Keep Suffering, or Jump Ship to my Corporate Offer?
Analyst 2 in IB who just received word I will be promoted to associate this summer, but also have 2 PE offers (one LMM one MM, nothing crazy good). And then a corporate gig offer for this summer. Been recruiting like a mad man. Need to decide soon. (Background is H/S and then GS /EVR is how I am lucky to have these offers if anyone asks how in this market).
However, banking has been an absolute shit show for me (super sweaty group really mean seniors) and would love to just jump ship and go to my corporate gig. However, really worried about down the line earnings.
The corporate gig I got is around $195k all in, 9-5p.m no weekend work. Not sure about how fast salary progression is / promotions (Should have inquired I messed up).
I know this offer seems like a dram exit to many (and so many have already called me an idiot for not accepting instantly), I just know that staying in IB associate or to PE kind of "guarantees" (not exactly but you know what I mean) some really high earnings. Hours were fine in banking (sucked but I tolerated it), it was the stress that got to me really bad. Do you think I can sort of just put my head down and just rack in $ on sort of autopilot, or is being an associate in IB / PE a lot different?
I know no one can really answer this for me as it comes down to my own person and values, etc, but would appreciate some thoughts or input to those who are currently debating the same dilemma, or those have been through this. Thanks all. Cheers.
I would change to the MM PE or whichever of the two PE offers has fundraising momentum / recent fund closes. The new roles would give you a better perspective if you’re just burnt out from a toxic work environment or if you don’t like high finance in general. The corporate path will always be there
i agree with this. this is exactly what i did - went from MF PE to LMM PE and hours are a bit better but stress not as bad for sure (ppl just so much nicer and actually have lives outside of work)
And if you still hate it then corp will be available and probably at a position 1-2 levels higher than what OP would take today, i.e. higher pay and still same hours(ish).
Eeeeh, PE is banking 2.0
I would go corporate route and be happy
What’s the corporate job function? Seems high for corp dev post banking
PE is 10x more stressful job than IB - you’re held accountable for higher quality deliverables in terms of content, you have to manage a million different work streams at once, and you’re expected to be fully paying attention and engaged with your work.
If stress and not hours or work quality is the issue with IB, I would not go to PE.
Leave. Banking is going to get decimated by AI
Stress in PE will be higher. Hours similar or a bit better probably. So if it’s stress that you can’t handle I’d think twice. If you stay one year then the earnings won’t be great but also it’s just a year so whatever I guess. PE starts paying off after 6-9 years in value (cash even later except your base / bonus). I think based on your description you’re unlikely to like PE much better and you’ll probably leave before you get allocated and then vest meaningful carry so why bother? But then again if you want to try there’s no harm besides being stressed for another year and then having to recruit.
You won’t have time to recruit while in PE so the EV of corporate and PE are the same for you as you’ll have to take time out to recruit when you leave PE, with the upside case being that you actually like it. So your real trade off is if you think it’s worth it to potentially suffer for a year for the chance to try PE (CV wise and earnings wise no real benefit imo). Only you can make that judgement call
This is exactly the thought process I used when deciding between PE and startup / corporate roles. I didn’t like the stress but primarily HATED the hours and lack of predictability in banking during my analyst years. Originally was dead set on PE and while I still find it interesting, I knew I would likely not have a meaningful career in that industry beyond mid-level.
To me, it came down to optimizing for something I was a bit more excited about and lifestyle. I was so burnt out in banking ready to quit without anything lined up, so I knew I may not even have lasted the associate program in PE.
Your corporate comp is very above market based on what I’ve seen recently, what exactly is the role you will be doing?
Regardless, if PE is a scratch you want to itch and you have the shot, go for it and can always jump ship to something else
Echoing what others have said, I went to a PE fund as well after a terribly sweaty time at a BB and ultimately left investing.
In my BB, my team was nice but seniors just didn't care putting us through the meat grinder. I tried to focus my buyside recruiting on culture and to have some decent WLB.
The PE gig ended up being 100x more stressful than banking with intense people all around and I wished to be back in banking where people care a lot less about their job.
I took a Corp Dev offer at a mid-sized company in a sector I really like and I couldn't be happier leaving high finance behind. Corp Dev can be a really sweet gig if you truly like a sector and you vibe with the strategy of the company and the team.
What helps massively is that people are usually in Corp Dev for a very particular reason, namely WLB and good culture. Depending on the company, people have solid backgrounds (BB, EB, PE, etc.) but simply don't want to never have a life or a family and they care more about going home for dinner vs a fancy trip to Mykonos whilst still having stimulation from dealing with new, exciting topics (i.e. carving out an underperforming business unit, evaluating if a big new order makes sense, should we expand from APAC to US and what are the returns?).
As you can see, there are immensly rewarding topics that you could work on depending on the company you join and you'll be in a great position to learn a lot about value creation which can lead to either a corp dev career, CFO or general C-suite track or becoming an operating partner or senior advisor later down the line.
