Mifid is a few years ago, do you think that ER has stabilized? Realistically, since I am getting the internship 3 years after Mifid. Wouldn't that mean they are already thinking ahead and only giving out as many internships as they want to fill? Or are banks still in the process of adjusting/cutting heads?
I believe the associate level hiring has stabilized
There’s no safe spot in Finance, imho (maybe at a pension or Sovereign Fund). Banking looks good now, but what will it look like in a downturn? At least for M&A it will be bad.
if you are good at ER....creative with your writing and idea generation, then hedge funds will be a great exit in 3-4 years..and pay gets much better
Given that ER is getting a lot of cuts right now, wouldn't that mean that in the near future getting into HF from ER will be even easier than today? Less Supply of ER going into HF?
Not necessarily, since HFs also recruit from IB
And I’ll say, getting a huge paycheck is great...but you are one of the first to be targeted in troubled times.
One of my big concerns as well. Maybe your part of the last dying breed and will be able to make it over to a HF. I don't believe the same could be said for people 5-10 years down the line from now.
ER still a great career. At the junior level, you get to make a direct impact and be client facing right away. Pay is generally a bit lower than banking but you also work 60 hours instead of 80. Mifid kind of overblown imo. Also, pay at the senior level is very good.
Glad to hear :D
MIFID is not "kind of overblown", and combined with the move to passive investing... ER is dealing with significant structural headwinds.
Yeah definitely agree with BobTheBaker MIFID is having real and material impacts to the equities business which are not going away. We are entering a new paradigm.
Also don't think pay at the Sr. level is that great. Better than the Jr. level sure, but the only way to really crush it is find yourself a guaranteed deal, clip your $XM during the contracted period and hope you can bounce to another bank who will offer you the same type of structure. Otherwise you will revert to "market" rates and your pay will plummet back to reality. But how many of those deals get passed out to analysts? Gotta be a big name type player in your space from what I've seen.
Not to mention the risk of losing your seat is increasing on the sell-side. Can't just be a no-name Sr. covering some unwanted (or really, un-bankable) space and clip $500k+ anymore.
I guess at every bank it’s a bit different. My bank hasn’t been hit by mifid too much and we have been expanding headcount.
I know the middle-market firms are getting hammered, but I've talked with a lot of analysts at BBs, and I've haven't heard nearly as much doom & gloom. Severals BBs actually told me they're expanding head count. Is that bullshit to avoid scaring me (a prospective employee) away? Or are the BBs actually doing well right now?
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