MM Lateral to BB / EB

I'm not familiar with credit recruiting but can offer advice on MM PE if you are interested. If so, this is a bit of a tricky situation and really depends which of these firms you are at and which office you are in. To further explain, Piper has by far the best PE placement out of the names that you mentioned. I've seen exits to L Catterton and other strong buyside firms. So if you are at Piper, I would recommend staying put and recruiting from there.

If you lateral to another shop from Cowen, Lincoln, or Oppenheimer, it can definitely be worth it but you need to do it correctly. If you are an analyst at three separate banks, that can possibly look like you're getting pushed out when the reality is that you're just trying to go to the best platform possible. You should also keep in mind that a lot of LMM PE shops have strict two year programs with no possibility of getting promoted. When you do need to recruit for a senior associate PE role, the bank(s) that you were at does play a big factor. It is possible to move upstream for senior associate PE roles, but you typically see people go downstream because of the competitive nature of recruiting. So that's where I think that having a BB or CVP, EVR, etc. type of place would be helpful.

You can also try to get promoted ASAP and then lateral immediately once you become an associate and do buy-side recruiting from there. This way, people will know that you're not getting pushed out. On the flip side, recruiting as an associate isn't as straightforward as it is as an analyst but I have seen plenty of top tier exits at the associate 1 and associate 2 levels. 

You also need to consider the geography that you're in. If in New York, is your bank headquartered there and have you seen good exits on LinkedIn from your office? New York is a very competitive place to do buy-side recruiting. Piper NY does fine for recruiting despite not being HQ'd in NY but not sure about the other non HQ offices.

Also, don't listen to any BS from people in your office saying that they stayed because of the supposedly good culture. This is never the case. It's typically an excuse for people who didn't receive any PE offers or just a diplomatic response. A lot of people don't make time for PE recruiting once they hit the desk and get complacent. And a lot of people don't get good looks. 

Even if you have exposure to PE shops from working with them at your MM shop, PE recruiting is very structured and is primarily done through headhunters who focus on top banks. You can look at top MM PE shops such as Platinum and HIG - the majority of their associates are from top banks.

I know this is a long response that is all over the place but to sum it up, if you're not at Piper, I would recommend getting promoted and then lateraling. Hopefully the lateral market is hotter then.