Is Career Banking for me?

Currently, I am a at a target university pursuing a major in finance, I am conflicted with whether I want to be a banker or work in L/S equity. For many years now I have been interested in the markets and actively trade but from what I have heard there is zero job security in the hedge fund industry. I consider myself to be analytical and very competitive. The main reason I enjoy trading is because of the competitive aspect of it. In senior banking, a large part of your job is bringing in deals and closing them and it is really a sales job at that level. I think that I would enjoy sales as well because that too has a competitive aspect to it and as I said before, I enjoy anything that is very competitive and involved winning or losing. I also like being a leader and want to one day be in a position where I am leading many people. This becomes another plus (in addition to job security) for banking since in senior banking you are going to be leading a pretty large group while as a portfolio manager you will be working with a small group. With all that said, would it be better for me to pursue being a career banker or go down the HF route?

6 Comments
 

That’s a lot of bumps, haha. You won’t know if you’re gonna want to do banking long term until you actually try it.

You will likely know quickly if you can be in it for the long haul. It’s a long road to the senior banker role you describe and you may not have the tolerance to get there.

So with that said, spend time reading more about the markets and get yourself an IB analyst gig. That’s the most natural path into a HF role anyway.

 

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