Hello WSO! F500 Corporate Finance Guy trying to break into Investment Banking!
Hi WSO!,
I am currently a third year Finance student at McCombs (UT/Texas). Starting out at McCombs I thought I was set on doing F500 corporate finance. I really struggled my first year averaging a 3.0 GPA and then slowly improved to a 3.35 my second year. since and I should see further upward trend from here on out.
Coming into McCombs I came in with quite a few credits and so I decided to take a gap semester off my third year to do a 6 month internship at The Boeing Company (Boeing Commercial Airplanes division) in their corporate finance division doing Financial Planning and Analysis in Seattle (I will also be returning my junior year summer). Right off the bat I will tell you that the work/life balance was great. Honestly that was the only thing I really enjoyed about the corporate finance lifestyle. Other than that the work wasn't very intellectually challenging or "sexy"/"exciting" and the people I worked with were plain average joes and weren't very "intellectual" as well. These are the two main reasons why I hate the corporate finance lifestyle.
It was in the middle of my internship that I wanted to research more challenging finance career paths with great exit options (I would like to end up in Venture Capital eventually) and I came across investment banking. It was also then I was introduced to this wonderful website. I have come to realize that my odds at a bulge bracket are almost non-existent so I am tying to at least aim for Middle Market or Boutique banks if that's even possible. I took the advice I saw on trying to get a feel of the industry by cold calling/cold e-mailing people via my alumni network and through other contacts I knew. Guess what: NO DICE! Things took a turn mid November (right before Thanksigiving) when I had the chance to have a phone conversation with an alumni from McCombs working in RBC Capital Markets in Houston. I had an informational interview with him and things went well, but afterwards I tried following up with him quite a few times and no reply at all or contact at all
Now here I am on New Years trying to figure out a game plan and seek some wisdom to get into I-Banking. There are a few minor roadblocks though. This semester was spent at my CF internship at Boeing and my next semester will be spent studying abroad in Paris so I won't have an opportunity to at least resume drop for summer analyst positions which means I would HAVE to do Full Time Recruiting. This is where I need your guys' advice and help on whether I should bother continuing trying to break i given my GPA and my previous work experience (corporate finance seems to be on the bottom rungs if not THE bottom rung of the corporate finance ladder) as well as the fact that Full time recruiting seems exponentially harder than Summer Analyst recruiting. With this I wanted to ask you guys a few questions:
1) Previous work experience is a huge deal when it comes to getting an interview with a bank it seems. How will my work experience in corporate finance at a Fortune 50 company (The Boeing Company) will fare when it comes to interviews?
2) Has the switch from a F500 internship to Investment Banking full time ever been done? I have used the search engine on this and can't find any situation/question being asked? Is my only option now to wait for MBA and then transition into banking afterwards?
2) How much more difficult is recruiting Full Time during the school year vs internship recruiting for a Summer Analyst position? Are the expectations even higher?
3) Assuming the worse of the GPA situation (where my GPA stays the same at a 3.35 going into Full time recruiting). Is this enough for FT recruiting for Middle Market/Boutique banks? What is the GPA range for such banks?
4) Finally what should I do here on out? I am going to continue to network my ass off but aside from that what else should I do?
I apologize for the meaty introduction/dilemma. I am hoping some of you will help me out!
Gad to be part of the WSO community!
Thanks
P.S: If any of you are wondering why I will be returning to Boeing for my summer internship its due to the fact I will be studying abroad next semester so I don't have access to On Campus Recruiting so I am trying to play it safe
What do you think about your WFS buddy...
F500 Corporate Finance Guy wants to get into Investment Banking: current Finance student at McCombs (Originally Posted: 01/01/2014)
Hi WSO!,
I am currently a third year Finance student at McCombs (UT/Texas). Starting out at McCombs I thought I was set on doing F500 corporate finance. I really struggled my first year averaging a 3.0 GPA and then slowly improved to a 3.35 my second year. since and I should see further upward trend from here on out.
Coming into McCombs I came in with quite a few credits and so I decided to take a gap semester off my third year to do a 6 month internship at The Boeing Company (Boeing Commercial Airplanes division) in their corporate finance division doing Financial Planning and Analysis in Seattle (I will also be returning my junior year summer). Right off the bat I will tell you that the work/life balance was great. Honestly that was the only thing I really enjoyed about the corporate finance lifestyle. Other than that the work wasn't very intellectually challenging or "sexy"/"exciting" and the people I worked with were plain average joes and weren't very "intellectual" as well. These are the two main reasons why I hate the corporate finance lifestyle.
