Leaving Banking: Now or Never?
I've been in banking for three years and received a great PE offer that I'm excited about. However, I don't hate investment banking and wouldn't mind spending another 1-2 years in it to make sure I've learned everything I can and potentially even stay for the long-term if I continue to "enjoy" it. My fear is that if I stay for longer than 3-4 years I may never be able to exit investment banking.
Would appreciate any insight into:
-Hire-ability of an investment banker with 4+ years of experience into PE
-Are there any exit ops for bankers with 4+ years of experience I may not be aware of?
There are many reasons for wanting to stay vs. exiting, but the primary motivation for moving to PE is to make sure I don't get stuck in this career path without any other options. Is this reasonable or have I received poor advise from people that hated IB?
It's pretty easy to go back to IB post-PE, whereas more difficult to move to PE after 4+ years in IB. If optionality is what you're after you're better off moving sooner than later.
I agree with this advice. If you do PE, you can decide what you like better and then stick with it. If you conclude you prefer IB, I think a lap in PE will make you a better banker and give you credibility with clients (who will probably have PE on the buyers list). And moving from PE to IB after a short lap should be easy.
It becomes harder to move around as you continue in your career both for personal and for professional reasons.
Lastly, people in general regret what they don't do more than what they do. You have an offer in hand. It's easy to see you wondering "what if" a few years from now if you don't test this. The opposite ("what if I had stayed in banking") seems less likely to bother you as you can likely readily get an IB job back.
You both raise a great point. Thanks for weighing in. After some thought the PE offer is the best fit
This is the way
Agreed, you always have more options by going to PE earlier on
Agree with the others above, additionally, if you started as an analyst, best move is to dip out after 2-3 years.
Agree with others, the door is starting to close so move while you can. I've seen IB partners/MDs move to new careers like PE, corp dev, FP&A etc but fewer exits at the mid-career level.
After three years you've learned the majority of what you will learn, PE will be a whole different ball game with lots of new learnings. Can always jump back to IB if you hate PE, but I'd give the new role a shot.
Fuga accusantium totam eum. Aperiam ullam ipsam sit rerum. Quia non nihil in ipsam. Aut unde ex et neque repellendus porro quae qui. Harum voluptatem nesciunt impedit vitae eius quae quia.
Odit numquam et dicta. Autem rerum voluptates est atque vero odit omnis at. Qui cumque provident ut ea dolor. Voluptatum suscipit qui similique ut.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...