Long term career after a Sales job?
Hi guys
I'm a Sales in a major BB at Associate level. I'm pretty aware of the decline of the industry, and I have read many topics here explaining basically what I see myself. Pay is good, and I would love to keep growing in my bank, and one day become MD (that was my target before joining the industry).
I'm on the more solution/tailor made side of the business so I do a lot of non vanilla stuff and work on weird/interesting deals.
I'm trying to prepare now my move in let's say 4 to 5 years, jumping out of my seat before being kicked out I guess ? I see many exist opportunities, but I'm not sure which ones are actually feasible ? (and will keep paying well !)
This is what I see, let me know how you see it:
The "e" side of the business, not really markets, nor glamours, but clearly the future of the business, it's both sales and still pretty quantitative I believe so i would have an edge with my engineering background. But I don't have a lot of clarity/feedback on the carrer paths
Staying on the solution side of the business: but trying to focus on a different type of client base (more $$ generating than my current job?)
Moving to the buy side, in a real estate / alternative / private assets fund, but i really don't have any idea of what I could do there, what are the skills required and if it's not a shrinking industry as well ? (I guess here a CFA is a must have.. ?)
Finally, despite having an engineering background and being good in coding (I have not wrote a single line of python since i joined my team though) I dont think i will be able to compete in a more quant-ish role in the bank or in the buy side, as I did not code as part of my job..
Let me know your thoughts !
it's empty here :'(
You can try all of those industries as long as you're aware that you'll have to start at a very junior level. On the buyside they much prefer classic IBD, so it'll be stretch but with networking and a bit of luck you might get a very junior position meant for folks with perhaps 1y out of college. Bear in the mind that the buyside is a shrinking industry as well. The most realistic buyside position is fund raising or asset manager fund sales to institutional investors. Something like PM is nearly impossible without a trading background. The real estate investment industry is pretty insular, so you'd have to have some kind of RE experience. They'd probably prefer someone who has worked in property management over a derivatives structurer. You could try software sales. Pay is on par with banking and the hours are much better.
I'd move up your plan though. 4-5 years is much too late. The longer you wait the more niche your skills and the higher the experience and pay gap becomes. The best time to switch industries is as soon as possible. Another idea is to laterally move to your bank's M&A or industry coverage group, do 2 years there and then try to switch to the buyside.
When you say buy side, do you mean in sales?
What are you making now as an associate (if you don’t mind me asking)?
Thanks both for your replies.
I was pretty open about sell side, i am aware of sales in the buy side, but not sure that its a role that would suit me, ppl i have seen successful there had a lot of contacts.. which is not my case. I was not thinking directly PM but assumed there are job arround the PM that i might not be aware.
My base is the same as other associate 1 in London in BB (cannot say more :-D) bonus wise i'm slightly below all my friends in flow businesses..
Bump. Curious to know this as well - what exit opps have you seen taken by your former colleagues? Also, any visibility of exits by your colleagues who did more vanilla sales?
Well, on the more vanilla side I have seen friends/colleagues leave to do something not related to finance like launch a beer or real estate start up, some went to fintechs (usually ppl left around VP level), recently director I knew went on the corp treasury side
I have seen other directors being fired and a couple of them are still out of the market (at least according to their linkedin profile)
Are your clients primarily corporates, AMs/insurers, or hedge funds?
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