In brief, I spent one year at a MM tech bank as an AN1 and completed 3 deals while I was there with a short six month stint at a super shit local bank right before, which got my foot in the door. While at the MM firm, a close family friend asked me to join their family manufacturing company to prepare them for an exit (valuation, story, strategic planning around sales focus, blah blah - really crunch the numbers to show where to go). They NEVER had a finance person on the team other than accountants, so I can confidently say I did the job well.
With the exit now in the hands of lawyers to close it out (turned into a management buyout), the family friend and I agreed it is the time for me to return to IB. I thought it'd be a breeze given my prior experience and what I helped with at the manufacturing company. Turns out it may be tougher than I thought.
I've gotten a few looks from headhunters and some decent MM firms but with no luck. I've even been asked, "can you just get back to your old position? That'd really help." A few even said I don't have enough experience for experienced analyst positions which has me quite confused? Seems I'm over qualified for AN1 and underqualified for AN2+. How is that even possible?
Is the job market in the MM IB industry really as bad as it seems? Did I screw myself by leaving with just a year under my belt at a real firm?
Yeah market is terrible right now, widespread layoffs and the BB analysts with brand-name work on their resume are filling spots at these smaller firms.
Also your experience is very jumpy right now and gives people a reason to ding you... 3 roles all under 1 year is not a good look and makes it seem like you will continue job hopping. Unfortunately, IB will ascribe just about zero value to working in a small family business, even if you did a lot of work there. I think you're at the right experience level for senior lateral analyst roles but would not expect to be brought in at associate or anything.
If your old job will take you that's honestly a good idea.. otherwise I would be on the hunt for senior analyst roles but would expect an uphill battle. You may need to settle for a corporate job for now but again would really encourage you to find a seat you're going to be happy staying in for minimum 2 years.
Was there a buyside advisor on the other side of the deal? Would be worth an outreach if so
Unfortunately, no. All the deals were with strategic buyers. So, the hunt goes on.
Wouldn’t the strategic buyers have advisors? I’m confused.
When I say strategic, I mean large industry players with corp dev / internal M&A.
What was the thought process behind going from your busy middle market investment bank to a family friend’s personal business? I get that they asked you to, but other than that, what was your personal rationale? Did you plan to stay with that company post sale, or to move to buyside, or become an entrepreneur, or what? How did you think this story would end, or what did you think the next act of the story would be?
I’m asking because there has to be a story or thought process here. Otherwise I’m reading your post and thinking “so if I hire this guy is he going to leave again the next time a family friend asks him to help sell his company”? I imagine headhunters, recruiters, and firms will need a more tightly packaged story than what you’ve given us here. I did MM IB, then went to a family business because why not, and now want back into MM IB because why not, is not going to play. At best it’s a circular step to get right back where you started (just wasted a year), at worst it shows lack of conviction and long term thinking.
You need to convince yourself before you convince us, and you need to convince us before we can help you convince others. I recommend you come up with a VERY tightly packaged story that says “I did MM IB in this bank for this reason, then I left for this family business for this specific vertically coherent reason that made it a logical move for my long term goals and plan, and now I want do <insert role of interest> because <insert why it’s the natural next step and how all your experience led to this and makes you a perfect candidate>.•” Then you’ll see some action. Story isn’t everything, but it’s 75% of everything.
Totally get what you mean. I feel that my reasoning / story is strong, but I could definitely tweak it to highlight the understandable rationale.
To answer you, my reason for leaving was to actually see how a company's planning and execution of growth initiatives works, and be in a position to make those decisions or at least be a part of the conversation. Junior banking work was fine, but I consistently felt like as a broker of literal businesses, it'd be nice to actually know how the thing we sell works - not just have some killer business research skills or general industry knowledge. Sure I could consult, but I actually like the transaction part, too. Long term, I'd like to be the purchaser of a business or a few, so from my perspective a random opportunity that arose that would give me some of the more operational/strategy experience (that was meant to be 2 years at least...long story) aligned perfectly with a growing skillset in transactions, so long as I can get back there.
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