Hi Guys, some great advice and reads on this site so a quick thanks in advance for everyone's effort to make this site a well-rounded resource.
I wanted to reach out to those with experience for advice on a possible career transition.
Do you ever see candidates with 2-3 years of work experience transition into an analyst role at BBs? MMs? Boutiques? I feel pretty confident (and probably a little naive) that I can handle the technical aspect as well as the hours of the job but I'm having a hard time pin pointing my search to where someone with my experience should be applying.
Any insight on any of these would be extremely helpful - thanks again..
yes but you need to go back to business school, get your MBA, then come in as an associate
This is from an Australian perspective but over here Big 4 TS(FDD) is not viewed highly upon by IBs. Corporate development on the other hand is open to TS(FDD) experience.
Most analyst roles specifically ask for prior experience in either another IB or Big 4 M&A Lead Advisory (no FDD).
Hey MonkeyDrums, i am curious as to whether any of the big 4 are viewed more favourably than the others by IBs for their corporate finance M&A advisory?
I am currently finishing up an internship in a Big 4's Analytics division, and trying to secure an internship in their M&A Advisory division for next summer, and then looking to apply for either grad or intern positions at reputable boutiques, MMs and BBs.
Given that I have also my Honours year coming up, if I can get a HD/H1 average, do you think I would have a decent shot at any boutique/MM/BB?
To add, would a internship in a small boutique be less favourable to a corp fin internship @ a big 4 firm?
Once again this is from an Australian perspective:
Doing an internship (assume you mean summer internships) at a big 4 m&a advisory team will definitely give a better chance when it comes to grad apps into BB and MM. Only issue is that deal flow is not that high at big 4 so there is a strong chance that you will not get to experience a live deal during your relatively short period of time there. In this respect you will be disadvantaged against people that went to an IB for the summer and are therefore more likely to have a bit of deal experience under their belt. That being said, I have seen many Big 4 M&A interns end up as a BB/MM IB grad.
In regards to which big 4, this is very depend on region. In Australia PwC and KPMG are more well regarded than the other two from what I have seen/heard but i don't believe the difference between all four are very big.
Finally, for small boutique vs big 4 corp fin: In essence big 4 corp fin (M&A) is the same as a small boutique, ie: no balance sheet, independent and provides investment banking (m&a) services to the mid market (50m-200m). Given a choice i would go for the big 4 just for the name recognition and connections. Obviously this does not apply if the "small boutique" is actually one of the few that are run by ex-BB rainmakers and actually participates in 1B+ deals.
Interested as well. I have no first-hand experiences to share, but I've seen LinkedIn profiles of people going from Big 4 TS straight to IB, so it's possible. Some of the banks I've seen are Piper Jaffray, BNP Paribas, and Raymond James. The guy on LinkedIn who went to BNP after TS went to BAML right after BNP. I'm talking about people who moved directly btw, without an MBA. Definitely doable with an MBA.
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Definitely doable at MMs, you'll have to hustle though and maybe be a bit lucky. Sometimes certain groups w/in a firm will be unlucky with a bunch of analysts jumping ship at the same time and that will be your best shot as they scramble to fill those slots. Like you already noted, off-cycle for sure will be your best bet.
I feel like this has been asked and answered tons of times... but here goes.
A background like yours is more than sufficient to break into IB. I received and offer straight out audit to solid MM bank with no TAS experience. It's all about networking an persistence.
I would go for an experienced hire role rather than applying against all the kids doing OCR. You'll take a minor set back, but they should credit you a year of service considering you have some relevant TAS work and 4 years exp. - apply anywhere and everywhere -- more important than the type of institution is your connections there. I got interviews from cold calling at some boutiques, and middle markets through alumni and such. - again, apply everywhere. I would rather live in a Charlotte or Atlanta because the cost of living is so much cheaper, but you go where the opportunities are. (just for reference on how far your money goes check out: http://money.cnn.com/calculator/pf/cost-of-living/) - again: if you want to break in leave no stone unturned. I got an interviews cold calling, blind online applications, and alumni, obviously if you have people in your corner it is helpful, but your experience is pretty solid so you may get some boutiques or even MMs who take a chance and give you an interview. - depends on the group / position. some firms have M&A specific groups, some firms only have generalists, some do it by industry vertical. do your homework and craft your resume and cover letter specific to each. - not at all most importantly. this comes up all the time and it is a load of BS you hear on this site. Yes, there are a few people in finance who look down on big4 experience... but that is mostly perpetuated through places like this site. I had interviews at top MM banks where MDs were saying they thing everyone should have accounting experience before coming into banking. It's all about spinning your experience and letting them know where you can add value. Your background gives you an advantage to some kid they pull out of college and teach to be a little excel monkey.
good luck
edit: apologies for how atrociously written that is...I was typing on my phone as I ate breakfast.
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Guy at my place (CS), 4-5 years at big four Transaction DD team, moved over as associate and outperforming majority of his MBA class.
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I'm sure you'll do great but also want to note that you'll likely be coming in at ANL level with 2/3 years of exp which I think is less conducive for you and also less common as there's less openings. I would suggest a transition at 4/5 years directly to ASO as you get to skip the grinding all over again and really put the project management skills and technicals to work. But again if you're looking for exit ops beyond banking coming in at ANL might be beneficial as well. Obviously not an expert on this just my two cents worth
I liken it to my comparison of decent schools vs great schools. The top 5% of the class may be roughly homogenous from both, but the median in banking is substantially higher than that in big 4.
Some of the strongest analysts in my class were laterals that came from BIg 4 FDD / Valuation backgrounds. Lateraling to a MM firm (I've even seen in very rare occasions someone at a BB) should not be an issue, assuming there are openings, you interview well, know your technicals, etc etc.
If you lateral as an analyst, you'll go through at least two years of hell, but much stronger technically / modeling and have a shot at PE recruiting. If you lateral as an Associate, you're most likely out of the running for PE (unless you're talking about a very small firm and even then that is incredibly rare), but you're life will be generally slightly better the first two years and much closer to a VP role where life / pay in banking gets much better.
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