Real Deal Experience, No Brand Name — How to Break Out?
I’ve been at a small M&A advisory shop as an associate. The brand is unknown, but I’m fully embedded in a Tier-1 PE fund’s deal team with same responsibilities as a secondment.
I closed 2 sub-$1bn buy-side deals and physically worked within the sponsor team for almost a year.
Despite this, I’m getting zero traction in lateral roles — not even interviews. Probably due to the firm name and no traditional IB/target background (previously worked in regional bank).
Any advice on how to better position myself? Anyone been in a similar situation?
Note: Moving to the sponsor is not possible (mandate/contract prohibited it)
Will bump for you
Unfortunately, no advice other than to take a demotion. I was in a similar position with you and the BBs asked me to take a step back to Associate (currently junior VP).
Decided against even going for those roles as I have good hours and okay pay (not top bucket but enough to get by)
edit: i did get interviews with some BBs but same feedback (i.e. Senior Associate and no VP), or they wanted me to originate as a VP which I think i won't do at this stage
I am okay to discount my experience .. but the reality is that i got 0 respond from head hunters / online applications
I was in a similar boat where I joined a first-time fund and got amazing deal experience, but lacked the brand.
You need to give up on traditional processes yesterday. Headhunters and HR people have a very strong "you don't get fired for hiring IBM" bias, and will almost always choose the loser from the big brand over the scrappy guy from the no-name shop, even when the latter objectively has higher quality experience.
Network your ass off, especially with bankers in similar coverage sectors or who have close relationships with the sponsor. You have a very valuable relationship and a lot of intel on their strategy that should make them want to at least have the conversation. Also if you're so embedded with the sponsor, you could potentially even ask them for warm intros at some places which will carry a lot of weight.
[Edited to reflect you're looking at lateral roles, not trying to move to PE]
Thank you.
I was staffed on the sponsor MD’s “pet” project…essentially, our team replaced their internal deal team.
He’s also a personal friend of my boss, which has made it difficult for me to ask for referrals without creating tension.
Bump
Not a joke, but consider going to BofA? Associates are leaving that place by the hour. They'll likely be hiring soon and laterals at other reputable banks won't go there unless they have no other choice for all the reasons discussed on this board. My guess is the candidate pool would likely be from Tier 2/3 shops so your position isn't that bad - they have taken in worse. You won't get paid remotely close to market at BofA, but it's a great name still and could address what you're looking for in the near term. Get the name on your CV and revisit after a year.
I plan to network across all firms for now... I’m agnostic, as I know the key priority at this stage is securing the right brand name
First - why do you want to leave, seems like you have a great gig.
Second - assuming you have a compelling reason to leave, you need to figure out the other banks who are close to the sponsor in the vertical you hire and find a way to the MDs who care. If this was me in my sector, it would be a no brainer to hire you.
I’m working 7 days a week without a break… haven’t taken a single day off in over a year
Despite running deals solo, I’m only getting less than 2% of the revenue. The comp doesn’t match the workload or responsibility
I’ll keep pushing harder on networking; I’ve mostly been ignored so far and don’t have an alumni network to lean on
Very fair.
That said, having been in not to dissimilar situations when I was younger in my career, there are other options to leaving and the grass isn’t always greener. Obviously, improve your hand, but maturity has taught me that sometimes the best option is to renegotiate your own deal (lifestyle and money) before leaving.
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