Sales in S&T: Dead-end career path in 2020?

This summer, I will be interning at GS/JPM/MS in S&T, specifically in sales. After doing some research, I am becoming concerened that sales is not the place to be with the current state of the industry. Basically my questions are this:
- Is sales still a good place to be in 2020?
- What are the most realistic exit options for sales, and what desks make these exits most likely? (is buyside possible?)
- How difficult is it to transition from sales into IB or trading?
- Is getting into a top MBA a viable option after 3-4 years in sales?
Thanks for the help.

 

Personal opinion - i'd rather be in sales than trading. Both are shrinking, but at the end of the day, between the two, who's going to survive? It's the person with the relationships.

Not many exit opps in general if you're in S&T. You have to work twice as harder to make it to the buyside (1) network hard - a sales role will allow you the opportunity (2) and write up pitches and models on your own to show them you have the capability.

Lateraling within the bank from S&T to IB is very hard as well.

 

Disagree. When sales people go out to meet with clients they almost always bring a trader with them. In the past was possible to jump to buyside, but these days with how few seats there are it’s almost impossible unless you’re running risk. As someone on the buyside, now that things are tougher, i trade with whoever prices the quickest and shows the tightest spread, Also, if anything the sales for products that have already been electronified like equities are probably the safest. Tons of dead weight to cut in ficc still, over next 10 years will def be shrinking whereas equities will probably be the same

 

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't reconsidering my future after reading all of this. I guess I just have to work hard and search for opportunities wherever I can find them. I am strong in sales, should I still pursue S&T? Are there any other areas within a BB, Hedge Fund or PE Firm where my sales acumen would be valued higher than other qualifications/abilities? I tend to prefer a high pressure, competitive, environment.

 

Despite having a record year in FICC, most banks are keeping trading comp flat or slightly down.

This Bloomberg article I read a while back provides good insight.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-01-27/jpmorgan-is-said-to-…

From the article:

"JPMorgan Chase & Co. is keeping annual bonuses at its corporate and investment bank roughly flat for 2019 even as workers across Wall Street brace for a drop in payouts.

The biggest U.S. bank’s decision, described by people briefed on the matter, came after the unit notched its best year since at least 2011...

JPMorgan notched the highest profit in U.S. banking history for the second year in a row with $36.4 billion, spurred in part by a 56% surge in stock and bond trading in the fourth quarter."

So despite a record year, comp was flat.

 
Most Helpful

As I mentioned in the S&T bonus discussion (you can view that thread), I would not recommend anyone to enter the industry anymore. Both sides, sales & trading are deteriorating with the risk higher and reward lower.

I entered the industry a little over 5 years ago, and back then during my internship I didn't believ that what some in the industry had told me to sway me from reconsidering the industry. I thought the talk was exaggerated (effect of technology mostly) ... Needless to say, a lot has changed in the past 5 years and I've personally seen it now. Almost all of my intern/full-time class is gone or leaving soon as well as people around my level leaving in drones who are all feeling the same way. A lot of senior people are in the same mind set, but they are already in the late stages of their career and just need a few more years (rather than the rest of us who have 30+ years of a career to think of...). I'm also at a top American BB btw.

JP Morgan having a record breaking year in trading (as did most BBs) and banks continuing to proceed to cut people / keeping bonuses flat year on year should be a red flag. Imagine what's going to happen when things actually go bad.

 

it really depends on the bank and your position. if you are the 30yr bond trader at an ibank....or maybe if you trade on the swaptions desk and you have your own prop book.....and if you have a good year of pnl with minimal usage of balance sheet (ie.,..high return on capital) then you can still get paid well and these "flat" bonuses won't really apply to you.

If all your pnl is generated from customer flow....then the bank can argue that you aren't adding more value...but if your pnl comes from prop trading....then you can just argue that you'll goto a hedge fund....since you don't need the ibank to prop trade.

its an owner vs employee mentality

 

Well, I'll just say a lot has changed especially in the past few years. The fact is resources are being allocated away from traditional S&T, overall the return on capital for the entire industry especially given regulation (ex. RWA) with the advancement in tech, it just doesn't make sense as it did before. When you consider machine learning wasn't really even a field 5 years ago, it's pretty threatening what's going to happen in the next 5.

