Some background.....
This is a slightly altered (to remove company names) answer I gave in an email. It gives a little background on why I left my old firm and why I am willing to consider coming back.
It's a little complicated. I was an Associate at my old firm and my boss (DS) was a Senior Analyst. They promoted me to Analyst when he died and I was given the impression that they weren't going to hire a Senior Analyst over me... When you are just starting to have your own coverage you are just an Analyst - there isn't necassarily always a Senior Analyst as well. When I got the Associate offer at my current NYC job and asked my old firm to counter I learned that they were in fact going to hire a Senior Analyst above me. It was all very disceptive and shaddy. That was a part of the reason I left, but another reason was because experience at a bulge-bracket firm would give me the skills and credibility to work anywhere else afterwards. I had started looking for another job well before DS passed away - I think my first interview was last November. I felt like I had maxed out what I could learn working for him and it was time to move on. Most people stay an Associate at their first firm for only 2 years, and I had been there for 4.
My old firm has now hired a Senior Analyst, a woman (DC) that is well respected in the space (2nd behind DS). She didn't know about the crap the company was doing to me and was rather disappointed to learn (when she finally got hired about a month after I left) what had occurred. There is a lot of investment banking business to be had in our sector and it is going to be a very profitable area for the company over the next few years. If they hire her an inexperienced Associate (very few people know our sector), it would take time for her to train that person and they will not be able to follow as many stocks. They have said that if I come back, I will work underneath her for the first 6 months as we get her coverage ramped up, but then I would get my own coverage - so they will be developing me into an Analyst -- this is what DS had been doing with me all along. In effect, I will be in the same place I was when I left -- in the process of making the switch to become an Analyst -- but happier.
Coming back allows me to cover a sector I enjoy more (water compared to electric) and gives me the opportunity to learn under a different mentor. Also, the salary bump compared to what I was making is nice -- it went up when DS died, when my NYC firm hired me, and now my old firm is willing to pay me more than I currently make.... when you take into account that it is higher pay in a cheaper cty, the difference is considerable.
So that's that.... nothing is set in stone though. The next step is for me to meet with DC, the Senior Analyst, face to face. Although we know each other from industry events, we haven't really spent any time together. She needs to make sure that we will work well together before I receive an official offer. We are meeting next Friday....
STAY TUNED!
