Is The Lateral Market That Bad or Am I Just a Poor Candidate?
Graduated three years ago and started out in TAS, did it for a year and then found an IB job for a regional, 12 person IB team in the southern city I was working in (ATL/CLT/Raleigh/Richmond). I've been here for two years now and my plan was always to lateral to a bigger and better investment bank in NYC once I got to the Associate level. I had the chance to do it sooner but wasn't dying to be an Analyst at a sweaty NY bank when I was still learning the base skills.
Anyways, back in 2021 this goal seemed incredibly achievable and I knew plenty of people who had no problem making it work. Since the market has turned however I have just not been finding any opportunities. It's not that I'm getting interviews and bombing, I can hardly even find postings to apply to. Of those postings I do find, I'm not getting any outreach.
Is this a reflection of my having a shitty background? If I were at a better bank in NYC would I be getting hit up by lateral HHs? Or is this basically the market for everyone right now? I'll be a lot more optimistic if it's just a shitty market cause I'm happy to ride out another year or two where I'm at and wait around for a good opportunity.
It’s the market, and most places that do laterals recruiting tend to be middle market groups and some ebs from what I’ve seen. If you’re at a regional boutique with a few years of experience and did a2a, you’d be an ideal candidate since most other analysts from your graduating class already left ib by year 2.
Been in a similar situation around this point last year, places generally are hiring but only for one seat, so sometimes teams may prioritize interviews from referrals or internal transfers
Thanks a ton man, relieving to hear. I'm definitely targeting MM roles so I think my gameplan is going to be to not rush anything and focus on networking around hoping to find someone I hit it off with that may be willing to refer me when the time is right.
A lot of people are telling me that their groups want to hire someone or are flirting with doing interviews but haven't gotten signoff from HR / the powers that be.
Wdym most places that do laterals tend to be middle market? Literally all banks take laterals.
Definitely the market
PM me.
Not sure if this helps but at a standard large MM IB shop I’m also not seeing any IB openings or getting any inbounds for IB lateral opps at all. Was getting a steady flow of buyside and corporate roles from headhunters before the holiday slowdown. So I don’t think it’s you I think it’s the market for IB in general is dead. Makes complete sense, almost all banks are divesting employees right now…
What was your undergrad?
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