2 Months Into Investment Banking And I Want To Quit Please Help
Hey everyone! If you see this, please stop scrolling — I can’t tell you how much I’d appreciate any insights :)
I am currently a first year analyst at a top MM in NYC in their best coverage group. Deal flow is great, and we pretty much only work on sell-side M&A. The path to private equity is clear. I graduated cum laude from a target school with a history of internships and global experiences.
If you don’t hate me yet, you’ll hate me now — I cannot stand this job any longer and I want to quit with every burning ounce of desire I have left inside of me. It’s only been two months. Admittedly, I am among those that fell into banking because of an overglamorized lure of prestige, money, and “training.” More like hazing. However, it’s not the hours that bother me — it’s the fact that I’m terrible at my job. I am terrible at data analysis, data cleanup, and modeling. I am so god awfully slow at using Excel functions that I feel like a pathetic worthless loser for the hundreds of thousands my parents dropped on my education and I can’t even do a goddamn vlookup. It gets more pathetic, but I’ll spare you that.
In all seriousness, I am extremely upset, embarrassed, and desperately in search of an alternative. I am willing to work long hours. I like M&A (conceptually, operationally, etc) as well as strategy and general business analysis. What about M&A consulting? How do I get into that? It seems niche. Any other ideas or advice? I feel so lost, and God so sad. My end goal is to make a difference using finance — emerging markets, impact investing, etc. For now though, I literally just want an entry level finance / business job that will (1) teach me basic skills, (2) pay decently, and (3) be at least slightly less soul-sucking than traditional IB. Please help me :(
M&A consulting at most places is working on the implementation side of things post-close or some sort of synergy analysis during dd. Such as DDV at PWC. Trash role. Strategy consulting you can find roles out there where you could more so be working w management teams mapping industries, ranking targets, etc but the actual deal execution will still be handled by internal Corp Dev teams and the bankers. Tough it out in IB bro. I’ve done the jobs I listed above and consulting is just a bunch of hardo paper pushers that play the politics game and try to suck every dollar out of their clients without actually doing anything meaningful while making bullshit over-complicated excel trackers as a deliverable to a client that won’t even understand how to properly use it. As annoying as spreading comps and aligning logos on slides is, at least your teams input is valued by the clients and you actually manage the processes happening. In consulting, you’re getting hired simply for the client to be able to show their BOD or C-suite that “action has been taken” regardless of whether any progress is ever made. The culture in consulting is better though. Lot of happy hours, company events, and generous partners willing to give back. Find the right team/role and it could be worthwhile but I would recommend make as much $ you can in IB to pay down your loans and take it from there
Honestly I was in the same boat. Shit bottom bucket analyst. Super slow with excel and ppt. By no means am I great now and am probably behind the rest of my class, but it gets better. The job is your life and it’s like learning to walk from the start, you just learn it eventually. Would recommend sticking it out if real health issues aren’t a concern. Good luck. Feel free to PM too
You're only a few months in and it's normal to take 6 - 12 months to ramp up and get comfortable. You'll look back in 1 year and realise the incredible growth - don't give up just when you've taken the first step to climb the mountain ;)
There are times where I would tell people to quit and times where I would say push through it. Your reasons make me say push through it.
It’s fine to quit a job if you know it just isn’t for you and you hate the environment, but quitting because it is hard is something you will regret. Many of the things you are describing are learnable skills that you can perfect if you make it your life’s mission to improve. Things like formatting and attention to detail are learnable. Stay the course and realize it’s normal to be bad at the job in the beginning.
Hey man - I wanted to respond to this as I was in a similar boat earlier this year. I quit after 6 months on the job after a lateral move and so far regret my decision (ignore title, wanted to stay anon). Unlike you, I was struggling with mental health issues that were exacerbated by the long and unpredictable hours. I've always had issues with anxiety / depression, and entering IB made things 1000x worse. I left for a corporate job which so far has been pretty disappointing; my career progression is uncertain, training is non-existent, and overall I feel pretty upset about my career decisions. Seeing as I am on the other side of the fence, I'll try to lay out some of the pros and cons and offer some perspective on your situation so that you can hopefully avoid any regrets.
Since you aren't struggling with the hours or environment, I'd echo others and say that you should try to hang in there until the 6 month mark, and then re-evaluate after that period. You're still very new to the job and adjusting to the hours and expectations, and there's usually a 6+ month learning curve for any new job. Don't be too hard on yourself for struggling ~2 months in, that actually is a normal phenomenon for any new job. If you're struggling with the learning curve, try to find a sympathetic senior analyst or associate who can show you the ropes. My friends who survived / thrived in their analyst programs all emphasized the importance of finding mentors early on.
Regarding switching jobs, I'd caution you to think twice about the grass being greener in some of those other roles. You don't realize how much you're learning in IB until you leave it - doing 50 turns of a deck is pretty demoralizing when you're the one doing all the work, but the sheer volume of reps that you get in PowerPoint and Excel is an experience that you will not get in most other jobs (for better or worse). Every day you are building stronger attention to detail, becoming more efficient through shortcuts and other tricks, and overall improving the quality of your Excel and PPT deliverables. You're surrounded by some of the smartest college grads, and you're also gaining exposure to C-Suite discussions on capital raising, M&A, and strategy, that you will not have access to as a junior employee in other industries. Unfortunately, most industries and roles - with the exception of consulting, certain F500 management training programs and some select buyside programs - will not provide you with the same level of training that IB does. If you do decide to switch roles / industries, just understand that a) training may be more limited or nonexistent (particularly in corporate roles); and b) career progression will be much slower in virtually every other role. Traditional strategy consulting or CDD (LEK, EY Parthenon, etc.) can provide great training and opportunities, but I'd encourage you to try to climb the learning curve in IB before making this jump seeing as you're already on the IB path. I know a few people who made the jump and are quite happy with their decision, but it's definitely a time intensive process to network and re-recruit for these roles, so I'd suggest trying to give IB at least 6 months before going down that route.
After you hit the 6 month mark, if you decide you want to pursue consulting or another path, you'll at least have 6 months of experience and can make a more informed decision then. More likely than not, you'll decide to hang around for the full year and pick up your bonus. After 1 year in IB you'll have one or two closed deals under your belt, and if you decide to make the switch to corporate, buyside, or consulting, you'll at least have built a foundational M&A skillset and can be a more valuable deal professional in whatever role you choose to pursue.
Best of luck man - I know it's tough, it sucks being in the trenches and sometimes you just want out. I was like you, posting on WSO and looking up "can I quit early" threads. If you do decide to switch out then more power to you, but I just want you to try to step back and evaluate pros / cons of this job and your situation prior to making a quick decision. I'm hopeful that things will improve for you, and if nothing else, you'll have more information in 6mo-1 year's time to help take your career in the right direction.
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