MBA little expierence

Do you have work experience before your MBA?

Not too much, I have about year and half two years as a Customer Service Rep at TD Bank and have a few connections there but thats about it. At least for things that are revelant.

You are in a tough position. Most places that recruit fresh MBAs do so on the campus of top schools. Build a good size list of the employers you would like to work at and just check out their career pages on their websites. Most employers should have some sort of way to submit an application online.

What type of jobs are you looking for?

Regards

I have been searching for something in the field such as a financial analyst or credit analyst. I feel they are the easiest to get into to get trained and get a few years experience under my belt. I would love to get into IB after that or get into a managerial track. Which ever presents itself first or I find the most interest in once I am in the field.

I understand getting into those kind of programs are very difficult and the only real connections I have is a few Senior level suits at in TD Bank, reason why I am searching there first. I am in the running for the Commercial Credit Analyst Training Program there.

I'm not 100% sure how the pay structure is in credit analysis. I know that for IB there are pretty set guidelines about pay and there is a very clear jump...I don't know if that is the same on the credit side since it seems a lot of people are trained in house and probably move up through the ranks. I suppose there could potentially be a 'credit analyst 3' position, or something of the sort, that might offer more pay but, again, I'm not sure how your education might substitute for work experience.

I will say that you shouldn't underestimate how rough the job market is right now and getting a position as a credit analyst, even if it isn't paying what you would like, might be worth taking (assuming you don't need to make a certain amount to pay off loans, etc.).

Honestly, I've never heard of your school before looking it up a few minutes ago and (no disrespect intended) that isn't a good thing. Breaking into associate level, post MBA positions might be hard coming from a school that isn't widely known. That may be another reason to 'settle' for a job that isn't paying what the averages might say. I think credit training can be a great place to learn because you often become very good at cash flow modeling and the accounting aspects of the modeling process...things that are useful in IB and PE.

If seems that you have your head on right and, at the very least, are being realistic about doing something that interests you, as opposed to something that is going to pay you the most money.

If I was you, I would do a search on Indeed.com for 'credit analyst' (or something very similar) and search all of the major (NYC, Boston, Chicago, LA, etc.) and mid-major cities (Dallas, Atlanta, Charlotte, Minneapolis, etc.) and see what pops up. Like you said, you can work for a few years, get your training and then take it from there. Maybe at that point, with that experience, you could lateral into an associate roll at an IB and make some more money or potentially find a role at a larger lender that does senior and/or mezzanine and/or bridge loans, etc.

Regards

Thank you for all the advice, I will definitely take everything you said into consideration while I continue my job search. Like you said I may have to "settle" for less pay so i can not only get some valuable experience but begin to pay off my undergrad loans.

I understand that my school not being very well known is not a good thing, yet I was given the opportunity to complete my MBA in 1 year while having the school pay for it in full, so I could not turn that down.

One last question I had is do you know anyone that went trough a similar training program or who is a credit analyst? Mainly because I was curious of the normal work week hours and such.

Thanks again for the great post

The work week hours can be very different depending on the firm and the nature of the transaction. If you are in commercial banking credit which is for small and medium size business lending the hours are fairly routine at around 50 hours a week. Higher up in the more complex mid-market or even corporate credit the hours would be longer and of course the pay higher as you are working with quite complex transactions. I am assuming that a role such as the one you described is for commercial banking credit analysis, which will give you a decent exposure into analyzing financial statements, real estate transactions, financial ratio's and some basic modelling. The ratio analysis is essentially as larger transactions its the legal and the financial complexity that change in calculating those ratio's, so learn what you can and like any job it is what you make of it. With an MBA and that job you could move up the ranks to mid-market or corporate lending, but most likely a move to an account manager role, where it is possible to make over $100K a year in commercial banking after bonuses as an AM.