Is congressional staffer to BB IB a reasonable path?
For a variety of reasons, mostly because my career goals didn't come into focus until too late in my college career, I will not be starting off in the financial services industry, but rather as a congressional staffer. To be clear, I think that it will be quite fun, and I completely entertain the possibility that I could grow to want to stay long term. But I must ask, is it reasonable to hope to transition to investment banking from a congressional staffer position? Does it matter that I will likely be doing work related to finance and banking legislation? Should I hope to transition to IB directly, or should I plan on doing an MBA as a career reset? Does anyone with experience with this sort of career path have any advice? I would very much appreciate it. Finally, if I have broken any posting rules, I apologize. I am very new, so I am not quite familial with all of the site norms as of yet. Thanks for your help.
It's definitely possible, but most people who go into IB are usually politicians themselves who go for a couple of years, use their connections and star power to close deals and make some money for a few years and then move on. Not saying its impossible, but I've never heard of it and it doesn't sound likely since you wouldn't have any transferable skills. Although, I do happen to think that with your background you'd probably have a pretty interesting story for a top MBA program that you could leverage to get into IB as an associate, if that makes sense. However, if you network with the right people, anything is possible.
Definitely a highly transferable skill set, you just go from screwing constituents to screwing your clients.
More likely useful for a role in Compliance than front office.
The network connections/wheeling/dealing people have mentioned is likely the most valuable skillset you can build as a staffer.
From what I've seen (which, tbh, ain't a huge range), you're better off hooking up with a fairly competent Washington-type who will translate an administrative/military/political career into a a deal-broking/consulting career when they exit public office.
I've done deals with a few of those types and you'll have more fun, and likely make more money, than some analyst/associate peon sitting in his own dried sweat in the bullpen in an investment bank. And the connections and experience you make can then be parlayed into a more senior banking, consulting or similar role later in life.
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