Have you guys ever made a regretful lateral move? How to avoid?

Just curious if anyone actually made a very regretful move in the past and how did you manage that.

I guess many of us lateraled to another bank mostly because of culture / comp. Usually relationships deteriorate well before we made the move so not always feasible to just go back to the old firm after a few months.

Have you guys ever joined a new firm that sucked even harder? How did you manage that? Suck it up and gtfo in less than a year or do it for longer or just beg the old boss for return?

Why did you guys fall for that in the first place? Was it because of the bonus promised? Nice people in interview but anal at workplace? Any red flags and lessons that can share for us to spot these traps early?

Thanks a lot guys!

 
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Typically people wanting out of the old place (spurned on comp, not happy with culture) who just take any job to get them out of their current place. Unfortunately, the best places with high retention rarely hire, and the worst places will have openings all the time.

I'd take your time with lateraling - network with their juniors even if not required to get into the process. Ask them questions about their staffings, how they work with seniors, what they like to do for fun / on weekends (this is my favorite question, tells you so much about the environment. If all the guys say "I love to go hiking/skiing" or other time consuming or out of pocket activities, great. If they all say "Well I used to like X but we are working a lot around here... hmm... Idk" that's pretty telling.

 

Not me but a buddy of mine deeply regretted lateraling as an analyst from a 50-60 hour industry coverage group at a "no-name" bank (think Soc Gen) to a BB coverage group. It was the BB's top group and the best on the street in that industry, the type of group that college kids on WSO would nut over, but his hours were insane (100+ hour weeks was the norm) and the VPs and up had terrible personalities. He hated it and left after 8 months. He said turnover was extremely high and it was rare for people to stay for the associate promote. 

Prestige isn't everything and the grass isn't always greener. 

"I'm going to make him an offer he can't refuse."
 

Lateraled to a top BB from the MM, deeply regret the decision.

My teams culture is terrible, high turnover, toxic seniors, insane hours, and now they are beginning to lay people off one by one on my floor.

Do not regret the decision as I needed to see it through, but can appreciate how good I had it at my MM. Biggest differences are how fiercely competitive and toxic coworkers can be and how little FaceTime you get with MDs.

 

When I was a back office boy, I lateralled to a firm that has been very much in the forum over the past 36 hours.

It was an absolute nightmare. The recruiter either lied to me or the firm lied to the recruiter.

High school drama on a daily basis. Manager blocked my internal move to IB, then stopped speaking to me for the two months I stayed until I lined up a new gig. But, I did wait before I ran out the door to make sure I did my diligence on the next role.

Best advice I can give is to take your time. The situation you're leaving is probably okay to stick with for a few months until you can line something else up.

 

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