So I did the traditional 2yrs in IB to 2yrs in PE including 6 months working at a portco and now find myself looking for my next gig. A buddy of mine suggested hoping back into IB as an Associate and I was wondering if anyone has any experience with something like this.
Would my best bet be to reach out to BB's internal HR/Recruiter or do the typical PE HHs also dabble in IB Associate placement? I'm sure I could also network my way in but figure I'll start with the traditional routes
Also open to career path suggestions where I could leverage my ops/portco experience along with PE/IB.
I don't have experience doing this, but from what I've seen, it shouldn't be too hard. If you have a good relationship with the bank you left, you can probably go back there, and maybe even push for an A2 title. In fact, I'd almost only go back if you could at least get some credit for your PE experience.
I've been thinking about this a lot recently, seems like everyone in the posts above have mostly echoed the same notion which falls along the lines of "Why" or "Why not try another PE" or "Why not try Corp Dev".
At the end of the day banking utilizes somewhat of a different skillset than PE, especially as one moves up the ranks. Banking is all about selling. You're doing multiple transactions in a year, it's fast paced, relatively steady, and a good banker is worth his/her salt. Some people might like this better than the PE grind which involves years of analysis, travel, etc to try and find a single deal and then the ensuing multi-year grind to realize value. Sure, it can be sexy, but it can also be monotonous and filled with hassle.
Regarding comp, people get all excited about PE comp and how it' the promise land, but that's really only the case in certain scenarios. For the first 4/5 years as a junior employee (assuming you're not at a MF/UMM shop) the pay is really in line with what banking pays, maybe less. Given that most people can't make the leap to VP at their existing shop, you then fall into the traveling circus of mid-level PE professionals trying to find a place to land. I'd argue the path is banking is much more linear and predictable.
Work/life balance might be a little better in PE because you're not sucking up to a client, but the MM has become competitive for PE and you're just hustling in a different way, to find and execute deals. Not to mention if you do a bad deal, do a few bad deals as a VP and you're probably out.
There was a good thread a while back about a guy who declined a PE Associate position to stay at his MM bank. He said his group was very work life balance friendly, minimized pitching if possible, didn't burn people out unnecessarily and that he was averaging something like 60 hours a week or so. If you could find that type of balance at a bank, make a few hundred thousand a year, and don't have to slug it out in a major market city, you could live a fantastic life.
Definitely keep your options open, but if you liked banking, I don't think there's as much shame going back as WSO would lead you to believe.