Like I said, from the past few years I've been in the industry, the mood has just gotten worse on the trading floor even as banks are "doing well". Even if you have a good year in P&L (prop or not), banks just simply don't feel the need to pay you. It also doesn't help when the overall hedge fund industry hasn't been performing either and just keeps losing investor money / cutting people too. When was the last time there was actually good news from the industry? It's just a completely different mentality now.

You'll still be paid relatively well (as it is still better paid than almost all other jobs out there), but there's no denying overall it is an industry in decline with higher risks now as it will be much harder to find other openings if you're let go. If you're in a good seat right now, you're pretty fortunate.

 

You mentioned that most of your intern/full time class is gone or leaving soon. Of those that have left the firm, what are the exits like. How many went to pursue MBAs versus lateraling to different industries, and what industries are most common for people to exit to (out of your analyst class).

 

If you left early on (before becoming an Associate), some went into other areas of finance aka banking or research type roles. There were the occasional start up type route, but that is more rare.

Most who are leaving now are doing an MBA to basically leave the industry. I know some who did something outside of work (aka programming) and set themselves up that way as well. As I've sort of hinted, you don't really get any exit opportunities from s&t as you do in banking so there really isn't any room for other industries otherwise.

Personally, I had a friend who got let go after the analyst program and he had a very tough time finding work again (which was somewhat surprising to me at the time) - basically it took a lot of luck to get a job in the industry again (almost half a year). That was maybe 2 years ago and that was when the first red flags were getting raised to me about the industry. Also had a friend (VP level) who was let go and was out of work for almost a year with no leads before getting lucky as well through a reference.

Now, I also know of two younger people (mid to late 20s) who get let go from trading/research type roles almost a year ago around my age and struggled to find a job (now both looking into graduate school or programming boot-camps). So yeah it's pretty rough if you're let go no and can see why the industry mentality has changed completely. You can kind of see for yourself even just on LinkedIn - there are hardly any openings for s&t roles, when I first started there were a lot more.

 

I won't lie - this is disheartening. I know there is (obviously) a low probability of becoming extremely wealthy in any profession, but as someone who is significantly motivated by money, my biggest fear (besides failure) is pigeonholing myself somewhere where my ability to strive towards extreme wealth becomes diminished (like a hamster, running endlessly on a wheel). Hearing this information from guys in your positions, it really carries weight and cuts deep, I am talkative, high energy, and thrive around people. I am strongly goal and problem solving oriented and have the ability to work extremely efficient on tight deadlines. I tend to focus on the big picture and I am able to think strategically and maintain their long-term focus. I value truthfulness, consistency and equality and think logically when making decisions. I am a passionate of Math and investing/ Finance and I would like to talk to smart people.

If HF's were dying, as well as S&T- if that's so, what careers are best to start to pursue? Quant, IB, Tech (Sales)...?

 

Without a doubt, it's something related to tech in whatever industry. Think about it this way, you want to go into something that will continue to grow. And what's the only thing that has grown through history and will continue to improve/grow? People can say "tech" is a bubble or whatever, but at the end of the day technology in one way or another will always be improving/growing and you want to be involved in something like that for the most growth potential. Like I mentioned before, when I was in college (just a little over 5 years ago), machine learning wasn't really even a field (I didn't even know what it was), now it's just completely taken over. It's even more mind blowing when you realize that it was only a few years ago that computer vision even became a thing (Google recognized cats in a video only in 2012).

 

The name of the game is finding the right seat and getting the right breaks (bank is growing your product, senior guy in front of you gets let go, etc.). It used to be that if you could find your way into S&T you were going to have an opportunity to make some real $$ at some point. Now you need a bunch of things to go your way in order to make some real $$. And honestly the right seat is more luck than anything else, and every day there are less and less seats. I would describe the business as dying a death by 1000 cuts.

