F100 Corp Dev to BB associate the right decision?
First post here on WSO, but after gaining valuable insights from others' posts I thought it was time to give it a shot.
For background, I went to a non-target studying finance with relevant internships and extracurriculars before joining a non-audit Big 4 group. Landed a F100 corp dev role over a year ago following my time at Big 4. While I'm enjoying my current role and the company is highly acquisitive, I've been presented with an opportunity through my network to interview with a BB for an IB associate position.
Would I be crazy not to take the BB role if I manage to land it (which I know will be difficult)? Am I reading too much into the posts about IB associate positions exiting mostly into corp dev and thus making the jump a grueling waste of time? Or would this materially improve my network, technical skills and marketability for future opportunities? Appreciate any insight you're willing to offer!
As someone who moved from IB to CD, my question would be what are you looking to do in the future?
I have seen people make the move before (although more common the other way around).
I would like to put myself into a position that I'm eligible for PE/HF opportunities, if possible, with more focus on the HF side. I did an internship in asset management that I really enjoyed also, so that's another area I'd consider. Ultimately I want to be an investment professional though I'm still open to the specifics of that role and am willing to be flexible based on what is available to me. I'm a level III CFA candidate for additional context.
IB Associate role could provide a pathway to PE/HF (although more traditional recruiting happens as the analyst level) given the optionality that one has from IB. If your able to land the role, I think it would make sense to take this role. Just be cognizant that lifestyle change from Corp. Dev to IB (there really is no way to prepare for this). In the meantime, you could always improve your networking and technical skills now.
Thanks for the input. I agree that the associate role is actually less desirable than an analyst role for recruiting since the heavy lifting on modeling is done by the analysts. I'll try to get a sense of how much modeling experience I'll get during the interview process. Seems like in any case having BB experience would be better for me professionally. The lifestyle change is definitely what I'm most worried about, but if I land the offer I'll just need to take the workload on the chin and know that it's a sacrifice for a more prosperous (and lucrative) career.
My assumption was always that your compensation in Corp Dev following a stint in IB will always be much higher than if you were to work your way up from an Analyst in Corp Dev to begin with. 3-4 years as an IB Associate and then a transition to Corp Dev could set you up nicely for your future.
Completely agree with you on that and actually not something I had in mind. From what I understand, the group I'm interviewing with is top bucket and pretty sweaty so I'm not holding out much hope for lasting 3 - 4 years. Aiming for 2 years if I can land the offer. I'm hoping a combination of good interviewing skills, pretty strong knowledge of M&A / finance in general for a non-banker and my referral will get me there, but that's TBD.
How many Years of experience do you have? Surprising that you’re able to get Associate level interviews without prior IB experience... especially at a BB.
I’d say worth it just for compensation bump alone... Associate pay is 300+ and that’s likely multiples of your CD analyst pay. I’m in CD too and was easily able to landed dozens of Analyst interviews when I cold applied for lolz but no one would interview me for Associate lol.
I have about 3 YoE. The opportunity is through a friend who is a top-performer in his group at the BB and is referring me for the open role. He's confident I can handle it, but convincing everyone else is obviously a different story so I'm not acting like I have this in the bag. I consider it more likely that it won't happen, but given the pace of M&A recently it's a possibility if I crush the interviews.
Would be a no brainer to take if you get Associate. If you’ve had 3 YoE from non banking then you’re basically not taking a hit at all. Vast majority of non-banking laterals even with 4-5 years of exp reset to Analyst... so yeah no brainer here. Good luck...
That was my reaction when I first got the phone call, but then I started second guessing myself hence why I made this post. Thanks for the input. If I land the offer I'll follow up on here.
How did it go? I’m assuming you didn’t get the offer or past further rounds? Hope it worked out for you!
I was going to post an edit for anyone who may stumble across this, but it is seemingly locked from editing so I can do it here. This will go against the conventional wisdom on WSO, but this is simply my perspective.
I ultimately decided to thank my friend for the opportunity, but not pursue the position. I realized that the only reason I wanted the job was to boost my own ego and eventually that ego boost would fade and I'd be left sacrificing my health/time for money. After spending a year and half of my twenties sitting in my apartment due to covid, the last thing I would look on fondly when I'm older would be spending another 2 years locked in an office building (especially in my current city that I've wanted to move out of for a while now).
Instead I'm transferring the NYC office at my current company where I still work on plenty of deals each year, but also have a good amount of PTO, average 50 - 65 hours a week and get to work on the strategy along with the more procedural work. I won't ever make IB/PE money doing this, but that's ok with me. So I guess this is a pro-corp dev post after all.
That was probably more info than you cared to hear so I'll stop now haha
Would the IB group be covering the same space you are currently in?
Made a similar move (CD to IB) and have found industry-specific buyside roles to be very receptive to this background
IB group would have been a different and arguably less attractive space, though the fact that it was BB would have more than made up for that. I have no doubt that it would have opened up more doors than staying where I am, but ultimately had to make the call on what would be best for me (not just career, but overall).
Agree.
Totally makes sense and congrats on achieving that clarity. Many get lost in the inertia of simply following “the path” / chasing prestige only to look up years later and see it wasn’t what they truly wanted
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