Career Advice: NYC IB for non-US undergraduate
Summary: Australian undergraduate looking to break into US-IB. Heading into Australian SA recruiting cycle next year with decent prospects for Sydney-IB. However, I've currently got an internship which converted to a part time analyst role with a Boston-based AM/PE shop. The division I'm in focusses on institutional agricultural assets with deal size ranging USD20M-USD200M and current AUM approx. USD4Bn. My role is ~90% deals/acquisitions focused and I am getting solid exposure to MDs and PMs regularly. There is strong chance that I could leverage this into a grad role in Boston within the firm.
My question is the following: Should I gun for Sydney-IB next year, then if successful, try to transfer to a US office after 2-3years. Or should I use my current role to relocate then break into US-IB from Boston (either through off-cycle recruiting or potentially B-School)?
Mainly want to know if the US AM/PE agriculture job will be perceived positively or negatively by US Banks relative to a Sydney IB stint.
Appreciate its a pretty unique question and any comments/thoughts will be helpful.
CA isn’t going to get you into US IB
CA, as in Chartered Accountant? Or am I missing the acronym? If anything would be completing CFA during this time not CA.
What’s your citizenship? Do you have a green card? Your options are much more limited if you don’t have a green card. Best bet is get into sydney office of a BB then transfer
Nah only AU and EU citizenship. Only connection to the US would be this current role. My motivation for wanting US-IB is that ultimately Sydney is a very local/domestic market with limited deal flow and variety (from what I have heard). So you reckon even if this current firm could help facilitate immigration etc., it would still be better to go through Sydney office?. I have a mentor (ex old-school london banker) whose been telling me that Sydney can be a one way street and that all the cross-border deals are run from London/NYC. Appreciate he may be off the pulse given he hasn't been directly in banking for 5-10ish years (hence me getting opinions from WSO).
Yes understand your motivation but practically speaking you need an offer from a US based employer to make that move happen. And the most painless way is going through a BB then transfer offices internally.I'm not sure what are the conditions of your internship with this firm but have they mentioned that work visa sponsorship is on the table? And what is this part time analyst program you're a part of? Sounds pretty unusual to bring someone abroad for a part time internship. But not impossible I guess.Another question is do you want to stay with this fund or go into investment banking? Your title says NYC IB but this AM internship is in Boston
Fair that makes a lot sense, I will try to drill down in to specifics of what they might offer. In terms of the analyst program, it started off as a 6 month 3 days a week internship which morphed into an ongoing part time job as they realized I'm useful. The idea of staying with the company post-grad has been discussed, however so far on a fairly high level. Ultimately what tempts me about the opportunity is to get my foot in the door in the US finance industry which otherwise is pretty much impossible for an Australian with no US connection right out of uni. In long run though I would look to move to IB or some form of PE, either through off-cycle recruiting or potentially B-School. The crux of the decision for me is all about opportunity cost: (a) I stay in AU, potentially do domestic IB and forgo the move to the US until later (if at all possible), or (b), I establish myself in Boston, complete my CFA, network hard from within the industry or go to business school and build a career from there, but forgo the IB Analyst on my resume (and the ability to transfer from within a bank). As an Australian (and as a student) the tricky thing is weighing up which option is going to be the best (risk-adjusted) and how much not having the IB Analyst "right-of-passage" might hurt my long-term prospects. Where I want to end up is the same: US-IB/PE, I need advice on what the best way to get there is.
Both seem equal to me. Anecdotally I've seen other Australians make it into IB through transferring to a US office within the same firm. I've also seen others break in through MBA programs. All I'm saying is while you have your internship right now, I would not consider any "high level" verbal conversations as a strong indication that they'll give you anything. I strongly suggest you keep recruiting for Australian IB, get some offers, then have another conversation with your current firm to see where things stand. Worst thing you can do is bank on this AM firm, then they fuck you over, and then you don't have anything else at home lined up either.
My 0.02 as an international working in NYC IB (but I went to undergrad in US).
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