Public Finance IB Exit Opps?

Hey everyone, I was wondering what types of exit opps are available for a SA position and/or a FT position in PubFin? If I spent a summer interning for a PubFin IB position would it be possible to transition into a more traditional IB role and then go for PE/HF later on? Or is that extremely difficult? I am wondering what to do as I could either take an offer in PubFin (expiring soon) or risk it and keep up the job searching, anyone have any experience or advice to give on a situation like this?

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Exit Ops from SA position:

I mean as with all full-time recruiting for finance jobs, it can be challenging. I’m at a top BB and I’ve seen a few people from previous SA classes move into IB. Idk if public finance was really additive to their efforts more so than the fact they interned at a top BB, but the option exists if you network well (as is true for most front office finance positions).

Exit Ops from Analyst role:

So I’ve seen a lot of people move into different parts of the bank after their analyst stint at the associate level, particularly into DCM, IB, and S&T—I think these individuals tend to have more career banker vibes and wanted to try something new out. Outside the bank, people move onto doing a lot of different things: going to B-school, going to law school, a few PE/HF people but pretty limited and def not MF/UMM names. If your goal is PubFin to PE, don’t accept a full time return offer at all. That said, there are actually people interested in banking long term (shocking to WSO I’m sure) and I think starting out as a pubfin analyst a top bank in particular sets you up in an initial role that gets paid around as well as any other front office job at the analyst level and doesn’t burn you out nearly as fast. You can always ofc transition to another part of the bank if pubfin isn’t your thing, but I encourage you to give it a chance—it’s really interesting work imo and quite important in current times as state and local governments struggle with their finances. 

 

Hey! You mention that people move around internally after their analyst stint. After doing some self reflection as a first year pubfin analyst, I think I’m one of those “career banker” types, or at least I’d like to be.

Kinda figured out that I do enjoy pubfin, but would rather continue my career in traditional IB. Do you mind talking a little bit about how those that have moved around internally, how that process went + timeline wise (right before ASSOC promote or just randomly during the year, etc). I feel like I keep hearing doom and gloom about pubfin and your optimistic tone is refreshing to hear.

 

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