Given how the market for jobs is terrible, deal flow is dead as well. I currently work in a support role (Operations) in the Sales & Trading side of a bulge bracket. I want to move to FO. Now, you’re probably thinking “Dream on… no way you’re gonna get from the back to the front, especially in this environment”. But I want to give it a shot. What is the best path to take? If M&A isn’t hiring, what’s the next best… perhaps Equity Research? Please offer absolutely any suggestions you may have. I appreciate all comments, positive or negative.
Equity research is at least as difficult as M&A to get into right now. You’re right, it is an extremely difficult transition to make. To be honest, I can’t seem to even brainstorm a good path for that right now. Although you should definitely take comfort in the fact that you do have a job currently. My best suggestion is to wait to attempt the transition until the situation improves and in the mean time take steps to better position yourself through a degree or something of that sort. If you have a decent background in statistics / marketing, you could maybe try to get hired as a market analyst. These positions typically exist within corporations themselves to determine the outlook of future product launches and within advertising agencies to determine demographics and penetration. I think these positions could definitely offer you a leg up when the financial markets improve in terms of getting M&A or research positions covering the same sector as they could arguably improve your forecasts and industry insights.
They are hiring at the major companies for people to do Corporate Development / M&A, but it is very competitive and hard to get into. These are not investment banks, but regular companies who have an investment banking type group doing M&A work within the company.
You might also consider internal/corporate M&A within the investment bank that you’re looking at. Other than that, there really isn’t a great route to M&A in this job market with the exception of M&A itself. That said, if you are aspiring to move to a transacting role, you really want to get your hands as dirty with analysis and accounting as possible – that’s why Black Swan’s suggestion for equity research, while still very competitive these days, is also a possibility. I don’t know that many people that have moved from equity research to investment banking or private equity, but it can be done (at least when the job market was good).
You could try Business Valuation groups in the Big 4, or boutique valuation shops like Duff & Phelps.
In this market, your best bet is a Restructuring / Insolvency / Distressed financial advisory job. A lot of companies going into bankruptcy protection or receivership and need to restructure and/or sell assets. Your problem will be that a lot of us who already have M&A experience are shifting into this area already. http://www.rothschild.com/investmentbanking/ibcred.asp?id=ib-restructuring&sharedawards=no http://www.alvarezandmarsal.com/en/global_services/turnaround_restructuring/services/ http://www.deloitte.com/dtt/section_node/0,1042,sid%3D1069,00.html
good point bhill - go the restructuring/distressed route. any wager on how long the restructuring sector will last? usually a cyclical business with other parts of the bank…
bhill020 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > In this market, your best bet is a Restructuring / > Insolvency / Distressed financial advisory job. A > lot of companies going into bankruptcy protection > or receivership and need to restructure and/or > sell assets. Your problem will be that a lot of > us who already have M&A experience are shifting > into this area already. > > http://www.rothschild.com/investmentbanking/ibcred > .asp?id=ib-restructuring&sharedawards=no > > http://www.alvarezandmarsal.com/en/global_services > /turnaround_restructuring/services/ > http://www.deloitte.com/dtt/section_node/0,1042,si > d%253D1069,00.html Agreed…good luck getting a gig in restructuring. That’s probably the only other place I’d rather be right now instead of my current role, if push came to shove.