Desperate to lateral... Any advice?
Graduated from an ivy, working at a large bank. Got placed into the ECM group.
By no means want to trash equity capital markets or my firm but I am just not learning any of the skills I got into banking to learn. And with the markets the way they are currently... I am barely getting experience with equity as a product.
Ideal move would be to start over as a 1st year analyst in a coverage group sometime in August/end of summer. I would really hate to forfeit my bonus, happy to take a 'demotion' for a new firm.
Would love to hear from anyone who has made a lateral move / moved from ECM to coverage. Unsure how to start the process, how much of a disadvantage I will be at due to having no modeling experience. Should I work with headhunters? Not even sure what to update my resume with at this point!
Truly appreciate all insight and advice.
Do you have friends at other banks? If so, have them ask HR if they are looking for any laterals. That's how most of lateral hiring works...through referrals. I did this to move from S&T at one BB to IB at another.
Question: did you do a summer there and they just placed you in the same team for FT or did you just get unlucky in the FT allocation process? I'm wondering how that doesn't happen more often. I can imagine quite a few people would be disappointed to end up in ecm/dcm if they were gunning for coverage/m&a. I would certainly quit and try to switch. Is there anything HR does to prevent that? Are they not willing to place people in other teams to avoid having them jump ship?
Take a look at my lateraling guide.
@TechBanking - My friends at other banks are pretty much limited to other 1st years. I feel that my own referral would have no real impact on a hiring process at my current bank since I am so junior. But will of course look into this route! Are headhunters of no use?
@frenchstudent Correct I summered with the group which was a 100% random placement although we were given generalist offers for FT and had been told moving groups would be possible once you got an offer. HR didn't seem to care in the end- although I certainly didn't threaten to quit over the placement.
@Sil Thank you - great post. In your opinion, taking into account all the timelines involved, is it possible I can make something work out where I join a new firm as a 1st year next summer while still being able to get my bonus from my current firm?
It's going to depend. In my experience, when banks post lateral jobs, they want them filled quickly. So, if you were able to get an offer for next summer, I am sure it would work, but if your main goal is lateraling and you are applying, now, it may not happen. I hope that makes sense.
I think what I am weighing now, in regards to timing, is i) start the process later in the year, May for example, and negotiate a start date after bonuses. ii) start now and take whatever start date I could get should I land an offer
Would much prefer my first opinion but also worried about missing out on the chance to lateral.
You are wrong about this. Even a referral from a 1st year is better than an unknown candidate, but the real ask for you friends is to have them contact their HR recruiting teams to ask what groups might be looking for laterals. Also, ask your friends to talk to their friends in other groups to find out who has had turnover and might be looking for fill gaps.
For your situation headhunters are of no use, at least that used to be the case. I lateraled (albeit from S&T to IB in 2004), and the interviews I got all came from friends at other banks doing some footwork. As someone else mentioned, early Jan is the ideal time to start. I began interviews with 3 banks (MS, Citi, CS) in mid/late-Jan and had an offer by March. Unfortunately, the process can drag on at times as there isn't a lot of structure, although I've witnessed friends have it move quickly.
You are coming up on the ideal time to lateral. A lot of firms have openings right after the holidays as the guys who realize banking isn't for them decide to wash out and call it quits. Those positions aren't posted online; you say you think your own recommendation wouldn't help a candidate much, but you'd be surprised. A staffer is going to take a resume from a friend of yours (assuming you're a well-performing analyst) with more weight than from a blind application. The same goes in reverse, and you should absolutely be leaning on people you know elsewhere to make inroads with their firms.
I think you should forget about the bonus. If you can get an interview at a firm of the caliber you're looking for, $20k post-tax (I'm assuming ECM bonuses are in the $40k range?) is not something that should be a deciding factor in whether you stick around or not. Compensation at this nascent a stage in your career is not something that should ever be the deciding factor - it's pennies today vs. big dollars later. You'll make it up in the long run.
Thanks guys, appreciate the comments.
Interesting to hear you both say that the next few months are prime time for lateral spots. In my introductory exploration I have been told the summer months tend to be best for openings.
ECM bonuses, at least for the junior level, is in line with coverage groups I am told. Makes sense to consider the move now though. Will have a lot of work to get things into gear over the holidays!
The summer months are good too because that is when most analysts receive bonuses. Now is a good time to start since (in my experience) those who realize that banking is not for them tend to jump ship after six months.
Currently at a BB so assuming moving to a peer or even 'better' ranked BB would be very much possible. But would anyone know about making the jump to an EB?
If anyone else has any advice around the lateral hire process feel free to post or send over a PM.
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