IB or PE has easier upward mobility? Compensation?
For now, my end goal is to enter corporate dev because I realize I want to work better hours in the future.
I'm deciding on whether I should go into PE after doing 2 years of IB. I thought PE was the end-all of the world of finance and you pretty much stay there for the rest of your career, until I found out that the majority of associates are let go after 2 years. From then on, most go get their MBAs and try to get back into PE. But even then, promotions to VP are super difficult. Plus, the benefit of working shorter hours is marginal and makes little difference (will be working at a MM firm that supposedly has better hours than BBs/EBs). For now, I don't have any genuine interest in PE; I find investing okay, but learning about an industry and strategy is far more interesting.
If I can handle the work in IB, I hope to become an associate, then perhaps VP before working in corp dev. I have no intention of going back to school for my MBA.
I don't know if everything I'm saying is correct. From an upward mobility perspective, is it easier to become a VP in IB or PE? How do the chances compare to each other?
A more controversial question: If staying in IB provides better upward mobility toward VP than an PE associate, does that mean that, compensation-wise, IB pays better than PE up to VP? This is because although PE VPs get paid more, fewer VP spots exist.
bump
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Dude, you're an intern lmfao. Chill out, you have too much time left.
AN -> ASO -> VP is more standardized in IBD. Comp depends by region, year, group. Some parts of the world, PE can pay less (especially if you go to a small fund).
You can't not get AN -> ASO in IBD unless you're bad enough to be fired (and you will be, then). The bar is honestly not high at all and is being kicked lower with each batch of gen-z analysts. ASO -> VP should be in the bag again, as IB VPs are often just like very senior ASOs.
I left IBD as AN3 and got offers to lateral back to EBs at both ASO and VP levels (at different times)
OTOH, you're not going to lateral into PE.
If you want corp dev though, I wouldn't bother gunning for a PE role.
What role did you exit to that provided you with the optionality to potentially enter IB again as an associate and then a second time as a VP? I assume it’s either still in financial services or decently adjacent. Noticed your flair says PE, so are you saying that you had the possibility of shifting from PE back to IB or was it a different role? Thanks!
Yep I went to PE / PE-type places after that. Well-respected but not MFs (the MFs aren't that strong in my part of Asia except for WP, though that's changing, so while there is some prestige associated with it, I daresay the gap is not as big as in US / EU).
Add the fact that in Asia, bankers often don't develop good technical and modelling skills, so having moved to the buyside shows that you at least passed a modelling test (which none of my lateral opportunities required).
Of course, people with lower than average, modelling skills and technicals do exist in the buyside here, but they tend to have less traditional IB -> PE backgrounds (consulting, MBA hire types) where they spent even less time developing these skills
Also just to illustrate how one could lateral back: I'm not yet a VP in PE (again, common in this part of the world to make associates take large rank cuts when moving to the buyside), but my IBD VP offer was from former bosses, unsolicited, and they didn't try to push me back down to ASO but gave me full credit for years of experience
It’s harder to make VP in PE simply because it means the senior guys have to share more of the carry pool. Turnover is also significantly lower in PE so in mature teams, getting promoted is contingent on new fundraising—tenure matters less.
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