Thoughts on Lateraling

What goes through your head when trying to make the decision? Have an offer from a GS/MS/JPM bulge coming from a well known middle-market, but am on the fence. Would love to get feedback from those who made the jump after a year and how it helped/hurt

16 Comments
 

Mentee from my alma mater just made the jump from a low tier BB to EVR/GHL/LAZ. she said it is 100% worth it. Better company morale (something people don't think to tell you but is actually very important), more relaxed company culture, little to no facetime, hard hours but more dealflow. Not to mention that if you're looking at buyside recruitment, headhunters will look at you completely differently.

 
Douche Canoe
ApplyingToBSchool more relaxed company culture, little to no facetime
at evr/ghl/laz?!?!?!

word, I thought those were sweatshops...

The difference between successful people and others is largely a habit - a controlled habit of doing every task better, faster and more efficiently.
 

Contacted firm directly. headhunters are decent, but if you can get a way into the banks via LinkedIn, etc., it's more valuable.

Any other thoughts guys? Bump

 

This is going to be very biased by my own opinion (I'm very content with where I am) but if you're happy with where you are, then I would be very, very hesitant to lateral. Of course, you won't really be able to tell which decision was right until you look back on this situation with 20/20 hindsight... Sorry man, I guess my post didn't really help you much at all :/

 
Best Response
delljunkiebump

Bro, ultimately it's going to be your decision. I realize you're looking for support one way or another, but in the end, it's your choice, and the only person on this board who's going to be affected by your choice is you. Some people are going to tell you to go one way; others are going to tell you to go another. Best course of action is to just sit down, talk it over with people you trust (i.e. family, friends not at your bank/other bank) and then to go with your gut.

I guarantee that no matter which path you choose, there's going to be a time when things get hard and you think to yourself, "well, I kinda regret my decision now; what if i'd taken the other route?" but realize that had you taken the other route, you'd be asking yourself the same question at some point as well. Best of luck in your choice, and I hope it works out for you, regardless of which choice you make.

 

Also depends on what you want to do afterwards - if it's a well known MM, it'll provide with good opportunities to move on to great MM PE funds or business school (or promotion). If you are getting good deal experience and exposure, and like the people at your MM, going to a BB does not mean you'll be better off or happier. If you're interested in MM PE, it might be even better because a lot of funds will specify that they want MM analysts.

With a BB, you are provided access to more opportunities with larger PE funds, as well as the MM ones. And as you probably know, you will probably also get a more technical experience with more modeling than you would at a mid-market, but you would also get to see less of the overall deal and be constrained to a job description of an Analyst at a BB.

 

You're right. I need to sit down and think this through. Getting mixed responses from different people... Thanks for all the help

 

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