Feeling Stuck at a Boutique
Hey guys,
I hope everyone's doing well.
I'm currently working at a boutique, and I joined here after graduation last year. and while I'm grateful for the opportunity, I find myself in a bit of a tough spot. All the deals I'm working on are in the early stages, and despite two getting into LOI, they unfortunately fell through. This has left me with limited real-deal experience to talk about during interviews.
On a daily basis, I find myself bogged down with what feels like "monkey jobs" – aligning pictures, pitching, and working on slides. (u know that)
In terms of technical exposure, it's somewhat limited. I've been involved in some simple modeling, but I know there's so much more out there that I want to learn and apply in a real deal setting.
I'm actively looking for new opportunities since last month, but it's been disheartening to send out resumes and not receive any positive replies. It feels like I'm stuck in a loop.
If any of you have been in a similar position or have any advice on how to handle this situation, I'd be extremely grateful to hear from you. How did you cope with the lack of live deal experience during interviews? How did you find opportunities to gain more technical exposure? And if you've been through this and eventually broke through, what strategies helped you get there?
Thanks!
Bump
PM me
_
Thanks bro
But you’re just a first year? Wait another year to get more experience, or try and lateral to another bank
Wait a year tops and lateral since everywhere just hired a bunch of new analysts. Lateral market sucks right now but at least you're in IB. Start really researching a list of realistic banks you'd like to lateral to and start networking with analysts & associates. Learn some of their deals / industry verticals they cover
Thanks for the advice!
What you're feeling is pretty common and I totally get it (been there). As others said, the lateral market is not good right now. To be honest, you're not in a terrible spot and eventually you will have the opportunity to go somewhere else. You're still getting good experience that is certainly transferable even if you have not "closed" a deal (there are people at "name brand" firms who literally create pitches all day and/or have never worked on a live deal). People on here like to inflate the complexity (process/modeling) of a transaction based on deal size. From my experience, there is not much of a difference between a $25M vs. $400M+ sell-side. Again, this is based on my experience and can obviously vary depending on various factors.
Try to know each deal (and applicable industry) that you're involved with inside and out. At the end of the day, most people can build an operating model. You're going to be judged on how well you can articulate certain nuances of each deal you've worked on. So many people go through the motions just to become another average banker/employee. Don't be that guy and you'll crush it. Feel free to PM me if you have any specific questions.
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