I have a difficult decision to make and was hoping to hear some thoughts from fellow monkeys. I am currently in an equity research (ER) associate role at a tier 1 bank (JPM/MS/GS - I know they are not in the same league II-wise) and have always wanted to lateral to IB - I think the work is more interesting and comp is better, and ER is in structural decline and I feel like I am plateauing professionally at this point. I interviewed at at a BB in the IB industry group that I cover in ER, and recently secured an offer from a tier 2 BB (BAML/Barclays/Citi/DB/CS) for an IB Associate position. The IB team has a great pipeline and is in the top 5 on the league tables, and I did like all the people I met during my interviews.
I wanted to seek everyone's thoughts on the opportunity and advice on my course of action. Should I take the offer and not look back or are there other options to consider? Should I wait for an internal position to open up in the IB coverage group at my current BB and try to lateral internally? Would I be able to leverage the offer to be considered internally? I am nearing 2 years in my current ER role and although I am very interested in doing IB, I am wondering if I should bother pursuing IB as that would set my career back (I have a graduate degree and worked in industry prior), and I should just leverage my current ER experience and go to the buyside. However, I have never really been interested in joining buyside HF and am more IB/industry-oriented.
Any advice and thoughts are greatly appreciated!
You said it yourself - you want to do IB. Take the offer and don't look back. A BB is still a BB and it's even better since your role will be in your covered sector.
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Sounds like you should take it - especially since your ER group might not really be Tier 1 from an ER-ranking standpoint anyways.
Won't be going backwards since it's at the Associate level, and plenty of them in IB with graduate degrees.
You said you've always wanted to lateral to IB, you feel your ER position is plateauing, you've never been interested in joining a buy-side HF, and to top it all off you claim to be "IB/industry-oriented." Idk what else you are looking for, the only option to choose from here is to accept the offer.
My only hesitation is whether I should stake it out and try to lateral internally to IB in my current tier 1 BB shop.
Depends on if you're confident that you're able to do it. Internal mobility is pretty tough to navigate. Have you spoken to anyone from your firm yet?
I don't understand the monkey shit being thrown at this guy, he's asking a legit question.
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