Q&A: If you want to progress in investment banking, don't over-engineer your career

May Nasrallah worked at Morgan Stanley for over 15 years, in locations across the world and in multiple divisions. After such a long period in the same bank, she decided to go it alone by setting up boutique firm deNovo Corporate Advisors in Dubai. She tells us why, and offers advice to any investment bankers looking for alternatives currently.

How did you break into the investment banking industry?

It was the early-1990s, I was set to graduate with my MBA from MIT’s Sloan School and investment banking was the hot industry that everyone talked about on campus. So I applied to some associate schemes out of sheer curiosity and was lucky enough to get offers from both Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs.

Choosing between them was very tough, but after much deliberation I ended up choosing Morgan Stanley because of their people and their “associate pool” programme, where you got to rotate in various departments within investment banking for a few years before specialising and that appealed to me because I had no prior experience, so it would have been tough to choose a specialty from the beginning. Goldman’s more structured process required you to choose a specific division from day one.

What advice would you give people currently trying to do so?

Think twice! I was fortunate enough to have started in a very different market environment and had a great career in investment banking, but in today’s environment it’s very tough to try and break into the industry.  The macro-economic environment everywhere is not pretty and investment banks are suffering meaningfully. The industry as a whole is shrinking; fewer people are being brought into the bulge bracket global firms and even fewer get to stay.

Today, it is very important to be open-minded and flexible if seeking to enter the industry.  If you’re narrowly focused on what you want to do – only applying for specific division or particular region – then you limit your opportunities in an already tough market.

Is it still possible for investment bankers elsewhere in the world to orchestrate a move to the Middle East?

A lot people are interested in the Middle East again, because comparatively speaking there’s more growth and therefore the perception is more hiring here than in the US or Europe.  However, hiring here for the large banks is tough as well.  There are a lot of layoffs in investment banking, and I don’t see that subsiding any time soon, so it’s natural for people to look for alternatives – such as local or regional banks and organisations, or the big accounting firms’ advisory divisions, etc. as opposed to the large well known global banks.

The majority of international banks based in the Middle East are also shrinking, so anyone looking to move from, say, London will find it hard. The important thing is to have a genuine interest in the region, and an understanding of how business is conducted here, and best if you have experience working here as well.  This will separate you from the people who just like the idea of moving to the Middle East because the grass seems greener here.

There are also opportunities outside of the bulge brackets – local banks are developing their investment banking teams, while there’s also a demand for the sort of expertise that investment bankers can bring within the finance teams of large regional corporates.

Has your career been conventional or capricious?

There’s no such thing as a conventional career in this sector as far as I can tell.  I stayed with the same organisation for over 15 years, but my career has still been incredibly diverse. I started working in New York in M&A, but then moved to a project finance position and then a role focusing on high yield capital markets. I spent a spell in Hong Kong helping corporates and governments across Asia raise bond financings there until the Asian crisis hit and then moved back to NY to focus on leverages buyouts for private equity firms. I then moved to London in the early-2000s to focus on telecom companies acquisitions and financings, just in time for the dotcom market to blow up!  I then was asked to set up and lead a group called liability management to help governments and companies optimise their balance sheets.

In 2005, I moved to Dubai to set up and lead Morgan Stanley’s investment banking business in the Middle East.  I was lucky enough to work in most regions aside from Africa and Latin America and it’s been quite an educational and professionally fulfilling experience.

You spent over 15 years working at Morgan Stanley, what advice would you give to people looking to succeed or move up in their career without moving organisations?

Keep your head down and work very hard. Do your job exceptionally well and don’t over-engineer your career, and very often your efforts are rewarded.

What ultimately drove your decision to leave the firm?

It was a very tough decision to leave. I loved Morgan Stanley and I loved my career there, but the primary reason was that I spotted a gap in the Middle East market that I wanted to fill and I wanted after all these years in a large institution to go something entrepreneurial.

I’m originally from Lebanon and I grew up in Kuwait, but I hadn’t been back to the region for a long time, and never worked professionally in the Middle East until I moved to Dubai in 2005. I really enjoyed working here and saw that the region did need high quality professional advisory services to expand and grow it businesses.  This included M&A advisory as well as fund raising, IPOs and restructurings for both government related entities as well as the private sector.

When the financial crisis hit, many of the bulge bracket banks decided to refocus their strategy on sovereign wealth funds and large government related corporate and conglomerates.  They did not, however, want to focus broadly on the private sector, in particular the mid caps and I felt that segment of the market was not serviced from the bulge bracket firms.

To that end, I wanted to set up an advisory form targeting companies that were not necessarily really large caps today, but with the right hand-holding and advisory services could still grow – could buy out their competitor or sell a stake to a strategic buyer, or eventually IPO in the local markets. The idea of setting a best in class boutique advisory firm with top notch bulge bracket highly experienced professionals really appealed to me.

What matters most, talent or hard work?

You can’t have one without the other. Hard work really matters, particularly when you are more junior, however it will only take you so far without talent.

What would you always advise people to do before they step into an interview with you?

Come prepared – you need to know about the sector, the market environment, and what it is we do, and what it is they would like to do, and why. They need a good argument as to why they want to work in the sector or in our firm, and they need to present that in a logical way.  Having a strong technical background is imperative and the right personality to fit in is key as well.  We work a lot in groups, hence the ability to work well with others is very important.

You’re only allowed to hire one person in the next six months. Can you describe their ideal profile?

Someone who is hard-working, has a strong presence without being overbearing and is technically very qualified, with a strong background from one of the top firms and top universities. They need to be a self-starter and able to work independently, but also get along well with other people in the team.