Hello all. I apologize in advance for another career post. I’ve been working in corporate development for the past 3+ years, completed my first year of MBA part-time, and level 2 of the CFA. I’m on track to finish this spring. On campus recruiting activities start in the next couple weeks and I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about what path to choose for the next step in my career. The dilemma I’m having is the following: My experience and background will likely make it fairly “easy” for me to land a financial leadership program position (I interview very well and am not too worried about that). If I go this route, I will be in a position to move up into a management/director role down the road and will enjoy a pretty favorable work/life balance. However, if I choose this path it will be pretty difficult to move into an investment role down the road, if I should decide I want to give it a try to see if I enjoy it more than corporate life. So an alternative I am considering is investment banking. I figure that pursuing an IB associate role would give me some exposure to the financial industry and keep my options open for the next couple years. If I decided the investment side is where I want to be, I would be in a good position to transition. If I want to go back to corporate life I should be able to come in as an associate/manager of a corporate development group. The thing is, I am not really all that interested in working in IB. Functionally I don’t think I will learn much in terms of finance skill, but closing more deals and getting broader industry exposure would be helpful I think. But the thought of 90+ hours a weeks and having no personal life for another couple years troubles me. I am interested in working on the buy-side in a PE/HF role, but there are not many opportunities in my location at the moment, and there won’t be any on campus. I may be able to go that route directly out of school but I think it would be difficult, and it would certainly be more risky compared to accepting an on campus role and not having to think about job searching my last semester. I’m interested in hearing the perspective of those who have gone through this process. Also for those of you who currently/previously worked as an IB associate – how would you rate the experience? Did you learn a lot? Did the hours suck as much as I anticipate? Where did you transition following this role? If it makes a difference I would consider associate roles at Lazard Middle Market and Harris Williams, as they are the only IBs I know of with offices hiring in my location. Ultimately, I don’t want to regret not taking a risk to try something different and challenging. But at the same time I don’t want to regret taking a position that ends up being a waste of my last on campus recruiting opportunity. Thanks
Disclaimer: I’ve never been an IB analyst/associate. However, if I was in your situation, I would choose IB. It might be hard for the couple of years that you are there, but you will have more options at the end. You might even like it and not want to go back to a corporate finance job. On the other hand, it’s difficult to transition from corporate finance to IB.
Thanks for the input. My line of thinking right now is pretty similar.
Anyone else?
So your realistic options are: 3 years of IB hell, followed by a lot of opportunities in AM or IB Or, a lifetime in Corp fi. Have a cozy life but always wonder what would have happened had you gone IB wish I could offer you advice – I’m actually asking myself the same questions. I may pursue an MBA in a couple of years. DO you go to a great PT MBA program? I didn’t know you could get IB Associate jobs and corp LDP jobs out of a PT MBA. Are a lot of your classmates taking advantage of OCR and switching careers? If so, I will put serious thought into a PT MBA.
If I were you, I would go the IB route. While it may be intense, you will gain invaluable experience that will give you more options later on. If, after a couple years, you are miserable w/the work life balance, then you could move into a corporate dev. role somewhere, and your IB experience would be extremely helpful. I’m currently an IB analyst at a boutique firm. I couldn’t be happier with my experience thus far (been here almost 2 years). While my schedule can be unpredictable, it’s worth it at this point in my life when I don’t have kids, etc. If, at some point, the work life balance doesn’t work for me anymore, I’m confident that I could find a corp. dev. director role.
IB. You can always go from IB to Corp fin. But you cant do Corp Fin and go to IB later.
buyicide Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > So your realistic options are: > 3 years of IB hell, followed by a lot of > opportunities in AM or IB > Or, a lifetime in Corp fi. Have a cozy life but > always wonder what would have happened had you > gone IB > > wish I could offer you advice – I’m actually > asking myself the same questions. I may pursue an > MBA in a couple of years. > > DO you go to a great PT MBA program? I didn’t > know you could get IB Associate jobs and corp LDP > jobs out of a PT MBA. Are a lot of your classmates > taking advantage of OCR and switching careers? If > so, I will put serious thought into a PT MBA. buyicide: Yeah that’s exactly the situation. I would hate to wonder what might have been. I go to a school that’s in the 25-35 range, but is very highly regarded in the area. The main reason I didn’t look elsewhere is I didn’t want to leave the state and know that getting a top 10 wouldn’t have made a difference for me. I’m not sure about other PT programs, but mine is the same exact classes, professors, and OCR opportunities. The downside is I can’t participate in the student run investment fund, VC, or consulting programs. Networking is also more difficult. However, I’ve actually been told by people in the career center that some of the corp dev/LDP recruiters actually prefer PT students as they tend to have more experience and have proven an ability juggle priorities. PT just made more sense in my situation. My workload ebbs and flows painfully, and during downtime I might as well be doing homework instead of picking my nose. Plus I get tuition reimbursement, and I get to keep making a salary and getting experience for my resume. Steph96/$tarving_Banker: Thanks for the feedback. Most of the people I’ve talked to have given a similar response. Seems maybe I’m the only one who thinks it’s not an easy decision.
artvandalay Wrote: > Steph96/$tarving_Banker: > Thanks for the feedback. Most of the people I’ve > talked to have given a similar response. Seems > maybe I’m the only one who thinks it’s not an easy > decision. It’s only easy because it isn’t our lives. Best of luck to you.
