Might quit GS / MS / EVR IB to work at Mcdonalds or be a gym teacher. Not kidding.
I think I am literally just too stupid for this job man. Getting bent over and just weeks and weeks of getting yelled at and making mistakes. Every other day I get called into a VP office to review work live and I want to die he just sits there circles numbers and says WHY WHY WHY THIS LOOKS OFF WHY ARENT YOU CHECKING THINGS etc. Bro when I have 6 different staffings shoved down my throat I don't have time to even think or F2 through each cell or dig through things I just am an output monkey and it is what it is...
Wish I was smarter. This job is just way too hard for me I want to just take some $40k job and thats the end all be all
don’t give up bro
I personally don't see quitting as 'giving up' in the proverbial sense. Ultimately we don't have too long on this planet and if every day is misery, are you really willing to trade a year or more of your prime years (of which you do not have dozens to play with) for this?
In my view, find the highest paying job that doesn't make every day feel awful for you - maybe move to a corp dev gig instead of maccys?
The fact that you managed to convince however many people it took to convince to give you a job offer shows you're more than capable of doing the job. Now it's just a matter of how badly do you want to stay there. Yeah, there may be other people who are better at it and learn faster than you, but you deserve to be in the room. You may have to work harder to stay in the room and you may not have it in you to put in that kind of work because you just don't care enough to do so. There's nothing wrong with that, but you're not dumb. I'd tough it out a little bit longer and ask enough questions to learn from your mistakes.
if only you knew the kind of people that manage to get in...
Print and check man. Job starts hard for everybody but you'll get faster and smarter.
Take a breath, slow down, get some sleep. You gotta get a fresh brain otherwise you're going to keep spiraling.
Put together a list of your most frequently identified mistakes, now you have a checklist to check against. Always print your materials and look at them with fresh eyes (take a lap before reviewing). Grab a VP when they seem to have time and go through your checklist with them to make sure it's comprehensive.
Standardize a process and the work will get more manageable. If you can't get something done because of competing priorities, communicate with the teams and get them to tell you what the true priority is.
Sometimes it's about learning and growing, sometimes it's about survival. See if it would be helpful to do intermediate reviews instead of waiting until running up against a deadline, when everyone is super stressed.
Don't make every set of materials a boogeyman or you'll lose your mind.
And, if once you do that you don't like it, go do something else. But if you try and approach from the angle I've laid out above, you might not feel like it's "quitting" but just "moving on" to something you enjoy more.
I know it’s hard to not see it this way, but it isn’t an intelligence thing. People like your VP have been training to be formatting machines for years and sometimes don’t give credit to people starting out.
If this space isn’t for you that’s ok, but there are a million jobs in between becoming a teacher and IB. Not that there is anything wrong with being a teacher, but plenty of high finance roles that are chill and not filled with Type -A IB people
Not to be a jerk, but what exactly are these "plenty of high finance roles that are chill"? I've heard that since late high-school on here and followed the "golden" target school to BB M&A path, did a few years, and now have been unemployed for a year looking something that's not PE/Corp Dev related. Where are these roles?
Feel the same, but then I remember I can’t fail my future children
That happened to me too, one day you will wake up and you will just spot the numbers and will know hey I didn’t update that one after the model changed. It sucks and I’ve been there and the convo is so awkward but it is what it is.
As Donald trump said — working at McDonald is the best job ever. You put fries in fries container and call it a day.
$40K at a McDonalds? Doubtful. That's like $20/hr. You think you can just slide into a management position? KEKW
My best advice would be suck it up as long as possible
if you are in a good city, with friends, a good paycheck, and upward mobility that is a lot.
what if you quit and end up working fp&a in Wichita
I’m not saying to live a life of mysery I’m just saying get through a year or two and then get a killer awesome exit like VP strategy at a portico
Stop lying to kids. There is no slam-dunk “VP of strategy” gig that’s going to be handed to him just because he did IB for two years. Sick of this talking point on here. Not saying he shouldn’t stick it out, but the idea that any exits outside of PE/Corp Dev are easily attainable is a total lie and exaggeration. It’s better sometimes to just move on earlier.
Contrary to what everyone on here thinks, I did the the “golden” target school to BB IB path and I regret it. Sacrificed a lot to only be given looks at PE. No one outside of this forum cares you did IB and most strategic finance recruiters have no clue how it’s different from any other corporate job.
I know plenty of people that have done it
i went from consulting associate to sr director at a billion dollar publicly traded firm . I am very very good at what I do, and I am highly specialized so not everyone can make that move . But it is possible
go look up the ex ceo of P.F. Chang’s now at red lobster
IIRC there was a guy that was Bain cap associate and became chief of staff to the danaher ceo that was turning around GE
one of our college friends went from no-mba associate at baml to VP finance at a healthcare firm
I’m not saying these exits are easy or likely; but they are definitely possible
the trick is to find someone that really needs your help (crisis?) and appreciates your talent and iq
dont leave a great banking seat for some generic corporate role
I agree with you here. In a similar ish boat. Left BB IB as a VP 2 years ago. Tried to pivot to tech / startups for better WLB. It was a hot job market so I got a lot of interviews but wasn't able to convert. I was told I was too experienced for junior-ish roles but didn't have relevant experience for senior roles (noone outside of high finance understands the kind of work you do and caliber of ppl you're getting from IB). Eventually got a head of finance role at what ended up being a shitty startup. Company went under, I was laid off beg of this year along with most of the company. Now in this shit job mkt, I can't even get interviews much less an offer.
My advice would be for OP to stick around but start thinking about what industry they'd actually like to work in and start working towards with a goal of transitioning to it before becoming an Associate.
Dude this is a country of at will employment. No one is stopping you. One more seat opens up for the rest of us when you quit.
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