Questions about lateral hiring

before we start, i'd appreciate if there weren't any retarded answers from ppl who aren't in the industry.

so here's the deal -

i went to essentially a non-target (a couple of the BBs recruit maybe a handful of people each year, but it is by no means as heavily recruited as others). I screwed up my first semester of college (gpa corporate finance capstone course = A-; overall gpa = 3.1/3.2). a bunch of wall street-related clubs, including leadership positions. leadership positions in frats, etc. three summers of IB experience (freshman-junior summers; unfortunately not BB - instead i was loyal to a boutique that asked me back each year), completed a couple of deals during my time (equity and debt offerings, M&A and fairness opinions, private placements, PIPEs, and such where i actually did valuation exercises such as compcos, compacqs and dcfs) and ran an arm of a national student-oriented company on campus.

fast forward.

few interviews and finally landing a job at a foreign ibank in NYC (think barcap, Rothschild, Macquarie, CIBC, Nomura, daiwa, BNP, et. al.) doing M&A (as my name implies). they gave me a chance and i ran with it. i am currently doing very well there.

so here are my thoughts.

like anyone else, i want to advance my career and try to put myself into a position where i can work hard, continue to be challenged and allow me the opportunity to excel. the thing is, i don't feel challenged enough at this point. i've built models from scratch on my own (from basic financial to M&A and LBO) however i don't feel as though i am getting as much out of my IB analyst program as i could (or more like, as my competitors are). therefore, i am looking into lateraling (hoping for a BB and yes, i am aware there is a solid chance that i would have to be discounted and start over as a first year - this does not discourage me). also, i don't want to get pigeonholed as the guy who is best for "british/australian/canadian/japanese/french" etc. transactions (only mentioned those as they correspond w/ the banks i listed above, in case you missed that).

would me switching before my first year is up be a negative? would companies always question my loyalty? would you assume i have what it takes to join a BB? if yes, 1st year (again) or 2nd year analyst? does lateraling at this stage of the game risk me getting a black spot on my resume? what else should i be concerned about? and what would be the best way to go about lateraling? any decent headhunters that you could recommend?

thank you, in advance, for your responses.

before we start, i'd appreciate if there weren't any retarded answers from ppl who aren't in the industry.

so here's the deal -

i went to essentially a non-target (a couple of the BBs recruit maybe a handful of people each year, but it is by no means as heavily recruited as others). I screwed up my first semester of college (gpa less than 3.0), however every semester after that had my gpa above 3.0 and generally in the mid-3's (think 3.4-3.6). I know, not stellar. finance major (major gpa ~3.4-3.5; corporate finance capstone course = A-; overall gpa = 3.1/3.2). a bunch of wall street-related clubs, including leadership positions. leadership positions in frats, etc. three summers of IB experience (freshman-junior summers; unfortunately not BB - instead i was loyal to a boutique that asked me back each year), completed a couple of deals during my time (equity and debt offerings, M&A and fairness opinions, private placements, PIPEs, and such where i actually did valuation exercises such as compcos, compacqs and dcfs) and ran an arm of a national student-oriented company on campus.

fast forward.

few interviews and finally landing a job at a foreign ibank in NYC (think barcap, Rothschild, Macquarie, CIBC, Nomura, daiwa, BNP, et. al.) doing M&A (as my name implies). they gave me a chance and i ran with it. i am currently doing very well there.

so here are my thoughts.

like anyone else, i want to advance my career and try to put myself into a position where i can work hard, continue to be challenged and allow me the opportunity to excel. the thing is, i don't feel challenged enough at this point. i've built models from scratch on my own (from basic financial to M&A and LBO) however i don't feel as though i am getting as much out of my IB analyst program as i could (or more like, as my competitors are). therefore, i am looking into lateraling (hoping for a BB and yes, i am aware there is a solid chance that i would have to be discounted and start over as a first year - this does not discourage me). also, i don't want to get pigeonholed as the guy who is best for "british/australian/canadian/japanese/french" etc. transactions (only mentioned those as they correspond w/ the banks i listed above, in case you missed that).

would me switching before my first year is up be a negative? would companies always question my loyalty? would you assume i have what it takes to join a BB? if yes, 1st year (again) or 2nd year analyst? does lateraling at this stage of the game risk me getting a black spot on my resume? what else should i be concerned about? and what would be the best way to go about lateraling? any decent headhunters that you could recommend?

thank you, in advance, for your responses.

i guess the board doesn't recognize the "less than" symbol...

How you come in will basically depends on 3 things.

1) Relevant experience - if you're going from M&A to M&A, you'll probably be fine. If you're going from M&A to Lev Fin, you still might be fine, but if you try to move to a top tier BB, or a really good group, they might ding you back a year.

2) How the bank views your current bank - if you're too many rungs below, expect to get dinged. Moving from DB or BofA to MS/GS may not result in a ding, moving from a place like Macquarie might.

3) Timing - if you're a 2nd year already right now, you'll probably get moved back to a 1st year (class of '06) for the simple fact that the BB bank you interview with will want you there for 2.5 years rather than 1.5.

That being said, with your experience you shouldn't have a problem convincing interviewers you can handle the work. The hard part will be making connections to get the interviews in the first place, so just network and get in touch with a few good headhunters.

Get your bonus then switch.

If you're interviewing in Feb/March, you're only 4 months away from getting your bonus. That sets off red-flags in my mind.

Agree - almost no one will make you whole on your bonus...

I have several questions about them.

GameTheory - I am currently a first year analyst and that's why I am exploring switching, before it gets too late to come in as an analyst at another bank.

Opticalcharge and ExGSBanker - what red flags would be set off if I interview prior to receiving my bonus? Regarding making my entire bonus from my first year, it is something I am not concerning myself with and putting too much weight on. I view that putting myself into a better position now would outweigh any short term monetary gains from staying in my current state, if that could hinder my future growth.

Your thoughts?

Banks will find it very very very weird if you're willing to leave your bonus. Further, they may think you expect them to make you whole on it, which will likely kill most chances you have of lateralling.

You can start interviewing whenever you want, but you should make it clear to people that you intend to collect your bonus. If they REALLY REALLY want you, they MAY offer to pay up, but its not likely.