Worst career choice?
Fresh master graduate here,
At this horrible job market for Grads I have just applied to whatever there is available and got an offer from a decent AM for the RFP team (think middle to back office) as trainee.
Will the acceptance of this role basically announce my end of chance to get into banking at a young age? Should I just not bother with Banking and go for a AM pathway instead, considering there is basically no in at the current economy.
Never heard of anyone going through that pathway.
Based on the most helpful WSO content, here are some insights:
Career Path Flexibility:
Current Job Market:
Asset Management Pathway:
Future Opportunities:
Networking and Skill Development:
In summary, while starting in an RFP role in AM might not be the traditional path to banking, it does not close the door entirely. It’s crucial to gain experience, build your network, and stay open to opportunities that align with your career goals.
Sources: Fork in the road: Career path in Asset Management, Do I have any chance to secure a grad scheme (Asset/Portfolio Management), 2 months in and I want to quit, IB midlife crisis at 23… please help, Advice on career and the switch into investment banking
Hey, I posted a similar response to a similar post which I'll re-post below, because it applies here also (that post was about a Secondaries team). That said, I think (if your plan is (or question is about) to lateral into IB) it will be even harder in your case (where the role is even more remote from IB).
Try to see where people from this team / role have gone to after and whether anything like that appeals to you. Options otherwise are (A) go back to university for a Masters or MBA and hope for the best, (B) re-recruit maybe for Big 4 Audit / TS and try to enter the industry that way (which is also very competitive these days and not easy), or (C) try to rotate into something interesting in AM internally.
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I think it will be very hard, but I hope others can give different perspectives.
I work in a standard industry coverage team, and in over 10 years I have never seen a CV from someone in Secondaries (to give context, whenever we advertise for a lateral hire for say, an AN1 or AN2, HR receive all the applications and screen them, then send a shortlist of maybe 20 - 30 to the staffer, who will review them (maybe with others in the team) and select ~10 for interviews); in a recent recruitment for that level in the last 12 months, we had over 300 applications, and all of the 30 shortlisted were classical IBD sector coverage, of which maybe half to two thirds were fully employed.
I'm by no means saying it isn't possible - the above might be to do with my bank or team. Perhaps you'd have more luck at smaller banks or in a better market, but I wanted to give at least one data point.
Thanks for the reply mate, appreciate the insights.
I am already a master graduate hence I am really getting impatient and can't really afford to wait around anymore.
I do agree a lot with the far away from banking bit and that is my major concern, would you said that I will have a better chance if I try for other areas in banking instead of m&a? Maybe the ECM OR DCM team, considering RFP is sort of product/sales related.
Would love to chat more if possible.
To answer your question honestly, I really don't know (I am a humble sector coverage IB banker). I'd really invite any users who work in DCM or ECM to opine. But, I think the answer will be invariably the same - my gut instinct is that if my DCM team posted an AN1 / 2 role they'd get hundreds of applications, and at least a couple of dozen will be from current or recently redundant capital markets bankers. You might get lucky by networking very heavily, but again I defer to those working in ECM / DCM.
Also take a moment to ask yourself what you're interested in - DCM, ECM, and M&A are all different, but you seem equally happy with any. What are you pursuing? (Rhetorical question which I truly hope isn't patronising but it might be related to how you answer motivational questions at interview for instance)
What I used to do as a fresh grad on the job hunt is to look at people’s LinkedIn with 5-6-7 yrs of xp at a position / team / product I was aiming for and look at the different paths that were leading to these roles. Not everyone follows the same journey to the same destination and it’s always interesting to look at different options. It helped me to broaden my search while making sure I was heading in the good direction
Good luck mate, been there, it’s tough but keep grinding and you will get there!
Thanks a lot, will definitely start doing that.
Do you think the start of someone's career will affect their future chances in things? I feel like I am struggling to even land some of the "leading on to ib" pathway such as big 4 TS. And I feel like if I do more unrelated work I am doing myself no good for a pathway to banking.
a.) RFP team is generally a dead end, super boring, you can end up with a lot of work and long hours (because sales sometimes goe after every RFP, even if the chances to win are 0%), you end up pasting and copying data and responses, nobody really respects you because you are middle office and always working under an artificial deadline where sales has unrealistic expectations that nobody can fulfill, expect 5% of the RFPs to be successful.
That being said, if you network hard and can sell yourself well a move to product management, business development (aka sales) is possible, but try and do the move ASAP.
b.) Traditional AM is pretty much consolidating at this point. Active equity managers have underperformed (due to Mag 7 dominating the markets) and bonds are not really attractive (high interest rates and uncertainty where the 10y yields are heading right now). Things like emerging markets are screwed due to weak China or emerging market debt challenged by the strong dollar. There are obviously some niche strategies that work out, but I have seen a remarkable push into passive products and a fee compression in the active space over the past 4 years. I really don't see why this should change over the next years (unless Mag 7 collapse and drivers of S&P get more diversified or small caps suddenly become attractive). So in the end the question is whether you want to work in that space. Obviously there are also RFP teams for passive mandates, but I really don't find that interesting. If you can, try and do something where there is strong demand and no risk of going passive. That means alternatives like private markets (a lot of evergreen offerings coming online) or liquid alternatives. I think the move from RFP to another function will be easier in that area as well.
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