For those of you who did a couple years in equity research and ended up leaving to a more corporate role, did you regret leaving? I'm a couple months into my stint and it's not bad but I realized I don't have a passion for research (although I think my passion is more inline with doing my own models and being my own research analyst rather than focus on 20 names that I don't really care much about, plus I don't hours don't seem to be ).
I'm considering two paths, something in Asset Management (something high level and not a direct equity research analyst bc my passion for research is different than what the job entails) or something in corporate finance (either Corp Dev or Corp Strat). However I have a feeling I'll end up having some version of FOMO.
"What if I stayed and did something in a small LO? What if the hours got better? What about learning?..." Again I'm glad I am learning something I think is useful and more valuable than my last work, but this sense of not being 100% happy with my thought process is something I'm trying to understand and address. Ultimately I want something with more normalized hours in the 50-range that offers the need to do market/company/sector research but less of a sales person role and more of a "lets use this decision and do something to grow..."
I somewhat did this. It's not bad, though I sometimes think about getting back into ER I normally decide against it as, it's difficult to get back into, and what I have now is better balance/area of work.
I'd say, there are all "types" of jobs, you just need to find the right now. Meaning, take asset management, you can companies where their AM group works more hours than banking, and other places were it's almost part time. Question is, are you fine with a job that's still AM say, and gives you more free time to invest, or do you still want to put your nose to the grind stone. Sometimes you take a step back because you're burnt out, or family, or something else. That FOMO may always be there, but sadly you can't test every job than pick the right one.
I realize that if I end up leaving ER for any reason I'll always have the FOMO just because this was the one job that I had thought about having since I was 17. My last job was a dead-end career wise for me, but I sometimes (not often but once a week) look back and say "I could've just kept my head down and enjoy the 45 hour work week while living at home". I think for me, and for anyone who sits in this level of finance, I realized I value my free time too much. I would like to come home at 6pm on a consistent basis, work out, eat, watch something, have time to just kill, and then head to bed. I still need to find the "life purpose" (i.e. girlfriend, better hobbies than playing xbox...) but in this moment in my life I'm still not adjusted to working 60+ hours. I will say I feel like an outsider saying 60+ hours isn't my jam, so many posts where people talk about their hours being 70-80-90+ and they yearn for the hours I work.
Yea, but I'd say parts of that 70-90 is fluff, a lot of waiting around for notes. Kind of like when people say they go balls to the wall at the gym every day, that's not necessary true, because sometimes you need recovery.
Not saying its bad to have free time, but if you're young its a good time to develop skills and more a little harder, makes life easier if you've banked some cash as you get older. But it's what you want, don't overwork yourself, but don't also shove off work. It's like they say in the NFL, the best ability is availability. Meaning, maybe you take a job that your work 100 hours a week and can only do it for a year, or you take a job where you work less but you feel better going to it everyday. Finding the balance is always difficult, ideally we want meaningful work, not crazy hours and good pay, but it's hard aligning those.
I was not in ER, but was in a similar situation in professional services and made the jump to corporate FP&A/strat role.
I will say there’s pros and cons, but the biggest pro is that you will get the time to decompress and think about your next steps while getting your understanding of how you function in a corporate org.
In my anecdotal experience, there is less attention to detail and focus on the last 10% of the problem (which is what I enjoy).
I am going back into professional services, but at a place where my mentor is now at and has pulled me back for… jumping back into the space and another random firm was not in the cards for me after my time contemplating in what my close friends call my working sabbatical.
My advice to you is to choose wisely on the people, more than the company name, if you want an experience that still has the drive and intellectual upside of ER. If you choose based on comp/industry, but a team you are not aligned with, you are going to likely be bored/disappointed with the role.
Use the time to reassess while enjoying life’s offerings and maybe it is your path, but keep in touch with those in your industry if you ever want to make the jump back. If you have a good rep, there will always be a spot for you in your old role if the grass isn’t greener to you after you spend your time doing a job that’s out of the space.
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