You just need to be honest with yourself, do you care about WLB and having the ability to take a vacation and go see your family but sacifice the big house in the Hamptons? None of these options is objectively better than the other, it just has to work for you!
Why does comp look like around age 40?
Could you talk about your corp dev recruiting process? Were you focused on PE-backed companies or large publics? Was it mostly following companies you liked for job openings or did you use recruiters? What's your day-to-day like in terms of M&A vs. strategic finance/FP&A type work?
I avoided PE-backed companies. Given I was in PE and know that the strategy and control does not sit "in-house" I felt as it was still a bit too close to home for me :)
I left for a scale up so no headhunters or anything. I simply scolled through LinkedIn. Processes are standard corporate. You have a few rounds where you meet the people and given a scale-up also CFO and other leadership.
Intereviewing is much more relaxed. Prep is much, much easier than any PE interviews. Just reading up what the company does for maybe 2h and coming up with why you like it (a good segue to see if you actuallyl like what you could potentially be doing).
Day to day is a mix of M&A (the classic stuff really), strategic finance (evaluate if entering a new market makes sense and what returns are, do we want to fund the product that an internal team is pushing for?) and some FP&A work (i.e. investor updates, etc.) combined with holding the pen on the company model.
It's less so a traditional Corp Dev role and more of an "extended arm of CFO" kind of role where you wear many hats and see more and touch strategy of the company quite a bit! I like it!
if you're about enjoying life, take the corporate offer.
i'm in something similar (chill hours, decent pay, like there are mornings where i don't even work) and I find it hard to get the motivation to apply back to Banking even though my friends/HH ask me to go back
Bro get out. $200K is more than enough for anyone to be happy unless you base it off vain desires. Sounds like you don’t.
Thank you man.
What industry is the corporate gig in, FAANG?
It is not tech at all, but it is a $15bn private company so that explains why pay is on higher end.
Am now a 1st year assoc after 2 years of banking knowing I didn’t like banking and it sucks big time. So stressful, it’s harming my health very quickly. Don’t love it enough to sacrifice my youth and the people are intense and sometimes nasty. You’re clearly very intelligent given all you’ve accomplished till this point. Life shouldn’t just be an endless pursuit of accolades in my opinion, if you want a normal WLB you deserve it and will still have a fulfilling and fruitful career if you work hard and smart which clearly you know how to do
Thanks man, appreciate it. You give great insight and I agree.
Why has associate role been tough? I know its a meme that they are glorified work checkers and stuff, but I guess the heightened responsibility and expectations has been tough, even with analysts below you?
Sorry, I should've clarified, I am a 1st year PE assoc not an IB assoc
IB got somewhat repetitive after around 12-14 months on the desk, and similar to what someone said above a lot of people in IB don't really care about their work, they just kind of coast till the standard promotion cycle and will get the bump from assoc to vp to director, etc. PE is different, at my firm and my friends also say the same - people often push each other down to bring themselves up. Also your work goes straight to IC or to seniors sometimes without assoc/VP review which is stressful. I get called out in meetings to comment on stuff at 9am that you just got on your desk last night at 11pm while you had 5 other things to work on, etc. You now deal with lawyers, consultants, QOE people, etc. It's just way too much shit going on at once and you're responsible for all of it (this is MM PE at least).
Take the corporate gig. PE sucks if you care at all about flexibility and owning more of your time.
left for corporate, do not regret
No hate for wanting to leave for corporate, but don't leave for corporate yet. You're too young, are selling yourself short and aren't de-risked enough yet (unless you've got family money). Finish the 2+2 path. Here's why:
The Analyst - Associate years in IB and Associate - Senior Associate years in PE are basically free money and promotions with a pedigreed background like yours. If you're at a fund with other H/S grads you're basically in the club and you really got to be a lazy POS or do something egregious to get fired. Just accept the PE offer and do good work, learn to play politics and coast as much as possible while padding your resume and bank account. If you really want to coast hard, I would advise taking the GMAT/GRE now if you're ever considering business school that way you can treat your PE gig like a 9-8 and know for sure that at the end of the day, you can check out.
In the end you'll have 4-5 years of work experience, a potential shot at business school (which may even be sponsored) and if you're smart - at least 350k-500k saved between your 401k, IRA and brokerage account. This is when you pick a city on the map that you like, take a 200k corporate job at a more senior level (maybe even with a team of 1-2 people) and put 250k or more down on a $1m home and coast. Hopefully during this time (maybe during b school) you've met an SO as well that can double you're income putting you in a VERY comfortable position in your late 20s.
Agree with this take. Very smart and well thought out. OP has a great background so he should milk it out as much as he can via 2+2. OP doesn't have enough experience at this stage to fully derisk himself, so doing 2+2 makes perfect sense just to be safe.
De risking is a soft mentality. If you have the background (OP already does) and are scrappy you will be more than fine. Don’t do things in life to keep “de-risking” yourself. In a sense, your college education and IB stint is plenty of a de risk where you are employable for almost any job
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