I mean, that was a surprise to me. I wasn’t expecting wolf of Wall Street/Billions/Suits type shit but god damn bro this is mind numbing. I at least thought I’d be doing a lot of client dinners and shit, not zooms. Is there a career in finance where it’s all just client interaction?
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Investor Relations is probably more of what you are thinking. Also, why would you think a bank is going to trust a new grad 20 something analyst to go on client dinners.
When I was networking I met a few smokeshow analysts that always happened to have stories how they would go on dinners with only the lead MD and client CEO or something. I’m not sure if they realized the dynamic or acted like they didn’t but the ones that would tell me stories along these lines were always dimes
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well if you were a 120lb blonde chick with double Ds you’d also be going to client dinners, unfortunately it doesn’t seem like that’s the hand you were dealt
Unwoke comment. Anyone can identify as a 120lb blonde chick with double Ds. Gender and tits aren't set in stone
Sales
Sounds like someone needs to pull up to growth equity and start sourcing deals!
I find this laughable. Sure, you're doing monotonous tasks, but imagine if you were working on a factory line producing tin cans for a living for 12 hours a day; 4 days on 4 days off.
I'd recommend finding meaning outside of work for one and looking for opportunities to make your current boring process more efficient so that you can learn more about the industry. Life is what you make of it, take the opportunity and run with it or wallow in your own complaints.
At least then you’d have something tangible to show for your work 😭😭
I would argue not really - maybe 300 years ago, but now you're the guy in a line of 10 people looking at the stream of tin cans for 8 hours a day to spot any with defects... do you really feel like you've made something tangible with your work? Almost surely not - your role is so highly diffused in the mechanization of labor as to lose all meaning.
At least as an analyst you can look at a CIM and say "hey - I put together 95%+ of this deck going out to all the counterparties etc." The guy in a modern factory has essentially zero meaning he can draw from the highly monotonous, rote, and interchangeable human-cog he represents in a manufacturing line.
The industrial revolution and its consequences, etc etc etc.
OP if u r young and are serious about wanting to interact w/ clients a lot, I’d suggest working in a start up fund, angel investing etc. You’ll get invaluable experience how things work from start to finish. If u wanna stay in this field, it’ll be at least 5+ years before interacting w/ clients. Other good options outside of finance is consulting where you’ll interact with clients all the time and perhaps managing funds like endowments. Would appreciate SBs. Thanks.
Equity sales, they have budget to do so — taking investors/clients to fancy restaurants with lead equity research analysts
Does equity sales still pay well?
Are you hot/attractive?
OP with all due respect, I think you're forgetting 2 main points here:
1. Lack of experience. Let's say you do get invited along to client dinners - what are you going to talk about/value add to the conversation? In reality you'll just be sat there silently nodding along. I mean no offence by that, after all you're a fresh new analyst i.e. you have zero experience. Real life isn't like "Suits" (I know you said you didn't expect that kind of experience but still) where somehow within a couple of episodes Mike Ross is practically a peer to his boss and other partners because of his "raw intellect" - real life isn't like that at all, in fact that happening in finance (or big law) is laughable.
Doesn't matter if you were top 10% in your college class or even top 10 - the fact of the matter is you are not going to be able to add any fresh insight or value add sitting down with clients. So respectfully why should you get a seat at that table if you haven't "earned" it? But the upside here is when you do have enough experience/knowledge then you probably will get the opportunity to interact with clients, and at that point you'll actually be ready for it.
2. Being bottom of the totem pole. Yes I know that putting together endless slide decks can be pretty dull, but ultimately someone has to do it - and you're the most junior member of the team so naturally will get assigned the "grunt tasks." But also these grunt tasks are how you learn - I'm not claiming that PPT decks are rocket science (far from it) but being able to put together slick-looking decks and update models is a key element of banking, and if you haven't mastered that you won't be getting that far in your career. So personally I would look at it as a valuable (if dull) learning experience.
Don't worry OP, the job does get (a bit) more interesting over time. But I get the feeling you actually are expecting a "Suits" type experience whereby you'll be practically a peer to associates immediately. That just isn't a realistic expectation, however smart you are. With time though you'll get more interesting responsibilities as you progress.
I absolutely agree with this. I just want to add a little bit to it.
While it is important to be able to make ppts and models as a banker, that is largely overrated. I have worked on the buy side and most ppts from bankers are either useless to us or can be shortened by like 70-80%.
For example, when I was working in CD at an aerospace supplier, we pretty much needed just 3 pages of information to determine if a target is worth looking at. If you pitched us we’d basically “just” need to know what planes the target is on (ie - 737, B21, A350, Embraer 175, etc), what content they do for every shipset (ie - nacelles, cold/hot engine components, avionics, etc), basic unit economics (ie - revenue, cash flow margin, operating margin, that we can then apply to our internal production forecasts), where their facilities are/what each facility does, and some basic analysis on how much it will cost us. That is about all we’d need to know to determine if we should look at a deal. If you are trying to pitch us.
Now this is just one specific example but it demonstrates the point. While doing the math and making it look pretty is important, banks are often incredibly excessive. That deck you spent 2 days on could probably have been done in half a day if senior bankers were less insecure or just better. And I know I am not the only one who says this. Excessive decks is a constant complaint from bank clients. And it has been a problem going back decades now. Yet through either insecurity or incompetence this is still a thing
Client meetings tend to come with experience, if you are people focused sales, mutual fund wholesaling or wealth management are probably better fits.
Sales is probably the way to go, something in FICC is your best bet. But it's truly a sink or swim type of environment when it comes to clients.
How difficult is it to lateral from IB to s&t?
Probably quite easy considering most people are trying to do the reverse
Should be pretty easy I think. Going from Sales to IB is much harder.
Leave IB and go work as a MBB consultant.
Wealth management seems worth looking into as well. Good mesh between clients and investing and you can scale your income while only marginally increasing the hours you work
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