On one hand, working in M&A is clearly a nightmare. One newly signed-up analyst tells us he’s been working ‘insane hours’ until 3-4am every day, including weekends.

On the other hand, the excitement of working on a live deal is difficult to replicate in the corporate world, even if you happen to be working for a go-getting, fast-paced new media company (or the online offshoot of an old fashioned publishing house).

This appears to be the conclusion reached by Tariq Hussein, the former European co-head of M&A at Dresdner, who has now joined Jefferies as an M&A MD.

In the accompanying fanfare, much has been made of Hussein’s 14 years of investment banking experience, but nothing’s been said about his recent more obscure role as manager of online resources at TSL Education, the UK’s ‘Leading Educational Publisher.’

We haven’t spoken to Hussein, but he appears to have exited Dresdner sometime around its post-Commerz M&A implosion, and shifted to TSL Education as a quick career filling option. He only worked there 11 months.

Former colleagues and headhunters say Hussein’s return to M&A at Jefferies is down to his passion for the ‘thrill of the deal:’ “He’s an M&A banker through and through,” muses one. Unfortunately, for thoroughbred M&A bankers it seems online education just doesn’t cut it.