Advice for laid off banker

I got laid off earlier last year. My team had zero deal flow and half the team was laid off as a result. I have been recruiting for the last year but it has been hard given that I have no deal experience. Most of my experience is pitching and it seems like the lateral market wants someone that has been at least on one live deal. I'm really eager to get back into the industry and wanted to hear any advice you all may have for me. I have tried just about everything from networking, applying on LinkedIn, cold-emailing, etc. Would appreciate any tidbit of advice you guys may have, especially those that have been in a similar situation as mine.


 

I am in your boat with trying to apply with some M&A in corporate at my back. The market feels dead. I think it will be until interest rates drop. Not saying I agree with Trump but him boosting oil production lowering prices will also help out the economy. Hold out for another 6 months opportunities will open up. In the mean time study techicals and build the network. Good luck!

 
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Literally, Word for Word the same thing happened to me… (you ignore my job title, I was in coverage) did we work together lol?


Not going to lie it’s a really tough market out there. I’m in Canada so it’s even tougher here as Banking is already small to begin with along with communist Trudeau things harder.

What I would do is accept that it may take some time, but it’s ultimately not over until you say it’s over. Maybe take another gig I.e consulting for the meantime in a different industry, it’ll help with your overall ethos as explaining firing is really hard. I went through a ton of processes and even though they were understanding about it because there is an oversupply of candidates it’s easier to pick someone else without a story that mentions firing.

If you’re coming from coverage, going into another industry, short term and talk about how it was a lateral move due to interest in the industry and get good at it.

In terms of talking about deal experience, since you only pitched what you gotta do is outline your pitching experience on your resume as opportunities. Talk about your thinking behind your pitches, the modelling, the rationale etc.

Just remember you’re hireable and good enough. What’s hurting is that there lack of opportunities.

 

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