Can I get back to the buy-side or investment banking, after leaving investment banking for a 100 people startup?

I took a strategy job at a company in the same industry (technology) in which I was when in banking. It wasn’t my choice to leave and have been looking to get back into the industry ever since leaving it.

I worked in IB for 15 months at a MM firm, and previously a 5 month internship in consulting.

 

Last year, I'd have said yes. Tried to lateral back to banking from PE (tempted by the higher pay) and an EB was going to take me in with full years lateraled.

With the current job market I'm not so sure. You might have to restart, if anywhere is hiring at all.

 
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Agree with this. In theory, yes you should be able to do this. In practice, the IB market is basically frozen right now and people coming from IB are going to get priority for any one-off spots that are open.

You can start networking at any banks posting openings, but I don't think there will be much traction until at least mid-2023. I'd say banks will take a look at you next summer for 2nd year analyst spots if 1st years leave after bonus, but that is market dependent.

Also you left unwillingly? Were you asked to leave / is there a gap on your resume? That would throw a wrench in moving back as well

 

In a very similar position to OP (~1 year IB to strategy). Would it look better / worse to be at the strategy job longer before trying to transition back? I know the IB market is terrible right now which is a factor too, but say is it better to do 1-1.5 years before trying to switch back to IB or would it be better to switch back asap if possible? Obviously getting an ib job right now would be extremely difficult and I'm ok with staying at my current job but also worried about which looks worse from a job hopping perspective. Also worried because I have a relatively strong ib background from a deals perspective that I can speak a lot to but worried strategy being more unrelated will make it harder to switch back the longer I wait. 

 

I would try to avoid jumping around - multiple short stints of 1-2 years is going to raise questions. Strategy is close enough, imagine the market will open up at least a bit towards the middle/end of summer and I don't think 6-8 months more of strategy is going to kill your chances. You check the technical box with prior IB experience which is usually the concern with people doing extended stints in strategy.

 

Thanks and that makes sense. Just wondering if you've personally seen anyone make this move out of IB to corporate to back in IB as an experienced analyst? I don't personally mind being behind 1-2 years because I want to do it longer term, but kinda worried because I'm sure at the analyst level I'd be one of few applying thats not directly lateraling from IB vs. coming back as an associate or VP there's probably way less people qualified. I talked to two recruiters who both said they'd seen it all the time but also haven't been able to find people on linkedin making this type of move at the analyst level. Is there anything else you would recommend doing to prepare as well? I plan on reaching out to network people in specific groups as one-off group postings come up but not sure what else.

 

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