What you are really learning in S&T is 3 things

  1. How to filter through a ton of information flow and communicate what is important and why.
  2. How to manage relationships and play politics with what can be some very demanding personalities
  3. How to multitask and think on your feet.

There are going to be a lot of people who are going to learn how marketable those skills are in the next 5-10 years.

 

What about the sales role in S&T? I am strong in sales, should I still pursue S&T? Are there any other areas within a BB, Hedge Fund or PE Firm where my sales acumen would be valued higher than other qualifications/abilities? I tend to prefer a high pressure, competitive, environment.

 
donqua:
What about the sales role in S&T? I am strong in sales, should I still pursue S&T? Are there any other areas within a BB, Hedge Fund or PE Firm where my sales acumen would be valued higher than other qualifications/abilities? I tend to prefer a high pressure, competitive, environment.

+1 You can go into PWM or Enterprise/ Tech sales

 

There is very little "sales" in BB S&T. I would say the job is more distribution and relationship management. Those are certainly part of the sales process but it is not like a traditional sales job, where you are cold calling or prospecting around for new relationships. You will cold call in the middle market world but most BBs don't really have that. That being said many people move from sales roles in S&T to sales roles in other industries. Its a resume marker for other industries that you are decently intelligent and will work hard and understand things that are somewhat complex in nature.

 

I am very curious, analytical and I have good problem solving skills. I have great communication skills and interpersonal skills and I think I am capable of outlining and presenting complex issues in a simple manner.I am good in building great relationships, should I still pursue S&T? What would the alternatives be? I tend to prefer a high pressure, competitive, environment.

 

It can certainly happen and depends a lot on product, shop and your relationships. Less and less straight up equity sales people make the jump but I have seen a fair few people in derives make the jump and some in ficc.

Good Luck

I used to do Asia-Pacific PE (kind of like FoF). Now I do something else but happy to try and answer questions on that stuff.
 
Jamoldo:
It can certainly happen and depends a lot on product, shop and your relationships. Less and less straight up equity sales people make the jump but I have seen a fair few people in derives make the jump and some in ficc.

Good Luck

I am strong in sales, should I still pursue S&T? Are there any other areas within a BB, Hedge Fund or PE Firm where my sales acumen would be valued higher than other qualifications/abilities? I tend to prefer a high pressure, competitive, environment. Do you think S&T and HF are still a good long.term career?

 

Once again, everything koalamacro has said is 100% accurate and raw. He is speaking the truth consistently on this forum.

To add to his points above:

I started in this industry less than 5 years ago and I also did not believe what older guys had been saying. I thought they were just dinosaurs who couldn't keep up with technology, but was also wrong and things have drastically changed in the last 3-4 years since i've been around and entire franchises have been cut in the last 2 years which is very scary to think.

Mind you that I have been out of school only a couple years and the vast majority of my analyst class is gone and the rest have one foot out the door. This is S&T and not IB where people do 2 and out; in S&T people traditionally stayed long beyond their 2 year mark so when an analyst class is almost entirely gone after 3 years that is saying something about the industry these days. The bank I started at was a MM and my bonus was awful given the fact my desk had a solid year and I was top bucket; I was shocked as to how small my number was and I asked my MD if it was me and he basically said that was the most the bank could give me and that it is what it is.

As for my analyst class I would say at least 75-80% have left/been laid off already that I can confirm. They're doing all sorts of things but the transition has been challenging because from S&T you don't have that transferable skill set you gain in banking or consulting. Many have had to go back to business or law school and take two years off and well as take on a mountain of debt. For the unfortunate ones that were laid off some are still looking for work, some have gone to work for brokers, some have left the industry entirely. For the lucky ones who made the transition into other fields (IB, ER, HF, consulting, treasury, startup, became programmers), they had to work their asses off because once again, they don't develop those transferable skills headhunters and firms have such a hard-on for.

