Does it matter what bank you start your career at?
Hi guys,
I'm officially in an interesting position. I've received a grad scheme offer from a UK based LLM investment bank (think Stifel/Cavendish/Torch/Fenchurch). One thing to note, is that I've not even graduated yet; I am entering my final year of uni in the upcoming month with an expected graduation date (if everything goes to plan) in May 2026. They'd also be expecting me to start fulltime the same month on a 2-year rotationary program between healthcare/tmt/fig/consumer (6 months each). To my understanding, they all mostly have "good" deal flow, and I'll still be compensated decently. BUT, I'm unsure if it's the wisest thing for me to do right now.
I've been given a month to accept the offer, and I'm honestly unsure if I should accept it so early. On one hand, I go to a lower semi-target university, so having an IB offer guaranteed alone is great to me. On the other hand, I feel like I'm more than capable of starting my career at a better bank; no matter how cocky that sound's I've done exemplary internships and have a great amount of experience & technical knowledge for my age. I'm also fortunate to have passed my CFA L1 already and not even graduated yet! One thing to note, is that I was planning to do a master's in financial engineering or political economy at one of the following universities: Cornell, NYU, Imperial, Cambridge, LSE. Would I be better off dropping my academic aspirations at a super target for an early start in IB or should I explore doing a masters part time?
As for the main issue. Does it matter where I start my career to as long as it's in IB (except big4, who takes them seriously lol). Ideally, I'd like to be a career banker, at least for now. I'm potentially interested potentially in VC or restructuring, but not really my priority. If I wanted to lateral out to an EB or BB once my 2 years are up, would this be an issue? Would I be judged on the bank I started at itself over my deal exposure & technical skills? Would I have a good chance of breaking into a bigger bank or buy-side later on? I'm currently interning at a HF doing quant trading, and have previous internships in Private Credit at a MM PE company, and corp finance at a UMM bank (think HSBC/Nomura/Jefferies, Piper Sandler). So I know I'm more than capable at any task that comes my way, but I do have an understanding of how terrible the job market is currently. So, here I am.
it matters, however an IB offer is valuable, I do think if you did a 1 year program you will be set the thing is you have to start recruiting now in the states and also put received return on the resume
Hi, I'm only recruiting for UK atm.
I’ve seen people from Big4 Transaction services lateraling to associate positions at places like GS, MS or Citi, so starting your career at one of the shops you mentioned above does not seem bad at all.
You can always lateral at any stage of your career (especially in your first 7 or 8 years), but if you want to risk your position and spend a lot of money in a master degree that you probably don’t need, then up to you.
Really? I've been under the impression big4 M&A is a joke. I know you're for sure not compensated like a true banker.
As for the masters, I'd have it fully funded; no out of pocket cost. That's good to hear from you though that the starting bank name won't matter too much....
Not saying B4 M&A pays well, the point was that even from there you have chances to lateral to BB or EB.
Even if you master is funded, you should consider the cost of opportunity (1 year of base + bonus), which in the worst of cases it won’t be lower than £100k-105k
Intern is under the impression (almost undoubtedly from other interns) that a FT career they have never worked in is a "joke". This is peak WSO commentary.
Buddy, work 2-3 years in literally any profession before you start to feel you have a sense for what career paths are a "joke". This is elitist schoolboy retardation at its finest
Congrats on Stifel!
They don’t do rotations. Source: close friend worked there until a couple of months ago
Take the offer and keep recruiting for the rest of the year. Don't put in on your LinkedIn. If you get another offer in January, tell the bank something has come up and you will no longer be able to start there at the end of the year. To be extra safe, don't put your new job on LinkedIn until 3-4 months after you start. If I were you, I would apply to the masters programs anyway and compare that option with the best offer you have at that point.
OP should also consider the impact of burning bridges from reneging and the exposure to deals at BBs/EBs which may be less than what they’ll get at the LMM
An offer at hand is amazing in this market
Congrats on the offer, firstly. Secondly, I’d probably delete the names as Stifel don’t do rotations and Fenchurch are mostly FIG. Thirdly, an offer in this market is very valuable, despite your experience. Currently an Associate at a LMM firm in London, and I can’t begin to tell you how competitive it is at the moment. We’ve had people exit to top Bulges and EBs in recent months at the An, Ass and VP levels, so I wouldn’t worry about exits. Make sure you get top bucket and you’ll be fine to upgrade down the line. Happy to answer any questions you might have
What are the kinds of things analysts do to get top bucket? e.g. coming in early, just being the best technically etc?
bump interested in this thread and additional comments
Congrats on Cavendish
Torch and Fenchurch are not LMM lol
congrats on torch and congrats on nottingham
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