Obsession with Prestiege
Hi I never post here but I'm recruiting right now and I'm realiziing how much prestiege matters to me. Is there somethine wrong with me because I only feel like I can have a successful career if I go to a top firm. I think prestiege chasing my whole life has made me tie my self worth to how "prestigious" something is percieved by society. Does anyone else feel this way and how did you go about seperating your self worth from your job/college?
Incoming SA at PWP and when I heard news of merger talks with PSC it shattered me because I was and still am such a prestige whore.
I see prestige as a perfect example of unfair comparison, and the only way to overcome this is through gratitude. If you don’t land what you want you can at least be grateful that you have an offer at all and that offer will give you the opportunity to lateral upward.
That is how I have been coping the past two weeks, but it has honestly made me feel better.
Wait is PSC acquisition of PWP really that bad? I mean Greenhill has kept its prestige after its merger with Mizuho no?
Prestige will always be there. First job out of college does matter!
Yes prestige does matter and I’m obsessed with hence I went to Stanford and got offers at McKinsey and Goldman Sachs. And than work at blackstone. Obviously I’m obssed with it and won’t act like I won’t
Holy shit this can’t be real
“Than work at Blackstone”
Prestige, especially high finance prestige, is one of the funniest concepts to think about in my opinion, because it matters very much or at least appears to matter very much when you're outside of the game and getting in, and less so once you're in the game. To add on to that, prestige in High Finance really doesn't translate 100 percent to prestige outside of high finance in my opinion. Like saying you're an MBB consultant would be understood by everyone who's in consulting and probably most finance professionals, and mean absolutely nothing to anyone outside of that circle, and the circle isn't that big to begin with. You could say you're an RSSG analyst at PJT, and literally no one outside of high finance would know what RSSG stands for or what PJT is.
Obviously, there are certain banks(JPM, Goldman, Morgan Stanley, BOFA, Barclays) where people outside the game would recognize the name and maybe think more of you if you say you work in New York for one of those banks, but that's more about your occupation than your character. The same thing goes for almost any "prestigious" firm in whatever field you're pursuing.
Any kid who wants to trade physical oil or commodities knows Vitol, Trafigura, Gunvor, and Glencore, and those names mean essentially nothing outside of the physical space to most people; or if you want to be a lawyer, the white-shoe firms that represent corporate America mean basically nothing to anyone who's not in that space.
TLDR: Prestige is only as valuable as the circle you're in. Just my two cents.
Assuming this is not a troll post - prestige obsession is completely normal at your age but will (hopefully) slowly fade away as you get older and realize there is a lot more to life then your job/firm/location
I have to disagree. I came into banking expecting to do two years and exit, so I targeted firms that maximize pay, learning, and prestige (why I ended up going into tech M&A). 90% of IB analysts slave away for 2 years and exit elsewhere. Obviously I’m an extreme but banking is and will be my life for the next two years. Having an “enjoyable” life is for when I have money and a reputation.
I don't think you disproved anything the other person said. You just got into banking and have yet to realize there's a lot more to life than your job/firm/location.
I'm curious by what you mean by "reputation." Are you seeking to be a "good" banking analyst/associate at (insert) firm? That's all well and good, but if you're missing events like weddings, baptisms, and birthdays because, as you say, "banking is and will be my life for the next two years," you'll develop a reputation, regardless of whether or not you intend to before those two years are up.
Prestige feels important until you are actually in the game. If it continues to feel important beyond its real utility after that, you are a chud.
To some yes. But I’ve seen ‘the prestigious’ deliver horrible results enough times for it to mean literally nothing to me (sometimes I wonder if they have actual skills or just a network). Please keep in mind that my view means close to nothing for you. Prestige and credentials may open the door, skill tends to keep you inside the walls.
It helps you get interviews and impresses your elitist friends. Thats kinda it. At least on the buyside if you are a good firm 75% of the people there come from “prestige” so it doesn’t really matter. If I’m interviewing some from Piper Sandler and PJT, I probably would expect more from the PJT guy but whoever does better in the interview/case study would get the job. And prestige doesn’t equal performance, which is what ultimately matters on the buyside
I see, for non buy-side roles do you think broad prestiege or industry specific industry specific presteige matters more? For example, I'm really interested in biotech long-term and would they prefer someone with a BB or HC specific firm (Citi vs. Leerink)?
Comp > prestige
Prestige? Meh, I dunno. The amount of times I've walked around the floor and saw someone looking at roles on backchanneljobs or hiringcafe etc, its funny really. Me personally I feel alot better being a big fish in a small pond than the other way around. You'd be suprised the amount of people at the "prestigious" places all faking it till they make it and pretending everything is fantastic, when half of them barely got up that morning and are dying inside.
You think on your deathbed that you'll be very proud you worked at Blackstone or McKinsey?
Or is it that you believe that working at BX/McKinsey will give you such a big leg up such that you will have an insurmountable lead over a guy that worked at BAML?
Think on those two...instead of the immediate future, look out 10+yrs if you can and figure out what you want. If you don't know, then your time is better spent discovering that vs. chasing prestige & optionality
Fwiw, as a guy who's now in the 29-32 age range working in buyside LO AM (equities) at a boutique shop -- I can confidently say I am much happier with my life than virtually every person I know who are working in IB/PE. Work hours are great, comp is solid (and def on a per-hour basis much better than those in IB/PE), living outside a T5 COL city so money goes a long way, had time to properly date in my 20s and am married to a wonderful woman who I can spend quality time with every day, traveled a TON in my 20s and lived my best life, have breached 1ml+ net worth with good savings & investing, have time for gym & hobbies like reading and exploring new restaurants, have many strong friendships that are now a decade+ old, spent a lot of time with my ageing parents and very close with them....I wouldn't give all of this up for ANY amount of prestige / money. These things are utterly priceless -- enjoying my youth, treasuring my family, living stress-free in terms of money, having time beyond work...$1bl dollars and a golden resume mean nothing in comparison
Chase long-term contentment, not short-term ego
There's nothing wrong with wanting to be at a top firm, but tying your entire self-worth to it is a fast track to burnout. The prestige fades quickly once you're actually doing the job and realize it's just work. The people who are happiest in high finance are the ones who would still be doing the analytical work even if it had a less impressive title attached to it.
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