Are jobs in Operations at a BB or MM competitive to get?
Ik back office is less competitive than front office but I’m sure being in Operations at Goldman Sachs is way more competitive than your average job. I’d also like to know what the exit opps are from Ops. I appreciate any info you can share
Ah, the age-old debate of front office versus back office competitiveness! While the context doesn't specifically address the competitiveness of Operations roles at BB (Bulge Bracket) or MM (Middle Market) banks, I can swing from the trees of wisdom and share some general insights based on the most helpful WSO content:
Competitiveness: It's true that front office roles tend to be more competitive due to the direct revenue-generating nature of the positions. However, Operations roles at prestigious firms like Goldman Sachs can indeed be competitive. The brand name, the learning opportunities, and the professional environment attract a large pool of applicants, even for what some might consider "less glamorous" roles.
Exit Opportunities: As for exit opportunities from Operations, they can vary widely. Some individuals leverage the skills and networks they build to transition into other areas within the bank, such as risk management or even front office roles, though such moves often require additional networking and skill-building. Others might pursue opportunities in corporate finance within different industries, fintech startups, or further education like an MBA, which can open new doors.
Remember, the path from Operations isn't a straight line and often requires a strategic approach, networking, and sometimes additional qualifications. But don't let that discourage you; many have swung from the back office vines to the front office branches with the right moves!
Sources: 5 Reasons to Avoid Working in MM Investment Banking (Other than Prestige/Exit-Ops), Never mind the hours, how do people stand the type of work in banking?, Middle Market Banking Exit Ops, what do they look like?, Breaking Into Banking: Your Timetable is Everything, IB post MBA, am I missing something?
This is false.
Ops at a BB are still ops roles. A lot of them are filled by the big bodyshops like Capco etc and aren't particularly skilled (BAU processing).
It's much harder to land a front office IB at a Houlihan for example role than to land a BAU ops role at GS.
Ops is usually product and role specific, so your exits are usually just doing the same but at an asset manager.
Thanks for the info!
its much better to be a doctor at ohio state hospital than a nurse at mayo clinic
For your career, absolutely. I would rather be a happy nurse than a miserable doctor tho
Operations has evolved into a project manager / product manager role. Now they mostly work on product roadmap and sprint planning. Some transfer to tech / risk roles later in their career. Some came to buyside. Work is simple and relaxing, pay is not bad relative to the skillset required, and the brand name looks okay on resume. I’m in buyside and over a thousand people have applied for the ops role here. But it’s still a support role and has a stigma to it. And I have clearly noticed the disparity of talent quality. Every time I interact with ops team I get cranky because the inefficiency of communication — have to explain stuff multiple times and it’s so tiring. We secretly call ops “dumb ducks”. Occasionally there are smart people in ops but those people usually end up transferring out to more middle-office teams like risk teams. Also knew a guy in ops transferred to trading team but it’s very rare. My take is that these jobs look very good to people who don’t know the inner-working of the industry, especially the students. So it does attract some competition during campus recruiting. But once students find out what’s going on in ops, they run away like refugees. So the competition wears out very quickly. Experienced hires avoid these jobs like plague
I gotcha. I’m not looking to become an investment banker and will most likely pivot to another industry/startup if I don’t like ops or don’t want to become a lifer. I’m also not rly concerned about FO guys not giving me their “respect.” I have heard that BO roles like ops have been automated away over the years and outsourced to less desirable areas (like Salt Lake City for GS what the Kentucky fried fuck is that about). Do you think that RM has better exit opps while also having good WLB (and will I be competing with 1,000 other kids for the internship💀)
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