Some Career Advice

Long-time lurker here seeking some advice/suggestions on a potential career move. Some context below:Recently started as an Associate with MM Boutique in a LCOL city (moved from a HCOL city). Comp is pretty strong, and generally like the people I work with (so far), though hours can be pretty long. For some context, I was previously on the buy side, at a not very well-known shop, looking at some pretty niche deals. I was able to move internally into that role, but generally, the comp was awful, and the team I worked with was pretty toxic. Somehow stayed on for almost four years while getting my CFA charter. Before that role, I was on a different team for two years.

I moved to the sell-side as I've always wanted to give it a shot, get exposure to other types of deals/asset classes, and tighten up some of my skills.  However, now that I "broke" into IB (albeit a boutique), I find the work uninteresting and not intellectually stimulating.

I would definitively like to get to the buy-side again. Since I have been in this role for less than six months, I was wondering how I should approach it? I am considering powering through for a year. I am also worried that I might get "stuck" in this role and that it will be harder to make a move as I am in my late 20s. Also, it does not help that not a big fan of this "new" city (so far).

What would you do if you were in my shoes? Thanks in advance!

6 Comments
 
Most Helpful

Just start hitting up headhunters in the cities you want to go to. Sooner rather than later. If you made a move this early, you could be up front about it not being what you wanted to be doing with your experience and you realize your talent is better used back in buy-side. Shows that you have a clue about who you are and what you really want instead of a stale chair warmer aka lifer. If you wait for a whole year, then you're definitely going to risk looking like a job hopper, especially since it might look like you're sticking around just long enough for variable comp to kick-in depending on the timing. Not to mention, if it's this short a time you can also gin up some talking points about how it's still fresh in your head instead of having to relearn and any work product examples you want to speak to are still relevant.

The poster formerly known as theAudiophile. Just turned up to 11, like the stereo.
 

Currently, there is a very different perception of the labor force in the market. If you are a professional, then you should be paid accordingly and if you do not have a job or you have not found yourself yet, you just need to try several directions, and then you will understand what is your priority and what you need to do in order to be successful. You can find jobs using offers on the Careery website, where you can submit one application form and send it out to thousands of employers. I think this will greatly speed up your job search.

 

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