Advice on shifting from NY renewables to TX oil & gas IB

Going to be a little intentionally vague here. I did my summer internship in Houston at a bank that no longer has a Houston presence. Use your imagination as to which one. Anyways. I landed on my feet at a BB in NY on more of a power/renewables team. The culture actually is pretty good, which is why I haven't bailed sooner, but my goal for a number of reasons that would be too much for this thread (unless you think it's relevant for context) is to do banking in Texas and to get at least some exposure to oil and gas.

Bonuses are paid out and so I am now a free agent. That said, I haven't gotten as many bites on resumes as I guess I would have expected. I am working on setting up coffee chats over the phone as I can from various network connections, but not really converting to interviews. So, I'm trying to diagnose what I might be doing wrong and see if I can convert.

-Is it just early in the lateral season? Bad luck/timing?

-Or is it that the renewables experience is typecasting me to that kind of work? That has been what headhunters have reached out to me the most on, or also completely unrelated positions, so I've said that I respectfully decline but please keep me in the loop for any traditional fuels type work.

I figured having a Houston O&G internship plus a BB, albeit not an O&G BB group, would have gotten a bit more traction, so open to any and all suggestions. I figured that the question of "why Texas" would be mitigated a bit given that I interned previously in Houston, plus if the concern is that I am using Houston as a backdoor to get to NY, I was hoping that concern would be mitigated in that I am doing the exact opposite and looking to head back down to Texas. I can speak to things like the 3 P's, PV-10, NAV modeling, and have an understanding of recent deals in the space and trends like LNG, power demand from AI/datacenters potentially being bullish for nat gas. Is there anything that I am missing?

14 Comments
 

Are you making it clear you don’t want to do renewables anymore? You should tell upfront any banker you talk to that you believe in O&G over renewables

 

Holy shit dude I had a seizure trying to read that. How did u make Associate being that bad at clearly expressing ur thoughts? 

Also out of curiosity, why do u want to get out of renewables to go back to O&G? I’m a Houston based banker in a group which straddles both and believe the outlook / general interest in renewables is way stronger than O&G (just look at the difference between the deal multiples of these sectors). 

Additionally, a lot of the traditional energy PE shops are having difficulty raising new funds and are leaning more into the renewables space. 

To answer your question though, u need to make it very clear that u want to go back to O&G (and explain why). As you’re aware, renewables and O&G deals are fundamentally very different and require different skill sets / knowledge.

 
Most Helpful

It sounds like you’re in a tough spot, but it’s great that you’re actively networking and setting up coffee chats. It could be a couple of things at play here. First, it might just be early in the lateral season, so firms may not be ready to hire yet. Your experience in renewables might be limiting how recruiters view you. They could be pigeonholing you into that space, even though you have relevant experience and knowledge in oil and gas. When you’re networking, emphasize your Texas internship and your genuine interest in moving back into the O&G sector. Try to frame your renewables experience as a strength rather than a limitation, showing how those skills can be valuable in oil and gas. Also, reaching out to alumni or contacts specifically in the Texas O&G scene could provide you with insights or connections that might help. Just keep at it! It might take some time, but with your background, you’ll find the right opportunity.

 

Congrats! What was your reasoning by the way, if you don't mind sharing?

 

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