Losing "The Edge" Post-IB

Yeah I never thought I'd say I miss it but it definitely set a standard for how I expect work to be and the level I want to perform at. I thought that would serve me well in a slower role where I can stand out easier and while it is true, I miss pushing myself how I used to. I had a VP with a similar story, having left banking for a corporate role and then went back because he felt it was too slow.

I did think if a higher paced job again would make sense for me. Not sure if banking again would be the answer (both whether I want it and / or if I can break in again). Outside of a faster paced corporate, not sure what path there would be to a more intense finance job from my current position either. I did try the hobby route too - was very into powerlifting through college and I definitely workout much better these days than in IB but it hasn't quite made up for it.

What did you end up doing after you left? 

Thanks and I do agree that I ended up getting fulfillment from working really hard which I didn't even realize at the time. I do have a drive to perform well and move up in my group but if the whole culture is fairly lax and laid back I miss having that external motivation too. I mentioned above but I Was very into powerlifting and getting back into it as well as some other sports (trying to get into boxing) but the more "well-rounded" approach hasn't been filling that itch either. I am closer with my family again which is great but also realize that most of my friends are all in busy jobs and at best would see them once a week or every other week. 

Thanks man - definitely spending a lot more time reflecting on career now. My biggest concern is that most other financial services related jobs will be hard to break into from my current role and that I've lost the credit from IB I've had. Even breaking back into banking is probably quite tough let alone in the near-term economic environment. I don't want to try to make another move in haste but also cognizant of being stuck in corporate becoming more likely the longer I stay whereas I'm sure everything was open in your position having both IB and PE roles. Just wondering if you've seen anyone in my position make a move back from corporate to financial services? Trying to learn from others' experiences but haven't seen many people make the move on Linkedin outside of getting an MBA.

Thank you very much for the thoughtful response - Your read is pretty spot on and I can elaborate on some of the points:

My hours in IB were tough but I would say it was more the unpredictability and always "on-call" nature of banking than the pure hours. The constant 3-4ams sucked, but never knowing whether I could make Friday night / Saturday plans or even just having that time to myself to recover and recharge after grueling weeks became tough. At the time, I thought I completely lost my interest and ambition in finance and went fully "work to live" 9-5 type job. After this experience, it did turn me off of client services, transaction-based work.

With my current job, I think the dislike is more lack of interest in the work, but the lack of intensity compounds the problem. I could probably do nothing for an entire day and people wouldn't notice. If I cranked like I did in IB, I could do several days worth of progress on a project fairly quickly and then just hangout without question. With my extra time during the day I'm just following the markets and keeping up with M&A which is making me realize hours aside, I liked the actual work I was doing before more. I don't think leaving financial services broadly was the right move for me now. I have a close friend that left banking at the same time for a public investing role and works not that many more hours more than me (maybe 9-6:30, no weekends), but I imagine he's very engaged through the entire day and loves talking about his work and thinks about it all the time. That makes me believe its more about lack of interest in my work and perhaps a 9-5 (or even 9-7 or 9-9) where I was engaged the whole time making the day fly by like in banking is more the desire than just working past midnight again for the sake of it. 

Being quite frank as well, I think the fairly steep pay discount and slower progression with both comp and career has something to do with it - knowing that I am very much capable enough to work harder and have a more ambitious career path. My friend above drastically cut his working hours from banking but still makes about the same comp with similar progression so he didn't lose anything there. Money definitely did not make me happy in banking but there is a bit of regret on plateauing on that potential early on in a very slow corporate role when there's a much wider middle ground than I first thought within financial services. 

Taking all of this into account, I have so far come to the thought that a role involving public markets would suit me best. I think private market, deal-based work (IB, PE, private credit) will always have the unpredictability and always on-call nature. Whereas the stress and unpredictability of private markets stems from moving a process along, I think the "stress" of competing in a theoretically efficient market to find value (vs. private market deals coming from senior relationships) is a much more interesting challenge. A former coworker suggested I look into ER and it does seem like a great path. Hours seem manageable dependent on your analyst with some earnings sprints but still not banking with pretty good earning potential. Developing an industry expertise through company and industry research, valuations and meeting management teams, companies and conferences all sound very appealing based on everything I've written above. It was a path I just never learned much about in undergrad and don't know anyone personally in it but will try networking just to start learning more. I've looked into some of the investing roles on the public side too - I think I may be a bit too risk-averse for the hedge fund world but of course there's a lot of variation between SM / MM and all the different strategies. On a similar end, I did look into public roles in credit which could be a good way to be on the public side in a less volatile way. I did also look into LO and had interviews at one of the top ones but I know its a very competitive space with very low turnover. From my understanding, going into ER would keep the door open to an investing role on the public side in the future so it does seems like the mix of engaging work and progression potential for me. 

As you mentioned, I do get worried about spending too much time on corporate and losing any chance left back towards financial services but also trying to balance that with a job hopper connotation if I try to pursue something too soon. 

Its funny because when I was getting grinded in banking, the idea of not having much to do sounded wonderful but I definitely see why its not all that great, especially for the personalities that go into these finance jobs in the first place.

When you say hard to get back on, do you mean in landing similar jobs again or wanting to go back? I have been thinking too about other paths but feeling kinda stuck now 

Yeah I wasn't interested in PE or other investing at the time - thought it would've been generally similar wlb but there definitely are better wlb options if you like. Only advice I'd give is don't make a decision in a burnt out state and if you're leaving, make sure you're running to something and not just away from banking. I came into banking with the idea that I'd leave for corporate eventually for wlb, but ended up making the decision a lot earlier than expected because of my group's hours. Looking back, I don't regret leaving but if I wasn't burned out I probably would've spent more time learning about other financial services or investing opportunities outside of the traditional buyout PE stuff. 

I think it has more to do with my coworkers at a corporate wanting a different pace and lifestyle especially at their age (30s/40s) than what I'm used to.