If I go to a tiny place post-MBA (after being at a BB), can I recover?
Sorry for double post / cross post (also posted in job search forum), but would like to get insights on the IB option from this crew.
My story:
- did a degree at a top 10 undergrad
- a few years consulting at a small place focused on industry A
- Went to top 10 MBA
- Did internship in strategy for largecap firm in industry A
- Switched to banking and got post-MBA Associate role at mid-tier BB covering industry A
- Spent about a year in banking, didn't get any live deal experience at all
- Had to take almost a year off work due to health reasons (left the bank)
- Took mid-office role at large PE/HF
- A year in, I pushed for a move to investing team with a semi-ultimatum, got shot down, they found out I was interviewing and I got pushed out / asked to leave.
Since then (3 months ago), I've been interviewing a ton, mostly trying to land a role back in IB and had interviews with BBs, EBs, MMs, even a couple crap-tier places... nothing I could get to an offer. I've had a few investing-focused interviews, consulting, you name it. Counting the interviewing I was doing before I got pushed out, it's been almost 6 months that I've been interviewing.
I've finally gotten some offers, but I'm not sure about their prospects.
- One is an equity research associate role covering industry A. This is at a pretty small place (Cowen, Piper, etc.). Salary is ~75% what a fresh post-MBA ER associate makes at a decent firm, and bonus seems a lot lower
- The other is an IB Associate role at a 3-4 man shop with just one MD. Salary is about the same as the other offer (trying to negotiate it up, bonus is who knows? They close deals pretty irregularly. These are $5-$25 million transaction size deals when they do get done. They don't even have a real health insurance plan (I'm married and might be having kids soon; who knows what happens to wife's job).
I'm not sure either of these places are things I can do for more than a year or two, and I have ~30 years left in my career.
ER is dying eventually, so I'd need to either move to an investing role eventually (tough) or some kind of corporate role in the industry.
With the banking job, is going to such a small place going to prevent me from going to even a solid MM shop afterwards?
I'm not sure what sets me up best for the long term. I don't know exactly what I want to do but feel like I'd be OK doing a few different things as long as I know I have decent career/earnings prospects.
Would appreciate anyone's thoughts or advice.
Thanks to whoever gave the SB... curious to see if anyone has thoughts here. Being at such a small boutique won't be fun, but I just don't know what exit ops there will be in ER, and I can't do that long term because who knows if that job exists in 5-10 years (or at the very least does the industry contract way beyond what's already happened.
I would avoid small advisory shops that have no brand recognition. These places may do more harm than good for your career aspirations, as making a future lateral move to a higher quality firm will be more difficult than many realize. I don't understand how the MD even has three resources that he can equitably pay based on the average deal size mentioned. The lack of benefits alone would be enough to deter me.
However, I think the ER position is worth serious consideration. Despite pay maybe being "below Street," you would be guaranteed a paycheck and healthcare benefits, both of which may be necessary depending on your life situation. Most importantly, you put an end to a large employment gap early in your career, and you're back in the game broadly speaking.
I'd avoid the super-small advisory shop. Doubt it will provide a platform to transition into a better role down the road since the transaction sizes are so small as to make them almost irrelevant.
Medium term outlook of your options: 1. Boutique IB Associate -> IB Associate at a larger bank? -> more Banking or Corporate job 2. ER role -> Asset Management / Corporate Strategy / CorpDev / FP&A / whatever you can get in that sector.
If banking caused or exacerbated such serious health problems (1 year off!) when you weren't married and didn't have kids, is it really worth getting back on that treadmill? You're going to be grinded out at the small shop chasing revenue and end up back at the same place.
At least with ER you are building industry expertise. I can't verify the exit options but the larger platform / brand name does help regardless of what people say, especially at the Associate+ level.
As a fellow husband / current dad, my focus would be on getting a stable platform to work in, with health and retirement benefits, steady salary, and gain long term career value and industry expertise. Who cares about maximizing each year's salary or bonus. I am pretty risk-averse, though, I wouldn't leave for a startup even if it offered a higher salary than what I'm getting at my bank.
What does worry me is the talk about not doing anything for longer than 1-2 years. If I think about the way you've described your resume thus far, that's a worrying trend. I think you should at least try to find something, if not as an immediate next step, as the step right after that, that you could commit to for 5+ years. At the very least you should try and build a bridge toward that career.
Thankfully, health problems were random and had nothing to do with banking.
I just don't know what comes next after the ER role that will lead to decent earning potential (Asset Management or a Hedge Fund seems like a stretch for me). I think best case scenario will be becoming an ER Associate at a larger more brand-name bank, and then using that as a better platform to launch while collecting decent pay.
With banking, once I make that transition after the tiny place, I'm in something with solid earning potential.
Am I really gaining long term career value in ER? That's the big thing keeping me from taking it without hesitation.
I’d do ER, then try to move to investment banking at reputable MM or BB. People do that often.
People do that pre-MBA when they haven't done banking before, but I'm worried that if I have 2 different jobs following just 1 year of post-MBA banking, it'll be nearly impossible to return to banking at a decent shop - people will question the commitment.
Why do you believe that asset management or hedge fund is a stretch? It seems to me like you need an attitude adjustment - stop doubting yourself and start hustling more.
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