From Retail Banking to Investment Banking?

25 year old Financial Services Branch Manager at a large regional bank in the tri state area, 2 years management experience. Working to get into a Hedge Fund/Investment Bank type gig where I'm able to capitalize on my financial focus. Have a BA management finance degree from a sub par university with a 3.0 GPA, so nothing exquisite. Many accolades so far within this institution. Have been offered a position with the securities department as a financial advisor but didn't like the atmosphere and pay for the position. I will do absolutely ANYTHING to get into an investment bank. Retail banking is shrinking and this is NOT where I would like to be. I was introduced to a recruiter and referred to Bridgewater but all did not go as planned seeing as how I didn't get the position!
Any advice ????? Have you seen anyone successfully make this jump?

 

Commercial banking is pretty hard to get as well from retail. Most large banks have structured programs for commercial. I used to be in commercial and I can tell you that not a single person was in retail since its a completely different division. The only thing I can think of is that you try and network to land an internship in IBD at a small firm.

 

See the issue is I'm a dual employee for our Securities subsidiary. I am considering going back for my MBA next semester but the best programs around this are are UConn, Fairfield U, and Sacred Heart MBA. I've just applied to a citi bank training program and hope to hear back. Any other suggestions? Internships are out since my career will not permit !!! =\ thanks guys.

when the music stops, things will be complicated
 

No offense, you don't even know the right questions to ask, so it's impossible to give you a meaningful answer.

"Working to get into a Hedge Fund/Investment Bank type gig where I'm able to capitalize on my financial focus." -- This statement is misguided on many levels. Saying you want a 'Hedge fund/Investment bank type gig' just means to me that you want to make more money. They are not the same thing (not even close, in my opinion). You don't have a clear idea about what it is that you actually want to do.

I suggest you read up on the various roles and figure out something more specific that you think you would like and could do well. Come back and ask some more questions once you have a basic understanding of the functions.

You are going to have an incredibly difficult time breaking in with your background. When others are telling you to shoot for an MBA for a chance to break in, that is probably good advice. However, 'UConn, Fairfield U, and Sacred Heart MBA' will almost certainly not help at all.

Anyway, good luck.

 

Thanks for the input. I really do appreciate it because I understand I need a more clear path. Would you be able to at least speculate if you think my background would suit any of finance in particular? I am a train ride away from Fordham and NYU. Maybe I should consider those programs?

when the music stops, things will be complicated
 
Best Response
MFabrizi1987:
Thanks for the input. I really do appreciate it because I understand I need a more clear path. Would you be able to at least speculate if you think my background would suit any of finance in particular? I am a train ride away from Fordham and NYU. Maybe I should consider those programs?
Your background does not make for a natural transition to any areas of finance that I'm familiar with. To be fair, I don't even know what a bank branch mgr actually does on a day to day basis.

You need to do a ton of reading and/or talking to people in the field. Asking random strangers open ended questions about what you might or might not be suited for is pointless. We don't know anything about you. People here will respond better to more specific questions.

You might do a bunch of research and come to the conclusion that other areas of finance don't really interest you. That would actually be a good outcome, because you could stop thinking about finance and move onto something else. You can find a ton of info on this site and other ones.

Is there a reason you would only target business schools in your backyard? It's a mistake, IMO. You need to study for the GMAT to have a sense where you might have a shot of getting in.

 

The reason I target business schools in CT, is because I have a career that pays 80k a year(not a huge amount) but its definitely a lot to walk away from and incur 100k+ of student debt. What do you think about my logic regarding that ?

when the music stops, things will be complicated
 
MFabrizi1987:
The reason I target business schools in CT, is because I have a career that pays 80k a year(not a huge amount) but its definitely a lot to walk away from and incur 100k+ of student debt. What do you think about my logic regarding that ?
If you can get in a top 15 or so program, your starting comp would be more than enough to offset the foregone income after a few years. Importantly, it could set your earnings on a steeper trajectory as well.
 

I'll be applying to NYU part time for next semester. I considered it for next semester anyway. Can you give me some background on how you broke into the industry?

when the music stops, things will be complicated
 
MFabrizi1987:
I'll be applying to NYU part time for next semester. I considered it for next semester anyway. Can you give me some background on how you broke into the industry?
Like most who broke in, I hustled like a mother fucker. Most people hustled in one way or another to get here. Some went to Harvard by hustling in high school and some had to hustle because they didn't go to Harvard. It helped that I could sell you a dogshit sandwich and get you to recommend it to your friends and give me a 30 on Zagat's. But that helps no matter where you're from. I made a lot of people rich who believed in me since then.

I will never say anything about exactly how I broke in, because things are different than when I graduated and I like some degree of secrecy. That being said, if I went to an Ivy League school, I feel like I would have made it even if I went somewhere else. If I went to somewhere other than the Ivy League, I would have made it if I went to the Ivy League.

You can read more here, if you didn't barf yet: http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/blog/86555

 

I like your style, and I respect you for the transparent input. Much appreciated. Hopefully my next post will be more informative than curious. Any advice you have is always welcome!

when the music stops, things will be complicated
 

i'd get out of there as soon as you have a decent opportunity. in terms of whether to hold out a little longer, you have to evaluate your realistic chances in terms of what size/'tier' bank you can get yourself into from where you are right now. whatever the case though, you should go for that; staying in your program is unlikely to help you make the switch, and you won't even find out if it will until a couple years from now. that time would be better spent even at a small ib

 
dublin:
i'd get out of there as soon as you have a decent opportunity. in terms of whether to hold out a little longer, you have to evaluate your realistic chances in terms of what size/'tier' bank you can get yourself into from where you are right now. whatever the case though, you should go for that; staying in your program is unlikely to help you make the switch, and you won't even find out if it will until a couple years from now. that time would be better spent even at a small ib

Dublin,

Thanks for the response. I think I am thinking along the same lines.

I would love to hear additional opinions just to clarify, I know someone out there will play devil's advocate and tell me that it comes off as a major flight risk bailing out of these programs early on (duly noted).

 

is MBA an option for you? probably your best choice and its much better for you since you will enter as an associate...

tough to say if MBA is not an option.. generally people have said that it will be very tough (not impossible) but very very tough to break into IB from your position..

 

Hmm I am actually pretty good at sales,, and when I know I am good at something I want to move on and learn something new. The reason I want to go for IB is when I worked as a intern in MS I feel like this is the fastest way to become a professional.

Btw why saying CFA has minimal relevance with IB? One of my alumni from BlackRock said you will have a pretty good chance to get an interview with it even you have a L1...But I am not sure since all my network move to Retail/Business Banking since then,,,

 

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