Middle Market Banking Exit Ops, what do they look like?
Hi all, I've been doing some digging through past threads but all of them are really subpar. What are the expected exits opportunities for working in IBD at places from HL, Blair, Baird, Macquarie, Stifel, Jefferies, Piper Jaffray, Harris Williams, SunTrust, Raymond James, etc etc? I feel like there hasn't been a great discussion on this and it it probably more relevant to a lot of users instead of comparing GS TMT vs. EVR M&A...
From what I've seen it is very group dependent.
Banks like Blair, Baird, Jefferies and HL tend to fair better than most, but all of the banks listed above have very good analyst programs. The main thing I have seen anecdotally from my old classmates and friends at those banks, is that the analysts who get the best exit opportunities tend to be the most proactive. This means they reach out to recruiters, network with current PE associates/VPs, and tend to have a few PE firms or specific types of investing/locations that are very obtainable from their situation.
Realistically almost all analysts who end up at one of the MM banks above will not participate in on-cycle recruiting for UMM or MF (there are exceptions). The UMM firms that have taken MM analysts are usually non-nyc based and off cycle from what I have seen.
I think one thing that users of WSO fail to realize is that the MM banking path as a career rather than just using IB to get to PE, is a pretty attractive path for a lot of analysts at these MM banks.
I remember being at school and there is a real stigma among students when it comes to BB/EB/MM. Yes at the end of the day it does matter; however, there are a ton of very good MM and UMM PE shops that place well into the MBA business schools">M7 if that is the ultimate goal.
They'll all reach out to you. Recruiting is not a problem as long as you're not dead set on top UMM / MF type firms (and even then, can always lateral somewhere and try that way).
MM PE is very doable, even for firms w/ $B+ funds (not AUM). At my old MM, analysts placed at firms including Sentinel, Riverside, Providence, Norwest, HarbourVest, Blackstone (after a HF stint), Accel-KKR, HIG, Lightyear, L Catterton, etc.
I'd recommend checking out LinkedIn and seeing where former analysts at different MM banks place.
Yep, even if you're not in a tier 1 city headhunters will reach out (I was not in a tier 1 city and most of the above exits were also not from a tier 1 city). Typically they'll ask an experienced analyst for the contact info of all the new 1st years.
To the second part of your question, if you have a specific firm in mind, have a good reason as to why. I'd frame it in terms of something like "I'm really interested in the {consumer] sector because of xyz and I'm targeting the East Coast because [I grew up there and want to move back / that's the only part of the country I haven't lived / etc.], - I think a firm such as x would be a fit." instead of just saying "I want to work at firm x." Then of course say something about being open to other opportunities.