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Unless you already have an offer in a particular sector, most BBs give out generalist offers, which allows you to choose the group you want to join. The hope would be that you choose the sector that actually interests you. Outside of energy and FIG, moving out of your IB industry is fairly easy.
I mean every industry is pretty specific with the exception of consumer goods. If you just list out the different sectors: RE, M&M, O&G, FIG, HC, Tech, each one is pretty specialized in terms of how you value them and what are the key market drivers. From my observation, it seems a lot of employers are looking for people with background in O&G or RE when they're looking to add to their teams, rather than someone who just had general "IB" experience. I'm just wondering if anyone else shares this view or has a related experience that they can share.
People from our group switch industries all the time when heading the buyside. Plenty of TMT buyout shops actually prefer non-TMT analysts that have more experience in mature companies with steady cash flows. With the exception of Energy and FIG (I would add RE to this list, but that's almost an entirely separate track, I would argue), movement is quite common. Your list of sectors is missing more traditional sectors: Transportation, Industrials, Consumer and Retail, Gaming and Leisure, Media and Telecom, etc.
Very few firms are going to consider a 22 year-old analyst siloed into a sector just because that's the industry group they landed in out of college.
Switching Sectors (Originally Posted: 03/14/2014)
I just finished my first year as an associate and hate my sector hate. How difficult is it to switch sectors after a year?
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