I think I am having an existential crisis, help needed
I recently did an M&A internship at a BB (not GS/JPM) and received an offer. However, I did not enjoy the experience: although I like finance, the hours were brutal, I felt lonely/depressed from the lack of sleep and I am not sure if I want to do private equity in 1-2 years.
Now, I also received an ECM offer from a national bank (lower pay, chill people, better WLB) and I am thinking if I should take it or not. At this national bank I could potentially move internally in 1 year (LevFin, Coverage etc.), while at the BB I would be stuck in M&A, unless I move to London.
I cannot decide between the two offers and would like to hear some third party view on this.
If you don't think the hours are worth the money I don't think you should go for it. Trust me it gets worse when you actually start the job. I know ECM hours are in line with market hours but I have heard of people doing long hours here as well. If you are not sure either way, you could take that M&A offer and lateral later as it's easier to lateral with an M&A stint (modeling & deal experience) compared to ECM. Maybe you like M&A at the end who knows.
ECM hours can be bad (especially when market is busy) but still consistently better than M&A, on average. Recommend thinking about exit opportunities - ECM exits are more limited given lack of modeling experience but not a big deal if you’re avoiding PE exits.
Seems obvious to me that you will want to try ECM and switch to corp fin or something if ECM also depresses you.
Sit nesciunt et error officia totam. Ab culpa nostrum eos alias et.
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