aceman626 wrote:
Interesting. How about S&T? I heard they work a lot less hours than IB, with about the same pay, and easier to get into the PE/HF. Is there any truth to that, and can someone describe S&T more in depth?
One more thing, what about Finance jobs (IB/S&T/PE/HF) jobs internationally? Anyone's got knowledge about what's the compensation/lifestyle/how hard it is to get/etc for those high level finance jobs in say HK. London, etc? What about other major cities but not known as finance centers? I am assuming that HK/London is like NY, and other cities are like SF/LA? Do major firms recruit to international locations at the top bschools?
For London, just do a find replace on New York, though the structure of London is very much different (noone lives central unless very wealthy or homeless). Anywhere else in Europe you need to have languages, I think Frankfurt is pretty hard work, Paris I am not so sure. Labour laws in Europe are excellent to workers, but most IBs will doubtless ask you to sign them away.
PE is much like IB, but in special purpose vehicles with their own money. It is the same thing, to my mind, apart from it is done with their own money rather than processing the buy out for others, taking stakes themselves etc. I hybrid of M&E & VC of sorts.
HFs are available, but I would argue that you don't want to be in a HF before you have worked in S+T - there is less structure to training, more covering of multiple tasks, and they can vary hugely from being 30-500 people, plus finding out about them can be very tricky (bar the big few). It would be safer to go into an IB trading floor.
Comparing S+T is something I strongly argue as an being entirely incomparable part of the bank. IB is relationships, legals, decks, late nights. S+T is stress, quick maths, techy geeks, stress from other people. The skills required, atmosphere and ability to get fired for a f*ck-up (or just hate the atmosphere) are disproportionately higher. I say this as someone who is aware how much I would hate the type of work involved in IB M&A, but really enjoy S+T related stuff.