Am I actually stuck, or is the problem that I am not good enough ??

Over the past two years I have interviewed with more than 15 IB groups across many of the firms commonly discussed here, including multiple groups at EVR, RJ, WB, PJT, Barclays, DB and others. I originally entered full time recruiting after converting my summer analyst internship into a full time role, but I have been trying to transition to a stronger firm because the firm I am at is mainly a capital markets focused shop with very limited deal advisory exposure. Almost all of my work has been pitches for sponsor backed buy side M&A, with no execution. Because of that, when I am asked whether I have worked on sell side M&A, the honest answer is no. My experience has been almost entirely pitch work, and even though I have been here for two years, I have only closed one deal, which was an IPO where we were not the lead bank and had very little responsibility. I have worked on only two CIMs during my entire time in banking. I am at a point where I feel extremely frustrated and stuck. I am trying to figure out whether it still makes sense to keep pushing to lateral to a better platform such as Piper or RJ, or whether I should move to a smaller 20 person M&A boutique to finally get execution reps and then try to move back up. I am honestly trying to understand whether the problem is my experience, the market, or simply that I am not a strong enough candidate to convince someone to hire me.

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