Need advice.. I feel stuck

I have been working in transaction advisory (specifically valuation) for just over 2 years now. I am at a very reputable MM firm and have gained a great deal of experience. I focus entirely on full company valuations (i.e., no audit review bs) and transaction opinions (solvency and fairness). However, I am struggling to figure out what's next for me. Is it staying in valuation forever? moving to IB? corp dev? something completely different? I genuinely like my job and am good at it, but when I think about having a life-long career doing this it just doesn't excite me. So, my fear is that my exit options will begin to close as I continue on my current trajectory (which is not a bad one by any means). While I can find any good / decent job with my valuation background, it won't be as financially rewarding as moving up the ladder at my current firm. Just to be clear, I like the work (modeling, due diligence, preparing deliverables, tight deadlines, etc.) but am wondering if it makes more sense to move into IB and suffer the worse WLB in the short-term but have arguably way more doors open down the road.

I would really appreciate any thoughts from those of you out there who've struggled with career change or have been in a similar position. How did you go about finding what job is right for you? Did you make the jump from transaction advisory (or something similar) to IB? If so, how did you go about doing that? What are your feelings about the move that you've done so? Or, did you make a complete career change? Would love to hear from all. 

Thank you.

2 Comments
 
Most Helpful

You need to do some soul searching and figure out what you truly want to do at the end of the day. Project your life out 10-20 years...

- Where are you in life? 

- Where do you want to be financially?

- What gives you purpose / fulfillment?

- What are the drivers behind what you do and why?

You need to have an image of where you want to be in life, inclusive of the points above. Then, you reverse engineer to figure out the best path to get there. You shouldn't be jumping shop without a clear idea of where you want to be - this will only generate discord in life. 

Network with your peers who work at IB, attend happy hours with them, etc. to grasp a good picture of what the role would look like. I'd also recommend coffees/informal meet ups.

Hope this helps.

Array
 

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