In conclusion, I would not recommend a career in S&T unless you have a super specialized niche role or are a quant who can program well.

 

What about the sales role in S&T? If HF's were dying, as well as S&T- if that's so, what careers are best to start to pursue? What would you do knowing what you know now?

 

I'm a junior at a target school who will be headed into S&T this summer at a mid-BB (BAML, Barclays, CS). I'm a CS major and have lots of coding experience, and primarily wanted to try out finance this summer which is why I chose S&T as a way to utilize my coding skills on the job while doing finance. I didn't want the intense lifestyle for quant shops, although I will try to recruit for that for full-time.

All I am hearing now is about how bad S&T generally looks, but what are the bright spots? I feel like I'd do well on an electronic trading team, or quant team, where tech skills are valued because like you said, I want technology to be my friend, not my enemy.

Thanks

 

I just wanna "clarify" something because people keep saying S&T is bad. It has been slow the last few years because of low vol and low rates. With the Wuhan virus/Trump/Brexit, this could change. This forum is obsessed with IBD because of dipshits who have seen American Psycho too many times. When the Wall Street movie came out, everyone wanted to be in S&T.

If you're a CS major you could be very useful, even on relatively vanilla desks, like rates trading or rates sales. Even in sales, VBA-knowledge has become commonplace. Any programming skill is a plus, and sales desks have become quite nerdy.

Edit: sorry, been drinking far too much because of the virus lockdown. You should also try: financial engineering/structuring, QIS research, becoming a quant in a bank. These roles have arguably better exit ops than both trading and sales

 
wallstreetnoob2008:
What do you guys think of roles within electronic trading? Less on sales, trading, or sales/trading but more a product role? Think product management?

I am a product manager for an HFT/Algo platform. Most of my job involves finding out the needs of our clients and what features they want built into our system. Based on those discussions I'd prioritize/roadmap what needs to be done and then work with tech to come up with effort estimates and timelines to implementation.

In general, clients are going to ask for a lot and there will never be enough tech resource to do it all - so you'll be spending your time deciding what makes sense. Are multiple clients asking for the same thing? If we build this for client X, can we sell it to client Y also? Is this ask absolute bullshit and are we not making enough money from them for us to justify building it?

You need VERY strong communication/organizational/planning skills to be successful in this role. This is a job that sales could do on their own, or even the developers could talk to the clients directly - Your job is to do this more efficiently than they can, so they can focus on their actual jobs.

I find it to be very interesting work, but like I said, if you're not good at it, you can very easily provide zero value in this role.

In terms of job security, I don't think it's bulletproof compared to the rest of S&T, people absolutely have been getting cut in these roles as well. The difference is that these skills are more transferable to pure tech, some of my former coworkers have moved on to Facebook-type companies.

 

Yes while there will be a need to relationship managers, there is a ton of deadweight on most sales desks It is honestly shocking to me how much deadweight there is.

Most banks have some sort of platform where a client can go on and execute small vanilla orders electronically and no longer need to call up their sales guy to do it; basically, it bypasses the institutional salesperson entirely. Sure they will need someone to manage the relationship and stay in front of the client and determine what is working and what is not working, and how they can improve but clearly that is substantially less intensive and requires less man hours then a traditional institutional sales person.

On a side note, there are tons of 'old head' senior sales guys at banks who are adding minimal value if any at all. When I used to work at a bank some of these guys were really not doing anything except managing a handful of accounts and going to dinner with them. They were managing old school relationships from when they started 30 years ago or more.

