Take MM Bank Offer or Keep Recruiting?

Hey guys, just wanted to get your thoughts on this, since I'm really conflicted. I recently received an offer from a reputable MM firm. However I'm in the process with some other BBs and wanted to see that process through, but will most likely be unable to before the offer expires. What would you guys do in my situation? Let the offer explode and recruit, or sign and try to recruit for FT? Any advice/insight is greatly appreciated!

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I have a feeling a lot of people will be in this type of situation. I know it can be tempting to see what else may be in store, but given the current job environment, I would take the MM offer. With hiring as tight as it is at the moment and most banks not even doing FT recruiting outside of summer interns, I would hate to pass up an offer and then be stuck with nothing. Do you go to a target and have you networked? If so, I’d consider it depending on how well you think you have a shot at certain BBs. But, I’m a big believer in the idea that if being a good analyst at a top MM can get you near equivalent exits as most BBs.

 
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Went through this last year. I tried accelerating at top BBs because the offer was from a pretty big name-brand MM, but none were able to accommodate given that I only got a week on the offer. In the end took the MM.

I don’t really regret it, I think working at a MM is, at the end of the day, not that different from a BB. Exit ops are maybe a bit different, but I believe that if I go do good work at this MM I’ll have pretty similar options to a BB analyst.

As far as FT recruiting, I planned on doing the same and moving to a BB after my SA, but obviously that got a lot tougher with Corona. Even in a normal year though, I’d caution against relying on FT recruiting. It’s really tough, especially with timelines, and there’s a lot of really qualified kids who either landed top SAs and didn’t get a return or are trying to upgrade banks. In the end, I really liked everyone at my bank, and it was easy to just accept the return when I got it without worrying more about trying to recruit for a marginally better bank.

 

Three friends I know who worked at a mid tier BB ended up at 1B funds in Chicago, sf, and Austin. We’ve had over 20% of our analysts at my MM go to pe funds over 1B. BB’s give higher upside, but it really comes down to the candidate and their preparation. If you’re a top analyst at a top mm, you can get the same looks as an average bb analysts, but realistically you will not got umm/mf looks

 

The average BB analyst isn't ending up at BX or KKR, so while you probably won't even have a chance from an MM, but realistically your chance isn't very high even from a BB.

The best thing to look at is group specific exits from the MM- there's a huge range of MMs, and the exits from a top group at Blair or Baird is going to be vastly different from a mediocre group at Stifel.

Looking at my group, I saw a mix of MMPE, growth equity/VC, and a handful of UMM PE, so I felt comfortable enough with the exits to take the offer. I'm probably giving up my shot at a MF, but that's fine with me.

 

Idk how other feel about this, but I'd tell the BB my circumstances and see if they can move up a bit for you. This will work better the further into the process you are. When I recruited for laterals, I had no problems telling my favorite prospective employer that I was interviewing elsewhere and was more advanced in those processes and the issues that could come up with a short term exploding offer, and they were very understanding and did a lot to accommodate and keep me updated.

Dayman?
 

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