Is a job/career/stint in the IBD without the possibility of an exit to the buy side within private equity or hedge funds worth it? I look up to and am envious of my IB analyst friends that are slaving away working 100 hour weeks at solid groups with good exit opportunities to the buy side, but question my other friends with lower GPAs or at groups where a legitimate switch to the buy side isn't viable.
The reason I ask this is because I am currently in an industry group in Corporate Banking and attended a top UG business school where I studied finance an graduated with a 2.9 GPA, thus understandably struck out during IB recruiting. However even if where to get an IB job out of college, would it have really been worth it since no buy side shop is going to look at someone with a 2.9GPA? 1 year in Corporate Banking and I have an opportunity to switch to IBD and while the pay bump would be nice, the hours would suck, and I know that a long term career in IBD for me is not sustainable, so I'm wondering what would be the point for me to switch to IBD just to burn out in a couple of years without any solid exit opportunities.
A lot of more senior people and top posters here have said that considering the work/life balance trade off, the money is not worth it, the exit opps are, but the money itself doesn't alone make up for the trade off in happiness. I look up to senior guys on the buy side and the top analysts at the top groups, but I don't necessarily picture myself ever being a senior IBD banker. Now, other division such as sales, PB, of ECM/DCM might be viable long term possibilities, but thats for another post.
I'd welcome some thoughts from anyone on here.
GridironCEO, there is a lot more to IB than just the exit ops and the pay. Doing IB for just one or both of those is going to lead to a very miserable two years.
I might do a write-up about the values of having worked in IB in a few years after I have gained more post-IB experience, but the value gained from IB goes well beyond the exit ops and the pay. Yes, the ability to go from one six figure job to another is great, and yes, being able to pay off all of your student loans while maxing out your 401k and living in NY are great, but there are a lot of intangibles that make IB worth it. The work ethic, attention to detail, formatting skills, etc. all make getting into IB worth the time. Worst case scenario: you hate IB, leave after two years for an unrelated role, and are "that guy" with an incredible work ethic and sharp attention to detail skills at your next job.
Would be very interested in seeing this Sil.
OP, as Sil has said, if you're doing it for just the money or the exit ops, you're going to be miserable. It's also important to bear in mind there's no guarantee you'll be any happier once you reach the buyside.
Thank you for saying this. It feels like every day I encounter family/friends questioning why I want to go into IB, who don't understand why I would want to put in the hours for recruiting as a non-target and nuke my work/life balance once I'm on the job. It's not because of the salary, which is dope, or necessarily the exit opps either, which are also dope. It's because 2 years of an IB analyst program is a crucible that preps you for a career in business better than ANY alternative option available to a college grad.
SB'd to see this post
You sound like you are further along in your career than me so I will respect your opinion, however I have trouble taking seriously that working 90-100+ hours a week and the negative trade offs to your work life balance are more than worth it for the work ethic, attention to detail, formatting skills, etc. I feel like you can get those at other high pressure finance jobs. Again my question is for someone that can lateral into IBD but has close to zero chances of landing a PE/HF job in 2-3 years is IBD worth it? Im confident that I'll be able to make good money over the course of my career, so I can also respect those that are just in it to pay of loans in two years and make a quick buck during their analyst stint. But for me who is ruling out making a long term career out of IBD, are a 2-3 year lateral stint "worth it"?
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