Importance of Pre-MBA experience in Post-MBA associate recruiting

No, sorry should have clarified. I've been out of undergrad ~four years. I graduated > started FLDP > now work in FP&A > will soon apply to business schools.

I think you overestimate how popular IB is.. at my school, most people target management consulting / tech jobs post MBA. It's self selection bias because my school is only a target for O&G IBD in Houston. Most people who are set on IBD in Houston end up with summer offers and end up converting to FT. Since you already have a finance background, you'll probably be in the top 10% of those targeting IB roles

Many people make the career change. In fact, it's probably one of the most common reasons to attend business school (for a career change). I think it's quite normal.

Assuming you get into a top program and IB still exists the career change shouldnt be an issue...just make sure you secure a decent summer internship

To answer your question... yes and no. what matters is how you tell the story of your past and how you make it clear when you realized that you wanted to do banking and why. then you need to explain why you're a good fit and when you have demonstrated (key word here is demonstrated) in your past, the skills they are looking for in associates.

thats how your past matters...its all about how you spin it... it doesn't matter what you did to be honest... its all about how you present it... yes it would be better if you have one certain background over the other... but in the end... its all about you selling yourself.

I went to a top-tier MBA (HSW) and did my summer in banking and the answer is generally no.......what IBnutz said is spot on: it's all in how you sell yourself. There were people from all sorts of pre-MBA backgrounds (military, public interest, etc) who got i-banking jobs/internships.

The only exception to this is for some of the name brand boutiques. I think it was either Greenhill or Evercore that seemed to only take people who had previous financial services backgrounds (e.g. equity research) though it certainly wasn't a formalized requirement; just something that was talked about/rumoured among those recruiting for IB.

It depends on the bank, but many, if not the majority, of post-MBA associates I know from my class and friends do not have banking or even finance backgrounds.

The MBA is the opportunity to switch careers and HELP learn the finance (but you will still probably want to learn some finance on your own, because by the time interviews roll around you might not have had many finance classes or they weren't specific to what you might be interviewing for).

That being said, 2 years of experience, regardless of what it was, is very thin. Many banks in most cases won't consider you for an Associate position without at least 3 and very often 4 years of experience. (please don't post the one kid you know exception stuff, I'm talking on average).

As an Associate, you definitely need quantitative and analytical skills, but they also want you to be able to manage people and be good in front of clients. These two things often come with time and experience, thus they are seeking people in that 4-6 years of experience range.

But if you come from the right MBA, you can still pull it off. I do know quite a few people with 2-3 years of experience who are kind of stuck in the middle because they are too-experienced (or want more money) to be an Analyst, and don't have enough experience to be an Associate.

If you are not in your MBA program yet, I would wait a year or two, personally.

What type of work is not that important as long as you are smart. Since you are an engineer, they will assume you can handle the math, so that is good already. In my Associate class, there was nobody with BB analyst experience. We had a couple people from company internal business development/M&A group, but we also had a guy who worked for a mining company, a doctor, a few consultants, Fortune 500 firms...you see everything.

From my experience, what kind of experience you have is not as important as how well you did and what type of skills you can transfer.

So did you get promoted? Did you achieve as much as you could? Did you learn skills that would be applicable in banking?

If so, go to a good MBA, and be able to explain why you should be a banker.

Obviously, there is less explaining to do the closer the role is to banking.

As an example, I worked in Supply Chain Management for 4 years both at a Fortune 100 firm internally and as a Consultant.

Nothing I did had anything to do with Finance per se. BUT I made sure my CV showed that I had strong accomplishments and transferable skills within it.

For example, I had never built a financial model, but I built some mega-complex inventory models. Rather than just saying I managed inventory, I phrased it in such a way to emphasize that I managed $40 million in inventory using a complex Excel model.

That is just one example of how to highlight your skills such that a bank might think, "Ok, well this guy wasn't a banker, but he knows Excel." Etc. Etc.

Does that make sense? If I was applying for another Supply Chain job I would write and phrase my CV completely differently...the point is make your experience relevant, whatever it is. Don't freak about not having exactly the right experience.

When your 30-35 with 10 years experience, the game is different, but immediate post-MBA you have your freebie to make a change,so take advantage of it.

I agree - your pre-mba experience should reflect all the skills you need for IBD.

thanks alexey, your comments giv me a lot of hope and feelin of security. I used to keep thinking tht not being a front end IB analyst right after graduation would really slow down your career and bring a lag in you IB path.

My experience is that the a signficant number of incoming associates are career switchers with no finance background at all.

i am curious as too. can mba be thought of just like undergrad? basically the best school ensures top placement just like target schools for i banking?

Wow, i was wondring the same thing...I posted this also in the thread labeled mba?

Don't kill me for this stupid question. I will graduate w/ an undergrad biz degree. I think I would like to start as a financial analyst. In order to move up the ladder, do I still need an MBA? Can I get this MBA maybe after 1 year of working while I work and finish my 3 years of being an analyst?

also, do many firms help pay for mba tuition?

The best type of pre mba experience, in my opinion, is finance experience or top tier strat consulting (BCG, mck, etc). On the finance front, could be investment management or even audit. something with analysis and numbers.

FarFromOver:

What kind of job experience gives a person a good shot at a top 10 MBA program hoping to enter the ibanking realm as an associate?

I mean obviously being an analyst at a BB for 2-3 years is the best option; but what are some other options? Working at a boutique for 2-3 years? Consulting? Other jobs within the financial field?

If I didn't work at a BB or boutique investment bank, could I still make it into a top 10 mba program after 2-3 years of working in consulting or another job?

Thanks in advance.