I'm looking for some advice on a possible career move. Right now I am working for a Portfolio Ops team (Value Creation in large investments) for a $100b+ firm, think Abu Dhabi Investment Corp, CPPIB, GIC.
I have an offer to move to the M&A team within the same company, they help the investment teams on complex transactions, with structuring, terms, working with bankers, etc.
I am a mid-level manager right now, VP/Junior Director, and am thinking this move will help me build a more valued skillset and potentially open up more opportunities to move back to the U.S. (or elsewhere) in the future.
Any thoughts on what I should do?
What is your long-term career goal? PE, M&A advisory or more of a corporate path (i.e. COO, CEO)? Sounds like you're at a stage of your career where you should consider your "specialization" which will influence your decision-making for this one.
Also, how happy are you with your current job vs. what you heard from people in the M&A division?
Great Questions. I agree that I am at a place where I need to specialise.
I really like my core job, but increasingly my team is being tasked to do special projects like policy work, sector strategies, portfolio tracking & monitoring. I realised that over the last few weeks and decided I need to make a change.
Long-term I am still not sure what I want to do, but I am getting the sense that where I am now limits my options. The dynamic of my team is that either people stick around and get comfortable (where I am at now) or switch to the sector-focused investment teams within my company. I have never seen anyone exit to another firm, but know that eventually I will have to take that path.
The M&A team sounds like a good opportunity to build a new area of experience, gain stronger brand equity, and possibly open doors in 2-3 years to move to a different firm. Not having worked in the finance industry in the US, I am trying to gauge if this makes sense.
This may or may not help you bluegt, but M&A teams at buy-side firms are highly coveted. That being said, I imagine you would have a lot of attractive exit opps in the future if you were to have that deal execution experience along w/ your operational skills.
That being said, as you alluded to earlier, there is a different skill set between Ops and M&A. It may be nice to expose yourself to a different group to avoid complacency. I imagine 2-3 more years in an Ops role that you are currently in (assuming you have been in that division for a # of years already) will not give you as many benefits as switching into an M&A group where you are being exposed to a different type of work that requires a particular, yet highly valued skillset.
In the end, it's your decision. You're the one waking up to go to work everyday - you've got to make sure you enjoy what you do. I would suggest talking to people who work in M&A and see what they have to say. Would be even better if you personally knew someone who has already made a similar switch. Regardless, from what I've read, it seems like you're in a win/win situation either way.
I moved from ops to deals and am greatly enjoying it, though in mm.
Based on your description, I think making the move is the better choice and agree with @westcoastmonkey8. No offense, but while these special projects are necessary, useful and probably also in employer demand, I believe especially if you want to change geography, a more well-rounded skill set is valuable. The ops + execution combination can be appealing in combination and you can always believable choose to focus on either area for positions you might apply to in the future.
I also recommend trying to establish some personal contacts to people in M&A to hear what it's like and what people end up doing inside or outside the company.
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