New to WSO... Analyst in South Florida looking for some advice
Hi everyone, I just joined WSO and look forward to learning a lot here. I am currently in the South Florida market and working for a Specialty Finance company (high risk, small business lending...AKA Merchant Cash Advance). I have been working for 3 years here and it is my first finance job out of college (other than an internship at Merrill Lynch). I have been lucky enough to move up quickly into management and now manage all credit and underwriting for the company (funding about $200 million per year). I have recently felt as though my learning curve has severely slowed down and now I am more managing people than working numbers and building my skill sets. I have always wanted to tap into the Investment Banking, Private Equity, corporate finance markets but the market in South Florida is fairly slim for those jobs. I don't have much experience at all in the industries but would love to learn but I am also getting a 6 figure salary where I am and don't want to take a pay cut to go into a lower level analyst position to learn. I am hoping to gain knowledge and hopefully land a job where I can learn and thrive as an investment banker here in South Florida. I have recently dipped my foot in and began the job search and sent in some applications but none have reached back out yet. I am very comfortable where I am and have had a good experience at my current company but I am no longer adding value to myself professionally here and my mentor (a former investment banker) who is an executive in the company is very close to me so I have had some second thoughts about taking that jump to a new company after he has spent the last two years teaching me about finance in the real world. I am willing to make the jump but I don't know if my current skill set with what I have learned in my industry will be enough to land a job and/or keep one in IB or PE. Any advice and experiences would be much appreciated. I look forward to learning about many of you and reaching my goals. Thanks