Should I stick to ECM or move to M&A
Currently an ECM associate at a BB, I love my role from a personal standpoint. I work 8am to 6pm pretty much everyday and on Fridays I'm out by 5pm with 0 weekend work. I've been working in ECM in this team for 5 years and never once worked a weekend or stayed late. So it's amazing and we have a super nice culture as well which is rare for a large bank.
Additionally we have good deal flow and my pay is very good. It's similar to M&A so my base salary is the same but my bonus is slightly lower. However, after tax this difference works out to be minimal and unnoticeable. On an hourly basis my pay works out to be much better, I'm 100% confident I'm earning more on an hourly basis here in ECM than M&A bankers at the highest paying EBs like Centerview/PJT/Evercore etc. So with this in mind, I view my pay as higher than M&A.
However, I realised the only reason I'm loving my role is on a personal standpoint and I actually really don't like the work itself.. I find my day to day very repetitive and boring and later down the line you essentially just become a salesman. I'm now no longer looking forward to going into work and want a change.
I'm not entirely sure what I want to do long term so feel M&A and its exit ops might be a good idea. I've spoken internally and they've said they can move me into one of our M&A teams as there's a space available. I spoke to the team and asked them about their hours, the associate there said he finishes at 1am on average everyday and there's constantly weekend work.
I'm really not sure what to do because it feels like I should just suck it up and continue with ECM given the pay and hours and that M&A is actually just a complete horror show for less pay per hour - any advice?
what bank
bump
Bump
Can confirm. M&A hours are a horror show. It’s mostly ruined my life. If you go do it, make sure you have an exit plan in mind ahead of time.
Are you a2a or mba associate?
Having spent a few months in ECM myself earlier, I can relate to this. Ultimately it's up to you - a M&A experience would definitely be valuable both if you decide to stay in banking or not, but it will surely require you to i) work longer hours (=/= work harder, but you'll surely have less free time) and ii) to rebuild all your political capital (5 years are a long time in a team).
Keep in mind that to get proper M&A experience under your belt (i.e. not just a box tick exercise) you'd have to stick around in your new team for at least 1-1.5 years. By then you'll have 6+ years of tenure in IB (potentially getting into VP area?) and this will of course impact the array of opportunities you'll have if you want to leave, compared to an analyst/junior associate.
On a more operational basis, the only actual advice I can give you is to make the transition to a more vanilla team if possible (e.g. consumer/retail, industrials, etc) as it will ease the transition as opposed to more specialised teams (e.g. O&G, FIG) with lots of technicalities which will just add even further complexity.
^This.
I assume since OP works at a BB that ECM is more product--than industry--focused. Meaning, on a mandate ECM will call up the right coverage group which will do heavy modeling/industry lifting to support the execution. If that's the case--implying you have had minimal industry coverage/modeling/knowledge/etc. experience--then more 'vanilla' teams are probably the best execution. Totally agree that avoiding O&G and FIG is probably best and I'd also be wary of wandering into certain Healthcare & Technology sub-sectors. Certain sub-sectors (e.g., Pharma, Semiconductors) can get very nuanced very quickly. Granted this is the exception over the norm, but still something to consider.
One other consideration, M&A--IMHO--is more finance 'heavy' and also has a bit more 'legalese' in IOIs, LOIs, Purchase Agreements, etc. than ECM. Granted your GC or external counsel will cover a lot of this, but there are some pretty critical things that you should know within legal docs that could impact the deal, how it's modeled, process, etc.
Either way, +1 SB for this comment.
Take the plunge man. The reason I suggest it is that you have come to dislike the work owing to its repetitive nature, plus you are unsure abt your new path. Think abt it this way, if you continue in ECM, you'll just get more frustrated, and the cap markets experience isn't really known for its exit opps anyway, so a year down the line, your number of potential exits will narrow down even further.
I was in a similar boat and recently made such a switch. Obviously it will be a big shock work wise, since your daily responsibilities will be very different, but if you're up for the challenge, might as well give it a try. You've already been in ECM for 5yrs, maybe a change would be good for you in the long-term?
Worked in both and M&A is way more attractive if you have a sector of interest. If not, I mean running processes is just running processes.
Keep in mind that you’re currently finishing at 6pm with no WE, so basically you’ll be DOUBLING your hours effectively by switching to M&A. Meaning no social time during the week, no dinner dates, sleep deprivation, etc.
that said, if you want to leave in 1-2yrs, go to M&A
I'm kind of in a similar spot (or will be).
Given you will move internally to M&A (if you decided to), I would do deep DD on what that M&A team does. As detailed as what tasks do people there do (ask your close friends to forward you non sensitive emails), staffing sheets, list of deals they are working on, deals closed in recent years, hours (extremely detailed by seniority), culture (are the bosses difficult persons vs your current ones?) and you name it.
By then you will have a very concrete picture of what you are getting yourself into. You are in a particular good spot to do this as 1) you have already raised that you wanna move internally so do doing more DD won't burn any more bridges even if you boss find out 2) you move internally so you can do this level of deep detailed DD with your friends / peers getting you first hand info.
Then list out the goods and bads of going to M&A, and DD again each point carefully, especially those points that make you want to go there the most.For example, is the work really more interesting AT YOUR LEVEL (ask M&A peers to send you what they do), do they have exits? (See where ppl left to in recent years, are hours these bad? (Ask and also OBSERVE on skype etc)
Do share with us what you find out and your final decision.And I hope you can make the best rational decision for yourself.
All the best!
just tell yourself not to regret it
i'm working in M&A and sometimes (often) i question my life decisions when i see my ECM friends logging off and getting drinks and getting similar pay.
Is it common for analysts/associates to move (within firm) to M&A from ECM/ - have an offer from good MM firm for ECM (SA) that claims I could move over time to M&A if I wanted to do that, or even for FT after the SA in 23.
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