Do opportunities really decrease after analyst years?

Always assumed as you moved up the ranks, it would open more doors for more lateral opportunities (ie. not purely finance/investment) at higher levels.

Also does your group in analyst years matter if there is strong deal flow? In the context of a full service/BB bank with all around strong groups? Ie. would being in M&A, DCM, or ECM impact options? Do coverage groups (if 2 are at similar strength)?

Would love to hear people's honest thoughts and experiences with what's available at different levels, for different groups, and overall advice for juniors.

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Yes and no. The bigger thing that people don't talk about, is that once you move up in any industry your options become limited. Why would someone hire you for an entry level position at a hedge fund if you're a VP/Director in IB? You're going to want a title/pay correlated to your experience, but you don't have the experience for that position in another industry. IB is a sales job first and foremost, someone who spent 10 years in IB does not have the required skills or appropriate compensation expectations for a PE/Corp Dev associate. Yes, you'll be a part of transactions as an advisor and know the market and how a deal functions, but you won't have much/any experience in integration, strategy, internal processes for the buy-side, etc. that you would get starting entry level and working your way up. The same way you wouldn't expect a Corp Dev VP to come in as an IB VP if they've never run a sell-side process before

All that being said, you can still lateral at any given time. You will have to take pay cuts, lower titles, etc. and you'll need to convince a future employer (and yourself) that you're willing to do all that because you really want to pivot into a new industry/role. Recruiters will probably be skeptical and hesitant to bring you forward for more junior positions as you move up, but it won't be impossible to find new opportunities down the road if you stay in IB

 

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