Which is more interesting work at the entry level: corporate finance or investment banking?
Hi,
So forget salary/work hours for a minute and answer what you think is more interesting work: investment banking or doing corporate finance at a F500 company? Both are supposed to be really boring at the entry level (i-banking is just copying and pasting, coffee runs, photocopying and F500 work is usually just glorified accounting typically), but which is more interesting typically? I've actually heard some people say that F500 work is more challenging and stimulating (not that great though still at the entry level) but most people go for banking just because of the money. So excluding money/hours/exit opps, which would you do based purely on the quality of work that you're doing?
Also, for the same of comparability, let's say that you're working for excellent but not top tier banks (i.e. Barclays, Citi, CS, etc. but not GS/MS/JPM) and excellent but not top tier F500 companies (i.e. Intel, GE, Boeing, etc. but not Apple/Google/Disney, etc.)
Let me get this straight, you've never done either yet somehow you have the attitude that you know exactly what it is that they do day-to-day? I can assure you, I do much more than copying/pasting and photocopying...hell, I've never even once done a coffee run for anyone. I actually do quite a bit of modeling -- whether it be LBO, Merger, DCF, liquidity, operating, etc.
IB = lots of experience analyzing a high volume of different companies and potential transactions
Dude, sorry I didn't mean to be offensive. I never said I know exactly what it is day-to-day. I'm going off of what other people have told me, I explicitly stated that in my first post. I've had friends in both, and while they all say that there is a lot of entry level bitch work in corp fin and IB, my friends in F500s seemed happier relative to their BB IB counterparts. I posted this because I have a generally small sample size, and I want to make sure that this is just a sampling error so to speak and if more people feel this way. That's all. I understand that experience can vary widely, so I'm asking widely for opinions.
Unfortunately, I haven't really researched into corporate finance, but I have friends in investment banking who have had very different experiences. I can promise you that you will not be doing mostly coffee runs and things like that. Depending on whether you enter a BB or boutique, the experience will be different in the sense that you'll have more responsibilities in the boutique, but with BB you'll be working on deals that will end up on the front page of WSJ at some point.
Talk with some people in corporate finance, if you can. See where they come from. I wouldn't be surprised if some of them might have done investment banking or some finance job on the street before taking a job that would let them spend time with their families.
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