How does an unfavourable analyst stint impact a career in IB in the long term?
I am currently an Analyst III at a second-tier bank (think of Nomura, Jefferies, Wells Fargo or RBC), within one of weakest and under-developed groups. Over the past 2.5 years on this desk, my experience and learning curve have been disappointingly subpar.
Upon joining, I realized my group had over-hired, resulting in an abundance of analysts and associates with limited directors and MDs. For the first 24 months, I consistently had spare capacity and found myself always staffed with the same type of work—updating decks, administrative tasks, pitching, and creating white papers. Regrettably, my involvement in live situations has been minimal (only 3 or 4, all concluding without tangible outcomes), and I've had minimal exposure to the more technical aspects of the job, such as financial modeling and in-depth valuation analysis.
Despite actively seeking a lateral move for the past eight months, the challenging market conditions have made it difficult to secure a decent position either at another firm or in another group within my bank.
While my performance reviews have been positive, I am just a few months away from the A2A promotion. However, I feel I am missing crucial experiences due to the lack of opportunities in my group.
Senior bankers always stress the importance of analyst years and the necessity of building a strong foundation with exposure to diverse deals and market situations. Unfortunately, this has not been my experience so far, and I am now concerned that this lack of learning during my analyst years may adversely impact my future in the field. For context, my ultimate goal is to pursue a long-term career in banking.
Has anyone faced a similar situation and, if so, how did you navigate it?
Bump
No advice here but just enjoy the respectable hours man. While you may not be learning as much, at least you aren’t burnt out. Those guys who are learning a shit ton staffed on too many live deals may burn out before the associate promo
That’s my $0.02 from someone who is extremely burnt out after almost 2 years
Not saying that working 100h week in week out is ideal and I do understand the burnout.
But being in the dealmaking business in a team that does not close deals is very frustrating and pointless.
While what you’ve described isn’t an ideal way to start your career, it is incredibly recoverable. Tons of top senior bankers started as MBA Associates. You should prioritize moving to a team with more deal flow following this bonus season - jobs are tough to come by in this environment but a lateral analyst / A2A should be able to find something, and you can tell a compelling story of looking to move to challenge yourself and learn more.
As an Associate you’ll be behind the curve vs peer A2As that had stronger Analyst experiences, so you need to keep your nose to the grindstone, stay humble, and soak up as much knowledge as possible. Don’t be afraid to ask others for help or guidance if you run up against gaps in your experience given limited deal reps. Good luck.
He’ll be behind A2A’s that had strong analyst stints but ahead of MBA associate hires which are most of them which is something to keep in mind.
As someone said above, it is not the end of the world or in this case the end of your banking career. A lot of people start in Banking as associate and make it far in this business.
It's not easy but keep working on your lateral move - the more senior you become at your firm the worst. Be careful picking your next destination, you might want to go somewhere with a stronger deal flow and more opportunities to grow, but if you think you have important knowledge gaps then you should avoid landing in a sweatshop or a top group, as you could struggle and be classified as a low performer.
What have the majority of your experiences consisted of? Why not just get the promo and go to a place with less dealflow as an associate so you can coast up to director or MD?
Usually teams with less dealflow won’t be looking to expand the team. And for those they do recruit, especially the VPs and up, I’d expect there’d be more pressure on winning pitches to generate some money for the firm. It’d probably be a position of greater scrutiny due to the lack of revenue generation happening.
Lol what? If your main tasks are updating decks, administrative tasks, pitching, and creating white papers for 2.5 years, why didn’t you think of lateraling earlier than now?
Lol I was in a similar situation. Realized after 8-9 months that I should lateral. Took half a year to move to next shop
Congrats on Nomura
Nomura's analyst class lasts only 2 years
this has to be Nomura
Not exactly the same situation, but I still felt I needed to work on my financial modeling and valuation in free time so I just did it on my own when I had no serious work responsibilities / capacity. You had 24 months to do the same but it's never late - just start. One day or day one? :)
Obviously specific deal experience cannot be gained purely by modeling and doing valuations on your own but when you do actually close some deals you will be grateful do your self for working on yourself prior.
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