 

Wondering everyone's opinion is on how to get out of the industry if just starting out as a sales analyst in S & T --> is 2 years a good sweet spot to prove I wasn't jumping ship straight away or should I realistically give it 1 year and cut my losses if I come to realise first hand what most of this forum is saying? Just thinking for future employers leaving after 1 year of a job might seem a bit hasty if they are vetting your resume. P.S any ideas on best fits for roles --> PWM, enterprise/tech sales, fintech?? All help appreciated

 

2 years or however long your analyst contract is the right amount of time, give yourself a real chance to see if you like it or the markets business in general, and what your future prospects look like at the firm. Also I think your polish on the phone and speaking with people in a professional setting gets a lot better from year 1 to year 2 so I think you will do a lot better after the 2nd year in an interview and networking. Do not go into the job with the S&T is dead attitude or thinking its a 2 years and out deal. People will notice that from the jump and will not make the effort to really teach you anything or try to get you into the mix. I think fintech is the most natural transition, lots of ex-S&T guys working in various fintech firms. I would avoid PWM until you are like 30, nobody will take you seriously until then in that world. Sure you could be a junior guy on some team or an associate in UHNW/PB world but in that world you want to be the guy who is managing relationships and bringing money in the door and it takes time and years of experience to have a background that people will take seriously. You are better served building experience doing something else than being a junior person in that world. I know 3 or 4 ex-S&T people in PWM and all of them waiting until they were like 30 before jumping in.

 

It's misleading. I think the fact that JP Morgan kept its overall bonuses flat to a rather disappointing 2018 (in some cases terrible) says it all while other banks actually saw a reduction in the bonus pool. Flat is the new up. As it's kind of been said, S&T in the traditional sense will never come back. With technology getting better and overall margins being squeezed, banks know they don't have to pay people like they used to and can get away with getting more done out of less in n industry with a declining wallet.

TBH most banks have already started to realize that and have been already allocating resources away from traditional S&T in the form of cost cutting and continued reduction in headcount regardless of performanc. GS becoming more and more of a technology company and MS buying E-Trade recently should be sign of what they see the future is.

 

It's one of the less automated desks so that's a positive but I'd love to hear someone's perspective on this. Would a transition to the buyside (HF) be easier on a more quantitative desk like Equity Derivatives Sales?

 

Hey, I’m in equity derivatives sales so happy to answer any questions. The industry has consolidated a lot in this area, 5+ years ago for example the equity derivatives sales role was divided a lot more clearly between Flow, Structured products, Solutions etc. Most of the European banks have floundered/blown up especially on the Flow side (RBS, Deutsche etc) and now with the recent corporate dividend cuts due to Covid, French banks have suffered on the Structured side aswell as they have large exotics books (meaning they are naturally long dividends) and as a result have started to withdraw a bit. Only a few US banks remain strong in this area (JP, MS etc) so the headcount number is dwindling and this is a trend that will likely continue. The role across houses has generally consolidated as there just isn’t enough money to be made in eg pure Flow (10 years ago there certainly was) so you’ll likely be covering clients across a wider range of products which makes the role more interesting now. However even so, you won’t be left with as many exit opps as IB or consulting (nothing surprising here) - the main ones being FinTech or moving to the buyside in IR, ETF/fund sales (more doable at places for the larger ETF shops like Blackrock/Aviva/Vanguard) or as a product specialist at a buyside shop that trades derivs - a role sitting between the PM and IR where you don’t manage risk but understand the funds dynamics well and speak to investors with more granularity than someone in pure sales. It’s only worth doing this role if you are at one of the top US houses, but be prepared for further consolidation. In 5-10 years time my prediction is this job will be even rarer to find across banks - already many formerly very reputable houses have shut their equity derivs units and won’t be reopening them. If I was in your shoes, I would stay away from S&T and move to IB/consulting. Believe me it’s not much fun to go to a top target, graft hard for a decade in a ‘prestigious’ field (at the time of leaving uni) then when your industry becomes over regulated and commoditised and you realise it’s time to leave, to find out you have few transferable skills.

 

Wow super interesting stuff in this thread. Is it really that hard to find a job after S&T? I find it hard to believe that some of the smartest people on Wall St. (including a bunch of "target school" kids) have a difficult time being recruited. Also, does the doom and gloom apply mostly to struggling Euro banks (CS, DB) or larger and growing names as well (Citi, Wells Fargo Sec.)

