IBD lateral from a CRA

Hi,

I am currently at a boutique consulting firm (~1 year of experience) and am looking to lateral into IBD in ~2 years.
I am considering an offer for an operations analyst role at one of the CRAs (S&P, Fitch, Moody's).
Although the role is in ops, I've been told by the interviewer that, with some networking, getting exposure to credit model validation / research is a possibility.
Further, they seem to sponsor the CFA.
I am wondering if this is a great opportunity to jump on or whether I should wait for other finance related opportunities that I can use as stepping stone for an eventual lateral into IBD.
Considering that my long term goal is PE/HF or AM, would a direct exit to the buy-side be a possibility from a CRA?

Some more info:

Big 10 School

Engineering Major

GPA 3.90/4.00

SAT 2250/2400

Any feedback would be much appreciated.

Thanks.

 
Best Response

You seem like a smart person, but I think you need to focus. PE/HF and AM are all buyside, but they are very different.

Also, to go from boutique consulting --> CRA --> IBD --> "buyside" is very indirect. You need to hop through three jobs to get to where you want. Assuming you spend at least a year at these jobs and two years prior to IBD, it's going to take you three to four years to get to where you want (on a very tight schedule).

If you are serious about IBD / buyside, I'd consider getting an MBA as that would cut your path a lot shorter.

 

Thanks for the feedback. Unfortunately, an MBA is too costly for me; I am taking care of an elderly family member on an analyst salary in NYC, and I will be doing so for the forseeable future. So I was hoping to leverage skills I learn through jobs and networks as much as possible. So to refocus on the initial question, I am wondering if I should take the CRA offer over my current job with a paycut, since I get no exposure to finance at my current gig.

 

Some banks have ratings advisory roles within debt advisory/DCM. They look for people from Moody's because it is generally harder to get a good rating from Moody's than from S&P/Fitch/etc. I think they tend to look for people with many years of experience, but I can't say for sure they would not be interested in younger candidates.

 

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