1st Year Analyst - Should I Lateral?

I'm a first year analyst at a top MM thinking about lateraling for two reasons, both of which somewhat play off of each other.

  1. I am not a fan of the city I'm in. I'm from the region, but surprisingly have very few social ties here so working 100+ hours and then having nothing to do when you get the time is really annoying. Generally the work lifestyle of banking does not mix well with the city I'm in.

  2. I'm getting the sense that PE recruiting will be more difficult than I originally thought. Not seeing my bank come up at a lot of the shops I've been looking into, even the smaller LMM places. Again, I think the location has some impact on this.

To justify the COL increase, presumably starting over as a 1st year analyst, and the general uproot of my life I would like to see a step-up in exit opps so thinking about BB.

I'm not set on lateraling as I've only been thinking about it for the past couple of days, but the following questions are some things I would love some insight on.

  1. Should I just suck it up for 2 years and then do NY for PE?
  2. How difficult / uncommon is a MM to BB lateral? There's probably a reason I didn't get BB looks in school, but maybe now that I'm "in" I will?
  3. How important is confidentiality? My senior bankers are well connected in our industry group so how careful should I be about who I talk to / send resumes to?
  4. What does the timeline look like?

Lastly, I enjoy the bank I'm at work-wise and am getting good deal experience, but the social aspect of the location and bleakness of exit opps make it tough.

Thanks for any and all input.

 
Most Helpful

@Lateral12345" defer to other members for more guidance on the topic but just my two cents below for your consideration:

*as a rule of thumb, any move within one year would raise a flag for further due diligence *many have successfully moved to BB from MM so wouldn't be an issue *appreciate the point about the social life and we all deserve a break every now and then, perhaps the more optimistic way is to think that this is only temporary until you secure the next gig *its hard to stay completely under the radar but it's a risk that any prospective switcher needs to face so you're not alone

Best of luck!

 

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