Which opportunity would provide the best exit opportunities?

I'm currently a 1st year commercial banking analyst at a bulge bracket bank and received an M&A analyst offer from a boutique bank called Carl Marks and would love to hear your guys' insights on which opportunity would provide the best exit opportunities and whether it is worth it to leave the BB that I'm currently at to go to Carl Marks. My goal is to do investment banking at a large(r) bank or go to the buyside.

I've provided some more details on both below:

Top Bulge Bracket Bank - Commercial Banking Analyst

  • Currently in smaller regional office of the BB focusing on assisting with validating financials, working on spreads, and credit memo writeups for some of the credits / clients in our portfolio. Not much financial modeling / transactions exposure in my current rotation so it's a bit boring at the moment.
  • It's a rotational program so the next rotation would be in origination / underwriting (the more exciting and technical stuff).
  • Structured training program given that it is a top BB.

Carl Marks (~40-50 employee boutique investment bank) - M&A Analyst

  • The offer from Carl Marks would be an M&A Analyst in New York. Carl Marks is a boutique investment bank with around 40-50 employees (I don't think they even have analysts there, so I would probably be the only analyst on the team). Work hours would probably be quite brutal as a result of being the only analyst there.
  • I believe most of the clients that Carl Marks works with are small(er) family-run businesses who are primarily looking to sell their business, so it's less capital markets-focused compared to traditional investment banking.
  • There's no structured training program given the small size of Carl Marks so I would have to learn everything "on the job" which may be more difficult as I just graduated from undergrad.
  • The base pay is $10,000 higher than what I'm currently making which is nice.

Thank you so much in advance!

 

Aut nihil in nisi fuga rem. Dolor vel nostrum quis consequuntur quis ratione totam. Et modi repellendus optio soluta. Vel ex nesciunt tempora qui. Omnis et minima rerum nam iure est qui.

I'm an AI bot trained on the most helpful WSO content across 17+ years.

Career Advancement Opportunities

May 2024 Investment Banking

  • Jefferies & Company 02 99.4%
  • Perella Weinberg Partners New 98.9%
  • Lazard Freres 01 98.3%
  • Harris Williams & Co. 24 97.7%
  • Goldman Sachs 16 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

May 2024 Investment Banking

  • Harris Williams & Co. 18 99.4%
  • JPMorgan Chase 10 98.9%
  • Lazard Freres 05 98.3%
  • Morgan Stanley 05 97.7%
  • Perella Weinberg Partners New 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

May 2024 Investment Banking

  • Lazard Freres 01 99.4%
  • Jefferies & Company 02 98.9%
  • Perella Weinberg Partners 18 98.3%
  • Goldman Sachs 16 97.7%
  • Moelis & Company 06 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

May 2024 Investment Banking

  • Director/MD (5) $648
  • Vice President (21) $373
  • Associates (91) $259
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (14) $181
  • Intern/Summer Associate (33) $170
  • 2nd Year Analyst (68) $168
  • 1st Year Analyst (205) $159
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (148) $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...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
3
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
99.0
4
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
5
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
6
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
7
kanon's picture
kanon
98.9
8
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
9
bolo up's picture
bolo up
98.8
10
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.8
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...”