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Speaking only generally, it would seem to me that the potential to make money in sales (assuming you are talented) is virtually infinite. And sales experience appears to translate to any other field one may choose to pursue.
Speaking only generally, it would seem to me that the potential to make money in sales (assuming you are talented) is virtually infinite. And sales experience appears to translate to any other field one may choose to pursue.
Very valid points. Thank you very much for bringing those to my attention - didn't even think about the sales experience transitioning over to other sectors.
Analyst is the grind, the first step up the ladder. Ridiculous hours (14-16 hours is pretty normal day) for what really isn't great pay. If you can swing it and avoid making any bad mistakes which make your bosses look bad you will eventually get to the real career where money is good and 10-12 hour days actually happen.
At this point as an intern you probably will end up an analyst no matter what. You really need some experience and understanding of the business to be in sales. Most sales people are either experienced sales professionals from other fields or people who have worked on both sides of the sales transaction already. If you are selling research you need to have both buy and sell side experience to get many gigs without a sales background. If you are selling M&A you need to have been at the table helping get deals closed to really be able to sell a deal well. If you are selling consulting you need to have a good understanding of an industry. In all fields you need a solid network and someone fresh out of school probably doesn't have that yet.
I am thinking about taking an internship in the investment banking sector and have been asked, would you rather be an Analyst or Sales?
My two main questions:
1.) Ultimately, which has the potential to make more money and move up the "ladder" quicker? Analyst or Sales?
2.) Which of those two would you choose as a business student trying to enter the investment banking sector and make it very successful?
Thank you so much!!
I am an analyst in a similar industry (wealth management), just so you know what perspective I am coming from. In terms of 'moving up the ladder', sales is the way to go. The wealthiest people nearly always come from the sales side. That being said, don't pick one or the other based on money or chances to move upward quickly. It is a very intense industry where you will put in a lot of work regardless of what side of the fence you are on. Also, if you are good at what you do, you will make enough to not have to worry about money regardless of whether you are on the sales side or an analyst.
What do you want to do? Do you want to be on the phone all day pushing for more clients or do you want to explore more fundamental analysis? Personally, I enjoy running through research to figure out how to model a foreign government's macroeconomic future, as an example. I don't enjoy cold calling for potential business. Given the intensity of the business, I would burn out in a year as a sales guy. Make the decision based on what you enjoy or I guarantee you will not last.
> I am an analyst in a similar industry (wealth management), just so you know what perspective I am coming from. In terms of 'moving up the ladder', sales is the way to go. The wealthiest people nearly always come from the sales side.
That's because wealth mgmt. is a sales job. Investment banking jobs are sales whether selling to investment mgmt. firms or selling banking deals to corporations. That's why they call is the 'sell-side'
If you want to manage a portfolio, one is a lot less likely to get there from sales.
> I am an analyst in a similar industry (wealth management), just so you know what perspective I am coming from. In terms of 'moving up the ladder', sales is the way to go. The wealthiest people nearly always come from the sales side.
That's because wealth mgmt. is a sales job. Investment banking jobs are sales whether selling to investment mgmt. firms or selling banking deals to corporations. That's why they call is the 'sell-side'
If you want to manage a portfolio, one is a lot less likely to get there from sales.
Investment banking is a sales job as well We deal with IB firms very regularly. No one ends up on top coming from the analyst side of things. You don't end up running an IB firm from the analyst side of things.
This last statement presumes that you want to stay at an IB firm or run one. The IB analyst job opens you up to many other opportunities on the buy-side- private equity, hedge funds, mutual funds.
It's true that most CEOs of investment banks seem to come from the sales side or general management. But nothing precludes someone from being an analyst, turning into a banker, and then running the bank from there. The question posed- do you want to do the analyst side or the sales side implies analyst track, not sell-side publishing analyst.
Do you prefer working with people or crunching numbers? Although you'll have to do both with either path, you will focus on crunching numbers as an Analyst and dealing with people in Sales.
And if you're still unsure, why not try both if there's a rotation, like texdev said.
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