It was in the middle of my internship that I wanted to research more challenging finance career paths with great exit options (I would like to end up in Venture Capital eventually) and I came across investment banking. It was also then I was introduced to this wonderful website. I have come to realize that my odds at a bulge bracket are almost non-existent so I am tying to at least aim for Middle Market or Boutique banks if that's even possible. I took the advice I saw on trying to get a feel of the industry by cold calling/cold e-mailing people via my alumni network and through other contacts I knew. Guess what: NO DICE! Things took a turn mid November (right before Thanksigiving) when I had the chance to have a phone conversation with an alumni from McCombs working in RBC Capital Markets in Houston. I had an informational interview with him and things went well, but afterwards I tried following up with him quite a few times and no reply at all or contact at all
Now here I am on New Years trying to figure out a game plan and seek some wisdom to get into I-Banking. There are a few minor roadblocks though. This semester was spent at my CF internship at Boeing and my next semester will be spent studying abroad in Paris so I won't have an opportunity to at least resume drop for summer analyst positions which means I would HAVE to do Full Time Recruiting. This is where I need your guys' advice and help on whether I should bother continuing trying to break i given my GPA and my previous work experience (corporate finance seems to be on the bottom rungs if not THE bottom rung of the corporate finance ladder) as well as the fact that Full time recruiting seems exponentially harder than Summer Analyst recruiting. With this I wanted to ask you guys a few questions:
1) Previous work experience is a huge deal when it comes to getting an interview with a bank it seems. How will my work experience in corporate finance at a Fortune 50 company (The Boeing Company) will fare when it comes to interviews?
2) Has the switch from a F500 internship to Investment Banking full time ever been done? I have used the search engine on this and can't find any situation/question being asked? Is my only option now to wait for MBA and then transition into banking afterwards?
2) How much more difficult is recruiting Full Time during the school year vs internship recruiting for a Summer Analyst position? Are the expectations even higher?
3) Assuming the worse of the GPA situation (where my GPA stays the same at a 3.35 going into Full time recruiting). Is this enough for FT recruiting for Middle Market/Boutique banks? What is the GPA range for such banks?
4) Finally what should I do here on out? I am going to continue to network my ass off but aside from that what else should I do?
I apologize for the meaty introduction/dilemma. I am hoping some of you will help me out!
Gad to be part of the WSO community!
Thanks
P.S: If any of you are wondering why I will be returning to Boeing for my summer internship its due to the fact I will be studying abroad next semester so I don't have access to On Campus Recruiting so I am trying to play it safe :'(
Most logical path to IB from mediocre CF gig in a F500? (Originally Posted: 05/29/2011)
I come from a very non-target background, state school etc, and worked my butt off to land a few investment banking interviews after graduating towards the tail end of the recession but despite making it to one MM superday nothing came of it.
I still want to get into IB, and have been trying to do really well at my current job so I can get at least one promotion before leaving, but I recently found out that there has not been a promote in my role prior to 20 months, ever. I've already set myself at the very front of the pack in my time here but that's not something I can prove on my resume.
My background - state school, 3.1x gpa that I leave as a 3.2 knowing that's been the minimum at every place I apply, acct major. Worked since age 15 in a series of typical "kid" jobs, but had a good level of responsibility in each after time. Interned at a smaller non-proft "bank" in NYC 3 summers in college and got a ton of mortgage lending/securitiziation experience, flipping crackhouse loans into packages we'd sell to BB's, fannie, freddie, etc.
Currently work for a F500 firm as a financial analyst. The pay is mediocre, the hours are short (45 or less weekly), and its a very comfortable position. I am not a 45 year old family man though, so I am wasting away here. I am eager to be challenged and to feel like my job is almost too much for me - there is no pressure here, everyone is friendly and eager to help, and if someone clocks more than 20% OT someone with low OT will immediately be assigned to reduce the workload.
I have been working on re-writing my resume, I consistently reach out to anyone I can find regarding IB opportunities, I have networked very high up in my own company and made friends with some influential people, but they seem to only have other F500 or Big4 contacts. I am going to start pressing very hard with all the online drop boxes, reaching out to the emails I received rejections from last fall, etc. but I am starting to feel like I am one year out of school and I missed what little chance I had already.
I am going to be pressing forward regardless (not waiting post-MBA), and wanted to know if anyone had any thoughts about my best route? Should I shoot for a lower end bank (think SunTrust) for an IB analyst position this fall season, try to network my way into getting my resume into the banks from I only made it a couple rounds, or anything else?
Thanks guys, I know this post ran long. Confused!
You seem to have a good head on your shoulders and know what exactly you want. So my best advice is don't give up and be persistent. Keep networking your ass off and continue to strive at your current job. Someone once told me that getting an MBA is almost like a 'restart button'....no matter what previous GPA or job you held that all goes out the window. Just keep that in mind. Your intern experience with that non-profit sounds interesting.
Best of Luck
Is Corp Development a possibility in your company? If so your in-house contacts could help you move there.
It's not an easy industry to break into. You sound like pretty much everyone else in this board, so you are not alone. Looks like you have good experience and the fact that you are landing interviews is great. Just keep networking and practicing.
I have mentioned corp dev/treasury/m&a work to a high up executive as something I'd be interested to rotating to (he agreed that I seemed to be under-worked/underutilized in my current role) but he said that there are few to no analyst level positions the way our company runs it, and that despite being one of the largest companies in the world we do little acquisition work ourselves. It's still something I am trying to find out more about, but people within my department don't want me going anywhere so I have to be careful about who I ask and how I ask it.
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