The one guy is 24 yrs old. I used to think like that. But I’m in my late 20’s and will be in my 30’s by the time I could move into a post MBA IB role. I’m also engaged. I will have a wife that a) wants to see me and b) doesn’t want to move to NYC. Also – IB associate does not open the doors that IB analyst does. You are not getting big time PE post MBA unless you did it before your MBA. Those slots go to guys who did 2 yr IB analyst > 2 yr pre MBA PE > H/S/W MBA > Post MBA PE. By the time you finish your 3 yr IB Associate gig, you will be competing for jobs with guys who have 5 yrs of PE experience and a better pedigree. It just doesn’t happen. Also: Corp fi may not be as interesting, but it can be very lucrative. CFO’s make bank. A guy who moves up the ranks at GE or Boeing will make a lot of money. Post mba Corp fi roles start at $100K base. I may still do MBA > IB (if I can’t land HF/ good AM). I am aware of the potential. I just think that the decision is harder for older people. At the end of the day it is just a job. I’m in the best years of my life right now. I don’t know if it’s worth trading for 3 years of my life for slightly improved career upside. Also: IB sounds like a horrible job. F*** powepoints. This is a major life decision and it requires a lot of soul searching.
buyicide Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > The one guy is 24 yrs old. I used to think like > that. But I’m in my late 20’s and will be in my > 30’s by the time I could move into a post MBA IB > role. I’m also engaged. I will have a wife that > a) wants to see me and b) doesn’t want to move to > NYC. > > Also – IB associate does not open the doors that > IB analyst does. You are not getting big time PE > post MBA unless you did it before your MBA. Those > slots go to guys who did 2 yr IB analyst > 2 yr > pre MBA PE > H/S/W MBA > Post MBA PE. By the time > you finish your 3 yr IB Associate gig, you will be > competing for jobs with guys who have 5 yrs of PE > experience and a better pedigree. It just doesn’t > happen. > > Also: Corp fi may not be as interesting, but it > can be very lucrative. CFO’s make bank. A guy who > moves up the ranks at GE or Boeing will make a lot > of money. Post mba Corp fi roles start at $100K > base. > > I may still do MBA > IB (if I can’t land HF/ good > AM). I am aware of the potential. I just think > that the decision is harder for older people. At > the end of the day it is just a job. I’m in the > best years of my life right now. I don’t know if > it’s worth trading for 3 years of my life for > slightly improved career upside. Also: IB sounds > like a horrible job. F*** powepoints. > > This is a major life decision and it requires a > lot of soul searching. I am married too, and this is a major complicating factor to be sure. We got married right after undergrad (we had been dating since junior year in high school), and I have been doing CFA/MBA stuff the whole time we’ve been married. My wife is very understanding and supportive, and she is all for me doing whatever I decide I want to do. But I really do feel like I owe her more of my time once school is over. She’s been very patient with me, and I would really like to do more traveling and fun stuff with her while we’re still young and while we don’t have any kids. I agree with you that IB sounds like a pretty terrible job, and I would be much more interested in a buy-side analyst role. The trouble is there aren’t any at OCR this year (there usually are). I could decide to try and get something off-campus, but it is more of a risk that I won’t find something, especially as I’m looking for a start date in June/July at most postings are looking to hire for an immediate need. That doesn’t mean it couldn’t happen though.
IB isn’t that great for getting a buy side AM gig anyway. Maybe buy side will happen for you this year. If not, you could take the corp fi gig and use that experience + CFA to land a sell side or fundamental driven buy side gig down the road, if you so choose. I guess your pitch would be that you are an industry expert with a CFA.
Hokienomics Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > if you have > hesitations about doing IB, then most likely it is > not for you. +1
^That thought has also crossed my mind as well. Probably not something to go into half-heartedly. I guess my gut feeling would be not to do IB. But I don’t want to give up the opportunity of trying out the investment side of things. Maybe I’ll try to land a corporate roll, and look for a buy side opportunity at the same time, and if something comes up that sounds more promising I can renege on the OCR job 
I appreciate the advice.