Career Move: Large Bank to Small Bank, Yes or No?

Hi everyone, I have a career choice that I need to make regarding a job offer and need Boneheads wisdom especially those who work/worked at financial institutions.

Currently I work at one of the top 5 largest banks in the U.S. (by assets). My role is related to Compliance and Risk Management. I love my job, but my job isn't very challenging at this point and our team has limited scope and this is not providing me with the experience I wanted to gain. (been looking internally but didn't see openings in the dept. I'm interested in)

I got an offer from a smaller bank (ranked between 45 to 50 by assets). The new job is in the same city where I live and there will be no significant change to cost of living, commute, or other benefits. I like the new job because it will allow me to gain experience in a field I'm not exposed to at my current role and this will definitely make me more marketable in the future. The title will be same and pay increase is ~ 4% at the new role.

The only reason for me to accept the offer is to gain the new experience I'm looking for but I'm hesitant because the new bank is much smaller. From the research I've done, in smaller banks you get to work on more projects (not just specialized in one area), interact more with senior management, and be able to see projects from start to finish. All these points are great but the only concern is I'm not sure how other banks will view my experience at the smaller bank because larger banks are known to have better technology and do things better than smaller bank.

Would like to here from anyone here who switched jobs from large to smaller financial institution. Was this a good decision and helped your career? Did you regret it? Was it difficult to get a job later at a larger bank? Anything else I should consider?

Thanks.

1 Comments
 

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