Public Finance SA to Industry Coverage FT

Alright WSO-- Give it to me straight. I got an SA gig in the public finance group at:

BAML/Citi/JPM/MS/RBC 

I would much rather be in an industry coverage group, but PubFin is what I got. Since I would like to be in industry coverage eventually so what is my move here?

Is moving internally realistic? If so, would it be a situation where I get the FT offer, do <12 months on the desk and then move internally or would I be able to recruit for a different group and start FT there. Do I have a better shot at recruiting for FT elsewhere?

Thank you!

18 Comments
 

Just listed the top five banks by volume from 2021. Happens to be one of them.

 

I knew it was going to look like fodder to the “RBC is not a BB” folks which was going to distract from the actual question. Those were the top 5 book runners in PubFin. RBC is not a BB. Hardos happy?

 
Most Helpful

To answer your question,  congrats on the offer.  Here's what I would do and typically what I see work with the most success,  is 1. focus on getting a full time offer then, 2.  work a year network like crazy and then try and internally lateral at the 1 or 2 year mark.  I know that is probably not what you want to hear, but it typically is the best way because as a 1st year analyst you may hear more about who you need to talk to.  Your internship will also go by so quickly that it really does take a lot of focus to get the offer and have some fun this summer.  

 

Thank you very much for the insight. What I wanted to hear more than anything was the truth and I appreciate you sharing some honest perspective.

 

Speaking as someone who lateralled out of PF into industry coverage, don’t fret too much about it. Pretty much everyone I know who wanted to leave left for other banking or MBB consulting opportunities. I would echo what other people say though - your best bet will be to focus on securing a return offer and then work hard to network internally/with other banks full time. You can try to lateral out during your internship, but your window of opportunity to network is smaller and it might distract you from doing a good job and getting a FT offer

 

Echoing what I said above, I sincerely appreciate the actionable advice. Thank you!

 

Is there a particular group I should try to work in that would be most applicable or at least have the most complex, analytical work (as far as pubfin goes)? 

 

Any group that lets you do P3 deals would be best imo, then healthcare

 

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