Unsure of long-term career plans, Sales And Trading a good fit?
For context, I am a math major at a target w/ a ~3.5 GPA. Decent coursework in economics and CS as well.
My sophomore spring, I accepted a S&T at a BB (not GS/MS/JP). Now, I'm a junior and am wary about my decision. Sure, macro and markets sound cool, but I have no idea what I want to do long-term, so I don't know if trading is the best for me. I know it's just an internship, but a lot of people end up working at the firm they intern at this summer.
I've always liked more quantitative work, and while working as a quant seems cool, the barrier to entry is high. Only got one interview for the quant roles I applied to, lol. Trading seems like a chance to follow market and do some quant-adjacent work. Plus, the $$ seems good, you can exit to HFs, etc. But the skillset seems niche.
I'm now debating if consulting might be a better fit for me. MBB gives people broader exposure to various industries, which might be useful for someone like me who's still unsure of what they want. I know I should probably give trading a shot before making any decisions. But I'd love to hear from anyone who's had similar experiences or thoughts. Would the switch from S&T intern to MBB be doable? Is S&T still worth going into in 2023?
Forgive me if this post reads as naive/dumb, very grateful for my BB offer, but just feeling a bit lost.
I had many of the same concerns you had and studied STEM at a target with a very similar backgroud. I wouldn't worry so much about whether your experience is transferable for a different internship your junior year because people move to MBB even during full-time recruiting after their junior year internship. I also had a consulting internship offer but ended up in the markets both for internships and full-time. I stopped considering other roles altogether after the internship. The reason is that I think I'm a bit more attracted to the fact that S&T encourages the development of expertise and the amount of opportunities. There are a lot of asset classes, especially in fixed income that have a path to pretty high renumeration and that's part of the reasons why I decided to stick with it. You only get paid well because you are a specialist in the product you trade. MBB is as generalist as you can get. There's some paradox of choice here, with MBB or any consulting gig I think, there is not really a clear path to really getting paid outsize comp; most people move to large corporations as managers with meddling comp. However, the paths in markets are very linear and I like that; if you are an expert in a market niche, people will bid top dollar.
But the S&T internship is honestly pretty broad, maybe even broader than IB internships because you can rotate across private side like lending/structuring, public markets research/trading and sales. So if you wish to sample parts of finance, it provides great range. On wether or not it is a viable career path, I think desks are pretty lean at the junior level in trading so there is a path upward. And the alums who went into trading (mostly at bb, some prop) and stayed in it at my ivy get paid more most people in PE/IB and other more corporate finance jobs for their age although it is a much smaller sample size. I would guess they are getting paid 7-8 figs a year on the buyside and others have made MD/head of desk. Their paths tho usually involved at least one fund blow up or getting laid off so there is some career volatility. Idk about MBB but to get these outlier outcomes, you have to love markets. So if you aren't sure after your internship, I would reassess. If you like to bullshit and have low tolerance for pain or pressure, then consulting is probably better; in the markets, you get paid cus you are good and can take getting kicked in the teeth everyday.
Thanks! Super insightful response.
What about ur internship made u love it? It seems like work as an intern is diff from what full time traders do because of lack of book, etc.
Also, how far along in your career are you and what are ur thoughts so far on the experience?
I'm pretty junior. I think it was just a very suitable experience for me, especially for the trading side, because the people are usually pretty chill, and there's not a huge sense of hierarchy usually at a trading desk. The work environment on the floor is pretty unique in that everyone basically sits beside each other, so it's a pretty social environment. I think any corporate job would be very different from this environment. I'm also not like a star quant or anything, although I'm quantitatively inclined, so being in a more client-facing capacity as a trader in a bank is pretty good.
There's a lot of talk on this site about how headcount is shrinking, and I agree, especially at the junior level. I mean intern classes five years ago were double the size of the intern classes now, at least at my firm. Most of the hiring is done vp and above and just people jumping from one bank to another, to be honest. But I think this creates quite a bit of opportunity. Portfolio managers I have spoken to have said that junior headcount in some asset classes is basically non-existent at banks, so they are hiring people who don't even trade their strategy. Another thing is people want to do S&T cus of macro or whatever, but in reality, only ~10% of new analyst seats are in macro trading/rates/fx because of lower hiring needs/trying to keep desks lean so be aware of that. The buy-side universe, on the other hand, has expanded a lot, especially in recent years, due to the multi-manager model and trading/ researching a specific product in S&T, I think is a pretty good port so I feel very lucky to be in the spot I'm in.
Delectus ab perspiciatis dolorum aperiam est. Quos esse et iste vel. Nam necessitatibus voluptatem vitae totam adipisci fuga quibusdam. Soluta assumenda eum aliquid.
In enim veniam nisi rerum sed corporis. Autem dolorem voluptas tempore. Adipisci quibusdam et totam nisi qui. Possimus debitis sint qui. Molestiae optio et et sit vero est natus non.
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...