What happens to departing 2nd year Analysts?

Say you're a 2nd year Analyst at a BB or MM with no buyside job lined up, no 3rd year / associate promotion, and your 2 years are up.

Where do most of these guys go if they want to stay in the industry and DON'T want to go the MBA route? Is the natural progression to find another bank and hope to join as an Analyst? Is it reasonable to target Associate 1 jobs? Will you have to face questions about why you weren't promoted, and be banded a "bad analyst"? Appreciate some input from those who have faced this situation or know others who have, thanks for the insight guys.

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Best Response

"Where do most of these guys go if they want to stay in the industry and DON'T want to go the MBA route? "

Time to scramble to find something else. Start hitting up contacts and HH's.

"Is the natural progression to find another bank and hope to join as an Analyst? Is it reasonable to target Associate 1 jobs?"

Yes, probably not.

"Will you have to face questions about why you weren't promoted, and be banded a "bad analyst"?"

You could spin it - frame it as "I'm interested in this group because of xyz and that's why I'm trying to lateral" and avoid the issue altogether. If they push on the issue, then it's really a judgement call up to you as to whether to say you weren't offered a third year or to fudge it and say it hasn't been determined yet (or just straight up lie, which I guess is option 3).

 

Bump. Interested in this.

You know you've been working too hard when you stop dreaming about bottles of champagne and hordes of naked women, and start dreaming about conditional formatting and circular references.
 

My two cents...

Keep plugging away at interviews. With ~6 months left, definitely get on recruiters' lists, and look into any opportunities that pop up. There are some off-cycle stuff that can come up, and firms might just need your expertise when all the other analysts accepted offers. It helps to have good relationships with the recruiters.

For lateraling, you'd have to spin your story: "I've become more interested in X industry"; "Group just hired someone, so I thought there was insufficient room for professional growth in my group"; etc. Obviously don't lie... This is a high turnover industry. You never know if that senior banker who knows why you didn't get the offer will also lateral to your new bank and spoil your party.

You might also want to look into corp dev for your industry. I've heard of bankers going to corporate and then coming back to banking. It could help to educate your thought process on how strategic buyers think. Heck, you might like it better than banking.

Also, if your senior bankers are cool, consider talking to them about your professional trajectory. You might be able to get some referrals or at least some ideas of what / where to pursue.

On a related note, you should always be recruiting... Once you get the job, always keep your resume fresh because you never know when you need to pull it out. Always keep in contact with your recruiter. Grab coffees with your buds in other banks, buy-side firms, etc. periodically and let them know if you're looking. Keep your ear to the ground even when you aren't looking because who knows if something "better" comes up.

 

HelpmeOutPlz I'm not in IB (work in O&G industry) but I can offer some suggestions. Have you considered working for a F500 or even an O&G company as a Financial Analyst (referring to the job, not exact title) or at least those that are looking to add ex-I Bankers as part of their corporate development/strategy team?

Your skills developed as a banker such as modeling and financial analysis are critical for many of these F500 companies because they have operational and industry talent but don't have too many people who have skills needed for valuing companies that are targets for acquisitions.

Maybe look in this direction? I can pass some your way if you're interested?

 

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