Made it to a Bulge Bracket Bank

Great news. I finally landed a spot in DCM for the leveraged finance team of a very prestigious BB on the street. I literally started from the bottom, working my way up, and have been working at a mid-size to small boutique firm for the past year and a half.

My old firm was super short on staff, so I am already use to working 100+ hour work weeks, working multiple assignments with tight deadlines.

My question is what should I expect job/work wise going from a smaller shop to a top tier BB? What are some of the big differences that I should prepare myself for? I want to prepare as much as possible so I can hit the ground running.

A little back track. I was working at a regional office compared to being on the floor at the HQ. My new job is at the HQ in NYC, which I automatically know will be different.

P.S. I am sorry if this has been discussed before, but I am new to WSO and wanted to post as I am both extremely excited as well as anxious at the same time.

Thanks for all the help.

J.

 

Ok. UC Berkeley is my fucking dream school. I was in SF for holidays last year and spent a whole day just walking around that huge campus- wow.

But catching the BART can make for an interesting experience though.

Lol I went to UC Davis too, what a contrast.

Did you get your first role in Finance, post the Ms?

 
Best Response

What I would say is don't let the prestige get to your head. Your superiors and peers will make mistakes, and it's your professional obligation to pick them up. Being at a bulge bracket doesn't mean you should take on assignments which are too cruel to you - remember that you have a right and a need to stand up for yourself. You will see some people being complete jerks - don't be like them. It's a trap some people fall into once they get the offer, and especially when they're on the other side of the interview table or delegating work. That sort of attitude generally doesn't work out well for them in the long run.

Once you hit the desk, be meticulously organized. There isn't much room for slack. Put your emails into folders and sort them once you action them. Write a checklist each night before you leave work and review it in the morning. Make sure you understand all of the systems and save down how to use them - at a multinational firm, they're way more detailed than what you find at a boutique. Make checklists for tasks that you do where you might collate questions. There can be no holes.

Remember, you got this job not because you were a kid out of college who was good at taking exams, but you got it because you have a track record of doing well at similar work. Congratulations! I hope the people are cool and that the work challenges and excites you.

 

I truly appreciate this. This is really insightful, helpful, and right to the point. I definitely will go for the note at night/review in morning technique. My last firm, I learned really quickly to create tons of sub folders in email or else things will tend to get overlooked and task not completed/no reply back, which means an unhappy director or MD in the end ha. Thanks again!

 

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