Related Posts
More Posts
Conversation Starter
Kindly help with 11 likes to support DM!!
Additional Posts in Consulting
How is the Sheraton in Hong Kong?
Bain & Company Can someone recommend a good starting point on how to go around solving case interviews? What frameworks should I follow? I am kinda new to case interview and want to develop skills to solve them. Any books, online sources would be really appreciable. Deloitte EY-Parthenon Strategy& McKinsey & Company Boston Consulting Group Bain & Company
New to Fishbowl?
Download the Fishbowl app to
unlock all discussions on Fishbowl.
unlock all discussions on Fishbowl.
Yes and yes by a lot.
I was in banking and I feel that the hours are much worse, but the stress is lower. Lot of time spent waiting around for things whereas in consulting it’s more constant of a stress/work level throughout
Pro
I spent 3 years in IB before moving over to consulting. First of all...yes IB is stressful and no it is not more stressful than consulting for most people. Please stop with the snarky posts above like “if you have to ask IB isn’t for you”
At the junior levels in IB, you will be rewarded if you do things as you are told WITHOUT making any mistakes. The not making mistakes part is KEY. You have to check and recheck your work 3-4 times before you submit. There is not as much time pressure in IB because as an analyst you have the whole night to finish something...I guess the time pressure is sleep so if you have endurance you can, in theory, make limited mistakes checking the whole night.
At the junior levels in consulting, you are expected to have your own ideas, not blindly follow what your manager tells you, and put out quality research or slides etc. with less guidance. Endurance plays less of a part than other skills...at junior levels IB is less stressful than Consulting. In my opinion a 70-hour week in consulting is worse than a 90-hour week in banking.
At the mid-levels (engagement manager or VP): IB is also significantly less stressful. This is because you have a team of solid associates (in your group) who know what they are doing. There’s not as much crazy problem solving to do AND you’re likely working with a few MDs that you’ve worked with for years so it’s easier to manage their expectations. Client challenges are the same as in consulting. In consulting, you will be working with different people, potentially across different countries/offices. You will have various partners whose expectations may also need to be managed. The problems you solve will be far different than what you have seen. Whereas in IB you also solve different problems, many of it is cut from the same cloth (eg. IB: client wants to acquire a company vs. client wants to spin out a division will require similar technical analysis; Consulting: Client wants to change the culture of their Wholesale division vs. A government has asked you for help balance their fiscal budget).
Senior levels: this is where it’s way more stressful in IB than in consulting. Whereas in consulting you can aim to have a steady revenue stream from key clients, in IB you as a senior always needs to be chasing the big fish, networking, staying relevant. Much harder to do once you are 40+ and wanting to have a family life living out in CT. Also a lot more cut throat here. Think about it like this, if you are a TMT MD and a big tech deal is announced (which will be public) and your bank didn’t get a piece, questions will be raised. A few more of those and you will be on the chopping block despite your pedigree. Much easier to mask lower performance in consulting as many of our projects are not publicized.
Hours are worse in IB yes, but that’s not the only cause of stress. Both have stresses from the client side, both have similar levels of politics, both have fires...although in consulting it’s more of a sprint than a marathon because in general people are trying to go home in consulting, whereas in IB they accept that they can be there the whole night.
The Strategy and Corp Dev group is a corporate and not internal. I left Deloitte a year ago.*
Pro
If you’re asking this ? You aren’t meant to be in IB
^^ True
Chief
Yes and yes
If your IBD MD meets his CEO mate at their regular strip club, and whilst motorboating some skank/gigolo the CEO hints he may be thinking of buying another company, you will be expected to turn around a fully researched and modelling pitch deck to be sent to the CEO for 9am Monday.
So yes, much more stressful.
Using the word “whiff” doesn’t resonate well given the context on this thread
Hours are much worse than consulting (generally). But, pay is higher.
No questions on the stress level. By a long shot IB is worse. Sure money is great and perceived “exit opps” but if ur already at a good enough consulting shop (tier 1 or tier 2) and doing CDD type engagements tbh you can still get to the same place bankers get to.
Another piece of nuance that’s missing from these comments is the variation in groups and banks. Some groups at a bank can have terrible cultures with round the clock stress and the constant need to be on and available, whereas others are more relaxed (product groups vs coverage groups, again not always but some places product works way more)
Rising Star
As said above, consulting tends to be worse at junior and mid levels and IB is worse at the senior levels.
Source: I worked in IB for 3 years before moving to Consulting (been here for 6 years now).
Obviously there’s variation in groups and banks but as mentioned a 60-70 hour week in consulting is worse than an 80-90 hour week in banking.
Who has made the jump into IB/PE?
@E3 - i got lucky; didn’t reach out to anyone within. I was having a normal convo w one of the partners and the opportunity presented itself. Took it and ran with it.
This world is all about “who you know”. I learned that at an early age and i put in more effort to build relationships with sr. Leadership (in addition to my relationships w colleagues).