I’m a first year associate at WF (one of their better groups). I haven’t decided what I want to do long term. I’m in between trying my hardest to get to a hedge fund or possibly corporate strategy within my industry group. Is it worth it to lateral to a better firm (either top BB, top MM or EB)? I know the answer is yes for analysts but curious how much it matters for associates.
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Corporate strategy isn't hard to get to from banking. They mostly like consultants, but with a background in their industry group you'll be competitive. HF is a little tricky especially being an associate, but if you go to a top BB/EB M&A group that could be within reach.
Wait until you're 8-10 months in before you lateral and you'll have a better idea of what you want. Many people start to get sick of the hours and corporate world sounds great to them, so in that case would make sense to stick it out at your current role. If you are obsessed with the markets and being an investor, do a second associate year elsewhere and try to hop over from there.
I appreciate the response. I’m 100% obsessed with the markets but if a decent fund is out of reach then I think I could enjoy the right strategy job. Corp dev would be ok too but I like that strategy can open doors to an operating role. I’ve had some recruiters ping me recently for strategy roles and pretty blown away by the comp packages. Much better than I expected.
Curious as to what do those comp packages look like. Are you A2A or post-MBA?
I’m post-mba. $250ish all-in In a hcol city.
Wow that's really good after 1 year of banking. Definitely higher than what you would receive if you joined a strategy role right out of the MBA (and staying there for 1 year).
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