To be in Investment Banking, or not to be in Investment Banking? That is the Question.

There was a voluntary Investment Banking seminar in the auditorium. When I came in, I sat down in the front row, and I was looking straight at one of the speakers in the panel. I knew that look. Only investment bankers have that demeanor: extremely elegant with a touch of arrogance… a tired look from working all night…. but if you look into his eyes, it’s like staring into the eyes of a shark.

I was used to this look; I worked with it for the last 2 years. It was funny, but when I came into the seminar, and sat across from this guy, I felt strangely comfortable, but at the same time I felt this incredible hatred for this profession, because it stole 2 years of my life, and my soul.

I felt like the main character in Monkey Business: a guy who returned to banking after his MBA because he was mindlessly trapped in the recruiting process of Banking. You see, Bankers trap you early: right when you arrive, so that you have no other options. They say that a high percentage of Bankers who say they will never come back ultimately do. I felt that I could be one of those people. I felt weak.

The character in Monkey Business, his name was Troob. He wrote that Investment Bankers love to trap fresh unsuspecting souls from MBA programs, the weakest ones. They trap them with their promises of glamorous traveling jobs with lots of client interaction and money. The Bankers know that those who have already done Banking never want to return. But they also know that after Banking, a person has become defeated from years of being beaten down, and are therefore easily persuaded to return…

That is my problem. I came to business school to get as far away from Banking as possible. I wanted to get into Industry. Most probably the Healthcare industry. Possibly hospital administration. I wanted to actually have a work life balance. I wanted to have time for family, friends and salsa, and hopefully my own family someday. But then the Bankers arrived and I got confused. Did I want to go back to a bank? Banking, Trading & finance are the only things I know. I could do Wealth Management or Equity Research, I thought. Not as many hours, maybe only 12-14 a day. I am financially savy. I am comfortable with the markets. But if I wanted to do that, or any line of banking career, I had to act now. And that meant work work work and competition competition competition. There was no time to think about new careers. That was the Bankers’ plan. Industry was for slackers. But I came to business school to take a chance. Why was I afraid?

It is like you are in a dream, and you see yourself doing something really stupid, that you know is bad for you, but you can’t stop yourself. You watch yourself do it. I have already committed myself to attending the rest of the Investment Banking sessions, and most likely applying for an internship at a bank. But it feels like I am that person in the dream...

Now what should I do?