CHEERING TALES: The M&A analyst who moved into a start-up
This week's Cheering Tale © concerns an M&A analyst who voluntarily left the bulge bracket in search of a new life free of pitchbooks. He is now very happily employed at an investment start-up.
Current role
I'm an investment associate at a start-up investment fund in London. We recently completed our FSA registration process and are about to launch our first deal to investors.
Previous role
I graduated from a leading UK university with a Masters degree in engineering, interned at Goldman Sachs during my course, and went straight into the M&A department of a bulge bracket investment bank.
When the lights went out
They didn't really go out, they came on. I voluntarily left my M&A role in late 2007 while the storm clouds were gathering. Two things motivated my decision: I saw people being hired into lucrative and more rewarding buyside jobs earlier and earlier in their careers; and I saw little upside in another 3 years of banking pitchbooks.
There is a secular decline in bulge bracket investment banking and the credit boom has only delayed this.
Job search techniques
I disregarded almost all headhunters early on in my job search. Contacts are far more important. If you have no personal contacts, find a name from news sources or industry publications and cold email them. Wait 24h for a 'read receipt' from that email and then call them at a sensible time in their working day. Have a short script prepared about why you're of interest and ask to meet them.
That said, one or two headhunters really impressed me or my friends, and I would always make time for their calls.
The low point
When Lehman collapsed. I realised that was going to have a very negative affect on my job search
Life without income
There was never really a time when I had no income - I always found ways to monetize my banking skills.
Lessons learned
Don't waste time 'taking time out' - strictly only take as long as you need to get fit again and to examine your options. Decide quickly what you want to do next- speak to friends and mutual friends for information and don't go by much else. Their advice is the best insight you'll get.
