Signed at a mm I liked a lot earlier in the cycle - wondering if I could do better - obviously, PE is a small world, and don't want to risk things too much. Have not engaged with other firms at the moment but wondering if I should consider it
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Pretty bad idea.
Of course it's a bad idea and you're not going to get any encouragement. But realistically you'd likely be fine.
It's a slimy move and I wouldn't put myself through that stress of "what if" personally
What's driving this reconsideration? Simply for the sake of going up market? Doubts around your current MM firm? Potentially aiming for a bigger comp package by going up market?
This would be very reputationally harmful. This isn't banking, firms aren't taking classes of dozens or even 100+ analysts in a single class. A firm invested a lot of energy on getting to know you and hopefully make themselves known to you.
A much better thing to do is research other firms in a purely conversational manner. Your goal is to either lateral after a year as an associate (there was a very frothy lateral market in the hot period during the pandemic), sign as a senior associate after finishing your two-year program, or be positioned favorably with good relationships and a lot of knowledge about how things work at specific funds for the b-school recruiting process.
You actually have a significant advantage now. You can take your time, have patient conversations that span months, ask real questions, all without the pressure of 'I have to get a job from you within a week' or the stress of answering interview questions ten minutes earlier before someone says 'what questions do you have for me'.
Keep your job. Invest in developing relationships that will help you perform well in it as well as figure out the next one you want. I just wrote about doing this my last time on here. Congrats on your success so far, keep it up.
Thank you - appreciate the response and the great advice
I question your rationale for reneging on your offer to some extent. Sounds like you liked this MM a lot when you recruited with them. What's driving your longing for something else? If it's silly things like prestige and a small comp bump, I say those aren't good enough reasons. If this MM is active in an industry you now no longer see yourself in or if the people who interviewed you / you liked very much have left, those are better reasons to consider looking elsewhere. You will find much more value in working with people you like and you can learn from vs. another $20k a year.
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