HSW MBA w/ Banking&PE Experience Considering Banking Again
Hey guys, I've been following this site for the past 9 years while I was still looking for summer analyst positions in college; never thought that I would be writing this kind of post!
To make things short, I'm currently a HSW MBA student with investment banking and PE experience; yes I did the typical finance track that is very well understood on this board. HOWEVER, now that I am almost done with the MBA (have 1 more year of vacation), I really started considering 1) What the fuck do I really want to do with my life and 2) What is most actionable. I really like the transaction and deal-oriented environment of investment banking; perhaps my PE firm was not large enough and I did not experience the same intensity or deal flow that I did while I was in banking.
Also, at the senior level, I do view banking as a very interesting career as you start to get more into the sales aspects of the job. From the most actionable perspective, I realized that PE post MBA is much harder than people think. I've interviewed with tons of PE firms for summer associate positions and didn't land a spot. I will likely continue trying but at this point I have to consider other routes, like doing banking and then trying to switch to a MM PE firm in 1-2 years.
So, I am considering banking as a FT career post MBA AGAIN. My question to the more experienced bankers out there is: what are the issues with receiving applications from MBA students with my background? I have the sense that banks like to mold fresh students, and bringing back analysts is not always welcome, especially if they've gone through the PE tracks before the MBA. Finally, how should I spin my story to convey the fact that I really want to do banking, AGAIN?
Would love to hear the thoughts of senior finance professionals on this board, not necessarily the junior ppl who think my idea probably sounds ridiculous. Thanks.
Not a banker but on the PE side. I don't think there's anything crazy about it if you liked banking more. Do what you like. You're going to do more deals in IB than PE in almost every fund (maybe some of the growth equity funds that focus on platforms and do tons of bolt-on's compare in number of deals) whereas in PE you're going to look at dozens or hundreds of potential deals for every one you do so if you like doing tons of deals, and if the sales and client aspects of it appeals to you, go for it. You may have a hard time breaking into PE if you do more than a few years of banking and the bigger funds may not be available because they tend to have more formal bschool recruiting.
One of the good things in banking compared to PE is that PE is getting pretty clogged up at the top of the pyramid so it's pretty tough to get on the partner track even if you're good and it's more difficult to bounce around firms (generally people join a fund and are lifers-yes there are exceptions so someone will say they know a guy who moved around, but generally guys get on a partner track and stay forever and if they don't get on a partner track they leave the pure PE biz, go to something like mezz, a BDC or move to an operating company).
Like I said, I'm not a banker but I'd have a hard time thinking you couldn't get back into IB pretty easily after school. You'll have plenty of time to tell your story. And like I said, do what you like. People, especially kids on here, get caught up in the buyside prestige crap but bankers make a shit ton of money and it's a pretty cool job. I know more than a few career bankers and they love what they do. They look at my job and try to figure out why I'd ever want to go through so much due diligence, deep dive into companies, have to deal with them for 5-10 years and have to answer to LP's.