Lateralling during Covid

Am I crazy to be thinking about lateralling at the moment?

I work for a large bank in Europe. Nothing wrong with current situation exactly. But I want to join a sector team as am currently a generalist and feel that I'm not gaining enough expertise for a longer career in M&A banking. I also want to move "down-market" (think solid MM shops/sector boutiques) to get a change in culture/more opportunities to grow.

So in the current environment, does it make sense to leave somewhere which is solid and where there are no issues except basically intellectual issues above and take a risk? To add, please assume very little difference in comp in the short-term.

3 Comments
 
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I'm assuming you're not planning to leave until you have another offer in hand, right? So not really that much of a risk in that sense. There might not be that many places looking to hire, but if you find an open role and are able to get it, then I would say go for it.

The one thing I'd consider is that the bank you're at now probably has a slightly better ability to get through the current economic situation vs. a smaller M&A focused MM shop. That being said, if the MM shop is hiring, they likely would have considered this, which is a good sign.

 

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