Career banking
I am considering becoming a career banker (15+ years stint). I need a bunch of advice from y’all since I still have some time to decide.
If I want to become a career banker then::
- Which industry (I am not picky about one) should I look into when it comes to stability or growing industries? Would you say something like clean tech now will be huge in the future?
- Is it easier to be promoted in the regional offices? What do you all think about the Texas scene?
- I am going to be transferring to mid tier Ivy, what should I focus on the most? What would be a desirable GPA if let’s say I do engineering at my school?
- Is it worth going back to b-school? (Looked up on LinkedIn and there is a ton of MDs with MBA)
- How does being senior at EB compare to top tier BB?
Thank you all so much. May God bless you.
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Bump
I don’t think it’s worth placing a bet on an emerging industry…pick something classic like industrials or retail or FIG that will be around forever. I’m about a year in and starting to contemplate doing this for the long haul. I think an underrated hack for career banking is go to a relatively small group with lean deal teams where you can build a strong relationship with a senior banker. Then when all the other juniors leave for PE and they like you they can really advance your career in the associate+ stage as their protege. If you can build a good reputation and stay on top of office politics you’d be surprised how quick you can rise staying in banking past the analyst years…I know a 26 year old VP at my shop
Oh and I also want to add since i just read your whole post— there is absolutely no point in going to b school if you want to stay in banking long term. At this point the only reason is for a career pivot..don’t waste $1mm+ with opportunity cost
At my shop it's a 29 year old senior VP/junior Director...and it's not even that small a bank.
Can second this - I have seen groups really support your advancement if you show that you are interested in the group and willing to stick around, including accelerated promotions, huge retention packages as well as getting your MBA paid for if that's what you are interested in.
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Only an AN2 but quick responses below:
1) Doesn't matter, pick fundamentally what interests you. Moreover, you will likely change teams over times, have seen constant bankers that have shifted in some way whether it was Consumer -> TMT because they mostly did E-Commerce, M&A to Infrastructure because they mostly did Infra M&A deals, or Italy coverage to LDN LevFin because they worked on 4 straight financings and found it interesting. If you are good, you will have plenty of opportunities to shift if something catches your fancy later on.
2) No, don't think it is any easier but frankly its not hard to get promoted in NYC/LDN/HK. Its just a function that 95%+ people will not want to do this for their whole lives. At least in LDN, there are far more people who do AN -> ASO -> snr VP and even they end up departing as they start getting families and are offered roles like "head of strategy" at a cool startup or being the #2 at a family office. Those guys may end up taking a 50% paycut but £200k-£350k with normal work weeks at 30yrs old and 20 more years to ramp up is still very appealing versus being an MD allaying the fears of a tyrannical Apollo Partner.
3) Don't know
4) Most MDs have MBAs because most of them did their IB stint after their MBA and not before. Don't give up $1m+ in tuition/lost earnings and 2yr promo set back just for a degree you do not need if you are staying in the industyr.
5) Others can comment more on this but frankly a huge positive in the IB corner is that a Bulge Bracket offers far more services that a junior MD can utilize to get a foothold in the industry through DCM/ECM/LevFin/CB
bruh which VPs are getting £700k in London
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