Seeking Advice - How to recover from being kicked out
Long time user here hoping to seek some advice from more experienced folks on how to recover from career setbacks, hopefully the discussion here will also be helpful for others out there to hear about what happens when things go wrong and how to come out better.
Pushed out from a top buy-side firm (due to fit and performance reasons). There was no significant mistake, old team remained supportive, I got on with others and my technicals are good. Issue was making the jump too early and struggled to transition i.e. leaner teams, more politics, less prescriptive role. Ultimately didn't enjoy many aspects of the role and didn't quite fit.
Lucky to land a role pretty quickly in tech corp dev. There is a lot of upside due the high growth sector and the team structure but the comp is not as high ($150k, might get criticised for this but tbh I went into finance mostly for the money and this was always the priority - come from a low income background), and there is not the same level of prestige as my old firm.
Due to my limited # years in the industry this is the first time I've come across this situation, never seen it happen to anyone in my network. After it happened, I pressed on with recruiting at full speed but felt very lost and fell into a depressive / almost suicidal state and felt like a complete failure, as I had followed the typical IB -> Buyside route with some degree of success all for it to fall apart. But ultimately felt like a huge kick in the nuts and my confidence was hit hard.
I messed up and want to take this as a learning experience, ready to do things right next time, put in the hours, work like a bitch and play the game. Realise that careers are 30+ years, that there are many different paths to success and wealth than just IB->MF, and that messing up in the first few years isn't necessarily game over. But worried about comp and progression in the future being more limited. Thanks for reading this far. Would highly appreciate advice on: 1. possibility of getting back into PE/HF with my now less traditional profile - ideally without having to do an expensive MBA, and if this is necessarily the best way to maximise comp? 2. how to overcome this hurdle and make the most of my next role and 3. what attitude to take to maximise comp and career progression in the future.
Thanks for sharing your situation.I think there are a variety of issues here, none of which are especially unusual but are still concerning. It's pretty easy to value your worth by how much money you make, especially if you didn't have a lot of it growing up. A lot of people get into this industry for the prospect of making a lot of money and a lot of people read these forums incessantly to try and plan their moves strategically so they can maximize income. However, if you are experiencing thoughts of suicide or severe depression I would urge you to seek help - find a counselor to talk to, regardless of price, it's important to focus on your mental and emotional help.
Secondly, you said it yourself - careers are 30+ years long and this will be a blip in it for you. Will you be able to work at KKR next? Probably not, but there are lots of great shops out there. Plus, you're earning good money. Most Americans don't earn anywhere near to 150k (regardless if they're in corporate finance or not). Chin up.
TLDR: if you are very ambitious and start out poor, you think about ways to make money; if you glue to IB and/or PE, you trade labor for a boatload of cash but still you don't know how to make money. I'm no saint, just thinking out loud. And, I'm jealous of that MF spot. I am.
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I think it might be good to really think about your situation for a second.
It seems that you say you come to realize there are different paths to success, but your mindset is still fixed on that IB -> MF -> Whatever path. And it's totally understandable because hey, you have been "THE WINNER TEMPLATE" for all those business school students and all those who wanted to do IB and those who want to go PE. You ARE that small chunk of people who made it. Most people don't go to MF, mind you.
I have an extremely bumpy career start, extremely meaning extremely.
It taught me one thing: I GOTTA figure out how to establish businesses and make $. I CANNOT rely on companies to give me a stable career and great pay. If you don't catch this mindset, read Rich Dad Poor Dad or WSO user brotherbear's comment. It's the same work-pay model for a MF Associate and a tennis court gatekeeper. If you get this, that MF sacking might not be a terrible thing, although right now both your prestige and your pay fall significantly.
Now, most people are nowhere near your IB/PE accomplishments. You have had some great insights into how companies work. Leverage that knowledge, sit back, and think.
Sounds like what happened to me early in my career. Dream job turns into a nightmare and I'm on the outside looking in for a few months. Lucky for me I was able to stay in PE but that was after I had "been blackballed from PE in Boston."...direct quote from a recruiter.
Yes you can get back in but it's going to be a major up hill battle because the question will always come up why you left and it's a small industry. The key is knowing someone really well at another fund that can vouch for you and your work product (the only thing that saved me).
Good luck,
Patrick
You need to be honest with yourself and do a cold hard truth assessment of why you failed at the MF role. It is unusual for them to push someone out, even for performance reasons. So that is very valuable feedback you’ve gotten from the universe. Need to see that, understand that, pull it apart. Engine was smoking and caught fire. Time to take it apart and rebuild.
Something in your “how to be a beast” manual was right on the money — that’s how you got there in the first place. But other areas had structural issues. Thats 100% normal. For you to have gotten there in the first place means you’re at a level where anything is repairable.
Figure out the answer. Fix it. There is nothing in life that isn’t fixable.
This is a game of continuous improvement. Recursive optimization. Maybe this one area that when fixed makes you superhuman? This feedback is very valuable. Don’t gloss over it.
Set backs only feel like set backs in the moment. If you’re dynamically adapting, it always turns into a massive net positive. It’s okay to feel bad and beat yourself up over it, that feeling is what neurologically drills into you that “this is not an outcome to be repeated.” You’re innately a winner, that’s why it feels so devastating.
PM me if you want to talk through what went wrong and how to fix it and how/if/when to get back into the industry.