New York MM IBD
I started working with a small middle market IB (avg trans. $10-$75mm; closer to $20-$40 mm; think of small M&A shops like Piper Jaffray, Needham & Co, Cantor Fitzgerald, Duff & Phelps, and other small MM IB) in their NYC office. They asked if I would be willing to move to a regional office.
I came to NYC under the impression that when applying for other jobs, it would be of note to have worked as a I-banker in NYC versus a regional office.
At the small MM level, does it really matter if you worked in NYC (just as it shows on your resume; not relating to networking ability, etc)?
At the end of the day, you're still working on the same size deals (maybe slightly smaller) with an industry focus? Your experience would be comparable given the deal size and assuming consistent deal flow for the regional office, right?
Essentially, at the small MM level, does working in NYC mean a lot more than working at a regional office to a potential recruiter?
I work in IB at a MM firm in NYC about to move to my 2nd year.
1: Big difference between Piper/Needham and Duff & Phelps ... <abbr title="middle market">MM M&A deals at my firm are closer to $100-300 mm in size with the high end deals being around $300-500mm.
2: I can tell you that our firm has regional offices not in <abbr title="New York City">NYC and all the analysts want to be here. I think that the mentality here can be different and people tend to view NYC offices as working harder. I can tell you also that recruiting for PE was easier for me because a lot of the good search firms are in NYC (I used a top 3 search fund to land a $3+ billion PE firm after my time here).
I think this really depends on a few things.
As you mentioned, many of these regional offices have certain industry focuses. If you happen to be placed in a group that the regional office specializes in, you could possibly have an equal if not better experience than your NYC counterparts.
For example:
Regarding your question on deal flow -- it's quite difficult to predict this for any office including NYC. You can certainly use past deal flow as a predictor, but that still won't guarantee consistent deal flow.
Overall: I really don't think your career will be handicapped for not having started in NYC. Additionally, your cost of living will probably be significantly lower at a regional office. However, under most circumstances, NYC is still the clear choice.
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