Just wanted to get people's thoughts. I'm one year post-MBA (top 15) in corporate strategy/ M&A gig at a large-cap tech firm (not a household name) I enjoy the job but It's located in a crappy small city which I HATE. I also realized that working in corporate is not challenging enough for me.
I want to return to NYC (where my family/ friends are) but I'm not getting much traction so far. Seems like I'm at a big disadvantage given the huge talent pool in NYC and being a 3 hour flight away.
I cant stand living here and thought of quitting, but it seems like a drastic option - I'm afraid of giving up a good job and not finding something comparable. On the other hand it seems that moving back to NYC and setting up chats with recruiters & MBA alums may not be a terrible idea. I've saved up enough to get by for a while so $ isn't an issue.
Is there a better option? I thought of taking a week vacation to do networking but not sure that would be enough time.
There's also a small but decent chance I can get a job at startup emerging markets credit hedge fund, but all comp would be on the back-end and they may not hire until late this year.
I can definitely empathize with your situation, have you reached out to recruiters in NYC? Not ideal, but it can work out well. Also, a LinkedIn premium account is worth it if you are a strong networker, I ended up landing three interviews over a month that way. Finally, you mentioned you were only a year out of b-school, I know a number of companies (as diverse as Bain to Chevron to Amazon) recruit not only second-years, but also grads one or two years out.
Happy to chat via PM also. Good luck!
Thanks for the LinkedIn premium suggestion, I wasn't sure about its effectiveness and having that badge would scream imply that I'm recruiting to my co-workers, but I think I'll just do a 30 day trial and hide the badge. I'll ask my career center about the companies they know of that recruit people 1-2 years out, I do recall seeing a couple of those before.
You can actually upgrade to LinkedIn Premium, but choose not to make the Premium badge visible to others. You still get all the benefits of having a Premium subscription though.
Probably a better bet to set up coffee/lunches ahead of time and then take a day here or there. A week of networking might be weird because these things take time and people cancel/reschedule on you anyhow.
Fly up Friday in your suit, grab coffee with someone, lunch with someone else, and an afternoon coffee with a third place, and then chill with your friends and family all weekend. No one at your current job will question you taking a long weekend to go home and you only miss one day of work. Then, two months later when one of those leads works out, you do the same thing.
Of course it depends on the person, but a lot of times Monday's are "catch up" days and people are the busiest. Friday seems like a better day to blow off by grabbing lunch or coffee with an up and comer.
Guest1655,
Can you provide insight on why you think the corp dev job isn't challenging? Is it because there is slower dealflow? Are your colleagues not as aggressive?
In my experience interviewing for corporate development, there are very few recruiters that recruit for recent manager/senior manager level positions. Recruiting for corporate development only heats up from at director level when you have 4 - 7 years of industry level domain knowledge. From what I've seen, consultants that have worked 3 - 5 years in an industry (consumer, fin-tech, chemicals) are really desired by company recruiters or firms like Korn-Ferry. In fact, company recruiters are actively reaching out to these people in linked-in.
I'm in the same situation as you, except I'm in the mid-west in a non-tech company. I've been here a year, but we are very active in M&A, as in reaching out to PE firms and to generate deal-flow. I'm hoping that in 3 to 4 years I will have significant relationships with PE firms that I can potentially use to jump ship. Its a long shot but I prefer that to going to another corp dev firm. I also like my city as it has a good enough social scene that isn't as crazy as LA or NYC.
I think if you want to recruit for corp dev you're going to have to slog through online job sites such as linkedin to try to find an opportunity in NY rather than a recruiter.
If I were you I would NOT quit your job. As you said that it has a huge talent pool and you would be among the many analysts and associates from investment banking chasing the corp dev opportunities. Take a year or so, and try to move to another big city - maybe SF ? Austin? Chicago? and then make a move to NY.
Sorry for the late response and thanks for your suggestions. The reason I said Corp Dev / Strat at my company isn't challenging is because the company and people are too laid back with 40 hours a week being the norm. I feel like my skill set isn't being taken advantage of and the worst part is the senior people try to grab the exciting strategy and M&A deals for themselves resulting in really large top-heavy teams. What I find particularly strange is the culture of worshipping professional advisors where if a banker reaches out to pitch a deal - at least 7-10 people on my team want to join in.
have you tried reaching out to your MBA program? the school i'm at provides ongoing recruiting/career services to alumni so i'm sure yours does as well
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