Could Use Some Guidance for MM Banker

Hi Everyone,

I'm using a different username as my old one gives away too much about my firm, but I'll give a little background info to set the pavement for my question.

  • Graduated 2015 from a regional target (think UCLA, USC, NYU, Vanderbilt,etc.) with a 3.6 GPA.
  • Enjoyed college, put in marginal effort to securing boutique IB internships, and buckled down senior year to land a FT offer at a MM firm in their TMT group (was late to the game, but the past is the past!)
  • The shop falls below the William Blair/Harris Williams of the world, but above the SunTrust/Raymond James
    • Fortunate enough to see a sizable M&A deal close while working on 2 private placements. Group has been busy, and my responsibilities as an Analyst have been developing forward pretty heavily (i.e. leading direct financial diligence calls and overviews with CFO/CEOs)

Now to my dilemma - I enjoy certain aspects of banking, but also it's banking, and you have to have a certain mindset to want to stay for more than 2-3 years. As a result, I've known since day one that I wanted to move to the buy-side. I began the same as my BB/elite boutique peers by speaking to headhunters, and performed well with all of them. However, once interviews started rolling through, while my peers at other shops were getting first rounds and many emails from recruiters....I was getting a couple here and there. Even when I would indicate interest, I wouldn't hear from the actual PE firm for a first round. It's now almost March, and I haven't had one single interview. Needless to say, I feel as if my entire track of finance aspirations is spiraling down the toilet. On top of the stress and hours of the job, its a sh*tty feeling!

I was hoping to hear from some other MM bankers or those of you in PE/growth equity currently, as to what I should be doing to hit the next milestone in my career. Through studying and networking with a couple associates across PE and GE, I've narrowed my focus down to growth shops, but because I just want a job also - MM tech focused PE would be a god-send as well. Moral of the story - I'm at a complete loss as to what to do from here. Should I:

          1) continue to keep my door open, keep practicing <span><a href="/finance-dictionary/what-is-a-leveraged-buyout-LBO"><abbr>LBO</abbr></a></span> modeling and studying, try and continue to network, etc. in order to land a Summer 2017 associate role? I've had older friends tell me that more often than not, <abbr><abbr title="middle market">MM</abbr></abbr> bankers will land their gigs off cycle (i.e. 2017 roles interviewing in 2017)

         2) Back off from interviewing now completely and focus on learning as much as I can, understanding my deals perfectly, continue to casually study and network, and aim for 2018 Summer Associate roles. Options here would be to take a year off for GMAT study/travel, or do a 3rd year (which happens quite consistently at my shop). I'd also probably be a monster at <abbr><abbr title="leveraged buyouts">LBOs</abbr></abbr> and interviewing by this point. 

        3) the option I really, really did not want to consider... lateraling to another shop with more exit opps. I like where I'm at now, the firm has a good enough pipeline of deals, I work reasonable hours (typically leave around 10-12, very rarely later than that), Saturdays are usually free, and my coworkers are great. However, prestige wise, its not the greatest. The experience <span><a href="/company/goldman-sachs">at a <abbr>GS</abbr></a></span> is likely night and day different. 

I hope that this isn't too long of a post, but I'd appreciate any insight or experience from anyone. I know this forum has been kind of dead, but crossing my fingers here for some help. If you want more privacy, feel free to PM me as well.

Cheers,
UnderP_OverD

 
Best Response

I think you're overthinking things. You're like 8 months into your first job, no need to panic.

"Even when I would indicate interest, I wouldn't hear from the actual PE firm for a first round. It's now almost March, and I haven't had one single interview."

That's pretty normal for MM analysts. No offense, but there are plenty of BB analysts still looking for buyside jobs so there's just no reason for firms to look at MM analysts yet.

"1) continue to keep my door open, keep practicing LBO modeling and studying, try and continue to network, etc. in order to land a Summer 2017 associate role? I've had older friends tell me that more often than not, MM bankers will land their gigs off cycle (i.e. 2017 roles interviewing in 2017)"

What your older friends have told you is pretty true. You won't get the pick of the lot like BB/EB analysts do, but there will be plenty of good opps coming up. Practicing LBO modeling isn't THAT big of a time suck, and since you're open to PE, then yes you should practice for a weekend or two and be able to build a 3 statement model from scratch in 2 hours.

I don't think you really need to consider options 2 or 3 at this point. Regarding #3, MM IB to GE is fairly standard. You may not end up at like TA but there are lots of smaller GE firms that recruit from MM IB. Just know how you're going to explain your sourcing and evaluation strategy.

 

To add to the above, start looking at and reaching out to lower MM funds (and I'm not necessarily talking about firms that do $20MM deals, but funds in ~$400-800MM range). These funds generally aren't going to have as structured of a recruiting cycle and most likely aren't going to hire 18 months out but get to know some of them now. And we don't use headhunters as often because when you're only hiring a few people a year and it's done off-cycle there are usually enough resumes floating around from people who have been networking with us who we already know or it's easy enough to call up any one of the dozen bankers I'm friends with and ask if they have any analysts who want to go to PE. It's also worth noting, at least in my personal experience in the space I mentioned above, that it's good to stay in touch with the PE associates you've worked on deals with. More than a few times over the years we'll internally say we're hiring a new associate and a current associate will bring up an analysts' names because they did a deal with them and thought they were top notch.

 

Et dolore officia aut quia. Aperiam libero quaerat in incidunt. Quis nulla ut voluptate officiis illo rerum perspiciatis.

Nam assumenda odio ut quia. Voluptatem eaque nihil non maiores aut consequatur ducimus. Corporis quo perspiciatis harum sequi voluptatem laborum.

Rerum aut iste est odit explicabo. Nostrum eum repellendus sint voluptatem minus quo ullam. Aspernatur non laborum rem rerum. Aperiam similique vero labore distinctio ut iste. Harum excepturi veritatis eum omnis dignissimos nam.

Career Advancement Opportunities

March 2024 Private Equity

  • The Riverside Company 99.5%
  • Warburg Pincus 99.0%
  • Blackstone Group 98.4%
  • KKR (Kohlberg Kravis Roberts) 97.9%
  • Bain Capital 97.4%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

March 2024 Private Equity

  • The Riverside Company 99.5%
  • Blackstone Group 98.9%
  • KKR (Kohlberg Kravis Roberts) 98.4%
  • Ardian 97.9%
  • Bain Capital 97.4%

Professional Growth Opportunities

March 2024 Private Equity

  • The Riverside Company 99.5%
  • Bain Capital 99.0%
  • Blackstone Group 98.4%
  • Warburg Pincus 97.9%
  • Starwood Capital Group 97.4%

Total Avg Compensation

March 2024 Private Equity

  • Principal (9) $653
  • Director/MD (21) $586
  • Vice President (92) $362
  • 3rd+ Year Associate (89) $280
  • 2nd Year Associate (204) $268
  • 1st Year Associate (386) $229
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (28) $157
  • 2nd Year Analyst (83) $134
  • 1st Year Analyst (246) $122
  • Intern/Summer Associate (32) $82
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (313) $59
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
3
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
99.0
4
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
5
kanon's picture
kanon
98.9
6
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
7
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
8
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
9
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
10
bolo up's picture
bolo up
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”