BB Product Group- pivot to PE or will I die here?
Hi,
I am in a BB product group. I joined full-time into IB having not originally planned to do IB, but redecided in my final year of my undergrad, and ended up landing a full-time role in a BB. To be frank, I was not that familiar with my product group (capital markets oriented) and thought the role was much more modelling heavy than it is.
Now I have definitely realised that I absolutely want to leave. I can't take another day of updating macro slides and sending pricing tables - it is just mindless flow work that requires very little intellectual capacity and it is just not for me. Having been exposed to PE through deals in my team and generally through my analyst network at the bank, I realise that it fits very well with my interests (the intersection of finance and strategy). So that's where I want to go, and I realise pivoting to M&A first is a must.
My bank does not have great mobility to M&A at the moment and I know of several people from product teams that tried to leave over the last year to M&A internally, but was asked to stay / did not get the job. So, I already started to look for lateralling, and actually managed to get an analyst offer for a M&A team in a non-BB bank - still well known international brand.
However, I have always been very ambitious and my bank is a very solid exit out of M&A to UMM/MF. I definitely want to join a MF if possible. If you didnt know that I was sitting in a product team and not M&A, you would probably think switching to the other bank was a step down. And, I am convinced that out of the other bank it will be much harder landing a good offer; it at least will not be a par with what I could get if I leave out of the BB. On the other hand, if I move internally, I will probably first start my M&A job in an year's time, at Associate 1 - Q is whether any MF would hire an associate with 2 years in non M&A. Not much deal experience you can talk about unless you wait until Associate 2/3...
So dilemma is if I should take the outside offer or try to negotiate / ask for rotation to M&A internally. I am really scared that my team will react adversely to the ask and that if I reject the outside offer / push to move internally instead and fail, I am just gonna get stuck in my product team and then my career is technically over before it started. Of course I could try and leverage the fact that I have an outside offer to see if the BB can make something work (I am a top bucket performer), but I don't want to seem like I am trying to 'blackmail' anyone.
Keen to hear your thoughts
Some banks are not great about internal mobility even if you're qualified, and it becomes much more difficult / nearing impossible if you are in a seat that doesn't model trying to jump to a top M&A group. If your bank's M&A group is sought after, there will be a very long line of qualified people with modeling reps to fill those seats. You may be able to move to coverage, especially into one of the less desired areas.
Not sure it helps, but you've kind of missed the boat on MF PE (at least for now). That overwhelmingly recruits during oncycle - which is right at the start of your first year, or maybe at the start of your second year (summer) if you lateral + are planning on a third analyst year. Seems like you are already into your second analyst year and that ship has sailed.
Top international brands will still place very well to MM PE, and you'll have more time to do it given much more off-cycle recruiting... I know this website really idolizes MF PE but you're talking about a dozen seats per MF each year, it's not a realistic exit for most people. If you're a star in PE, lateral up. But I think you'd be right to prioritize model and deal reps right now. BB ECM/DCM -> non-BB strong brand but M&A group is not really a downgrade because you are sitting in a product team.
you have 50 things to worry about before thinking about any MF
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