Finally, assuming all of this is true would people recommend entering less "prestigious" industries such as commercial banking, corp fin, and product management?

 

-Is Sales good? I'm in sales and it's fucking great, but I'd rather be a trader

-Exit ops? Unfortunately, if you want to get out of banking, it's always sales on the AM side or investor relations (in my experience). What I do is quanty enough that I think I should be considered for research in a small AM, but I'm very much pigeon-holed.

-Move to IBD? I'd say impossible. I almost made the switch to a very specialised boutique firm for IBD and posted about it here, but it fell through last minute.

-MBA? I'm in London, and over here yes, although nobody gives a shit about MBAs. But I guess it's different in the US

 

Definitely possible to get into an MBA business schools">M7 or T10 from Sales. I got into one MBA business schools">M7 and a couple of T15 with substantial scholarship. I am a male asian (definitely overrepresented and my GMAT score was 720). My background has been sales in FICC with a short tint in AM/PB all at BBs. You make your own opportunity. PM if you have any questions. Would rather not post more specific given how small the industry is.

 

what is the prospect for quants at BB? Currently i only know Barclays/ubs/RBC have specific quant trading (within S&T) SA program/Fulltime program. is that a sign of the banks are hiring more people with coding/modeling skill? Also, how would the low vol and low interest impact the careers of a those quant trading guys? thx

 

FX Spot - essentially full automated (unless dealing with a large trade in G10 usually above 100MM or 200MM notional of USD or a very exotic EM currency pair with strict restrictions that is thinly traded). Most of the FX business, spots, forwards, NDFs, swaps and even vanilla options go through the platform. Only exception apart from large notional size or EM pair would be an exotic options (i.e think more digital or barrier options) and cross currency swaps.

 

Hello everyone.

I want to thank you all right away for taking the time to answer this question or simply giving it a read. I am a Canadian undergraduate student in a semi-target school majoring in Finance. Just like the majority of the students, I was thriving to get into I.B. by networking, modeling on my own, extracurricular activities, etc. However, I realized that I.B. is not something that interests me as much after doing DCF models for a while. I realized that I wouldn't like to do it for a living. However, I deeply enjoy researching (FactSet is my best friend) and talking to people. I enjoy talking to new people every day and learn something new daily. I would like to incorporate research and stock knowledge with the human aspect and sales. I was working in sales m entire life and I do believe I have an edge in that.

Many thanks to everyone in advance for taking your time!

 

Chiming in here... @koalamacro has been spot on with his commentary. In my opinion, especially with the state of the world, seeing a few people in the space (small sample size) disenfranchised. Comp at year-end probably isn't going to be great... buy side hasn't had much "chill" over the last few months with the way the market's been trading. A lot of people really only taking vacations starting around August or so... I think the wfh change has been positive - especially for the senior individuals - as they get to spend more time with their families. Unsure how this will play out with the push some of the non-European banks are making for employees returning to the office, but I will say (as someone younger/not highly susceptible to Covid) I'm feeling more like a cog in the wheel these days than I have before. Do more with less, not as much time to keep up with what's going on in markets during the day, more unspoken pressure to improve outside of the office... the job can be a grind, and there's really not much of a skillset outside of what Assoc. 1 mentioned earlier (quoted below). Someone recently asked me what my 5 year plan was and I didn't have an answer. Has been on my mind over the last few days... think that's something people in the space should be thinking about if you're not already (after a year or two under your belt).
 

  1. How to filter through a ton of information flow and communicate what is important and why.
  2. How to manage relationships and play politics with what can be some very demanding personalities
  3. How to multitask and think on your feet.
 

I'm currently a sophomore at a non-target recruiting for S&T, with a strong interest and experience in trading option strategies - wanted to ask if anybody in the thread could answer whether they believe Equity Derivatives desks will be automated in the next 5-10y or is it still a good desk to sit on for longevity? Thanks

 

EQD trading is a great start to a career. These guys have made good PnL last year with all the volatility. You need to choose the bank, some of them (french) which are usually big players in EQD have made some huge losses due to autocall books. Dynamic of the books have been super interesting last year (div, correlation, ...), so this year should be challenging. Don't see it being automated in the next 5y. Desks headcount have been shrinking, so there aren't that many seats. If you get one at a BB, don't worry.

Good luck mate

 

Hey thank you so much, really appreciate the insight. Also quick questions - If I happen to be in an interview, is it appropriate to mention which desks I might be interested in? Or is it worth mentioning that I trade these options strategies to show my interest, or would that only result in my getting grilled on technicals? Thanks so much.

 

Would you guys choose DCM (for the banks who have it integrated in Markets) over S&T to maybe transition into IB? 

Apart from Equity Derivatives, would you guys say something related to Credit might be less automatable instead? Also, what about commodities? Do you guys feel like heading to a desk there might be too niche and destroying the already few exit opps available?

Thank you to everybody for the thread, very interesting

 

I guess a good way of thinking about it is how far into the automation process a desk is. From that point of view there's still some automation to be done on equities desks but they won't look too different in 5-10 years as most of the automation is done. Credit however, joined the automation party a bit late and it's been going in full swing lately so credit desks 5-10 years from now would probably look quite different (esp for IG or credit indices). That said, if you join a distressed desk there's no way this can get automated without sci-fi level AI. Credit is also massively varied, it can go from very macro (indices) to very micro (distressed or some real estate structuring) so you should also probably know what you're interested in.

Commodities have some fairly automated parts (market making of liquid products) but physical can't get automated. There aren't many buy side exit opps, but if you do energy or some metals you could do Glencore/Trafi/Vitol a few years down the line esp as a derivs prop trader if you did derivs. It's also a very interesting product.

Note, with all of these businesses, your pay is a function of mostly 3 things - how many trades you do (volume), how much you make per trade (margins) and how painful it is for the desk to lose you. If you join a highly illiquid product margins will be good, automation will be low so you might be painful to lose but volumes will be horrible. If you join a liquid product you get high volumes but low margins and potentially a lot of replaceability unless you're tech savvy. The problem is while you can have a general feel on these three measures based on type of product you trade, the combination of the three and thus your future comp is highly unpredictable. So the best way is to go with whichever product you enjoy the most as you could get shafted on comp in basically any product so if you do at least you won't hate what you're doing.

If you're just optimising for best odds to go to buy side without much care about product/style I'd do in order of probability of getting a buy side gig: IBD (think M&A and LevFin are best but don't really understand this part of the world) for PE/long-short -> vanilla rates derivs for FI RV vol and D1  -> some types of illiquid credit for credit funds (although often it's better to be analyst than a trader for buy side opps)-> FX options/delta one rates for macro/FI RV -> equity derivatives / commodity derivatives / any kind of exotic derivatives for vol funds -> delta one FX for macro but it's difficult

 

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Career Advancement Opportunities

March 2024 Investment Banking

  • Jefferies & Company 02 99.4%
  • Goldman Sachs 19 98.8%
  • Harris Williams & Co. (++) 98.3%
  • Lazard Freres 02 97.7%
  • JPMorgan Chase 03 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

March 2024 Investment Banking

  • Harris Williams & Co. 18 99.4%
  • JPMorgan Chase 10 98.8%
  • Lazard Freres 05 98.3%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.7%
  • William Blair 03 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

March 2024 Investment Banking

  • Lazard Freres 01 99.4%
  • Jefferies & Company 02 98.8%
  • Goldman Sachs 17 98.3%
  • Moelis & Company 07 97.7%
  • JPMorgan Chase 05 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

March 2024 Investment Banking

  • Director/MD (5) $648
  • Vice President (19) $385
  • Associates (86) $261
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (13) $181
  • Intern/Summer Associate (33) $170
  • 2nd Year Analyst (66) $168
  • 1st Year Analyst (202) $159
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (144) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

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success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”