The Other Road: Corporate Development Associate Fielding Questions
Given the multiple requests I got in another thread I've decided to follow in 10xleverage's footsteps.
To give you some background, I graduated from Harvard undergrad in 2008. After graduation I moved to the bay area to join the 2 year finance leadership analyst program at a F500 tech company. The program place analysts in 6 month assignments in various finance and strategy groups across the company. You can be assigned to typical FP&A (financial planning & analysis) groups, corporate development (M&A), corporate or divisional strategy groups, corporate treasury (work on the trading floor helping to manage a particular asset portfolio), internal audit, market & competitive intelligence teams, etc. After finishing the program I joined the corporate development team in what is considered a 1st year associate role.
Feel free to ask all you ever wanted about corporate finance, corporate strategy, corporate developement, or anything else.
You went through the FLP
You went through the FLP program, but when it comes to hiring MBAs, do these F500 hire directly into groups (i.e. hire an MBA candidate directly into corpdev) or do they go through a rotational as well?
What type of hours do you work? What are your roles and responsibilities? How much do you get paid?
+1 to "What type of hours do
+1 to "What type of hours do you work? What are your roles and responsibilities? How much do you get paid?"
In terms of recruitment into the corp dev group, how are BB analysts viewed? Also, do you deal with recruiters? How would we get in touch if a BB analyst wanted to get into corpdev?
Also, once you're there, is the goal to become the head of the group? Or are there 'exit ops'?
Thanks for doing this, always wanted this clarity on corp dev.
How do they place you into a
How do they place you into a group after the rotation program? Do you get to choose?
Corp dev/M&A is what I would be interested in also.
Also, any chance you would tell which company? (a PM would be good) Understandable if not.
very interested in this
very interested in this thread as well
1. When it comes to hiring
1. When it comes to hiring MBAs, do these F500 hire directly into groups (i.e. hire an MBA candidate directly into corpdev) or do they go through a rotational as well?
From what I've seen (at least at my company and at a few others where friends work) most of these corpdev or corpstrat groups hire MBAs directly. The hierarchy at my company, for example, is usually sr. analyst, manager, sr. manager, director, sr. director, general manager, then the CFO.
post 2 years banking most come in at a sr. analyst (potentially manager titled but with sr. analyst pay) while post-MBAs come in at manager or sr. manager level.
2. What type of hours do you work?
Generally work 50-60 hours / week. If we are staffed on a large or pressing deal hours can increase to 80 hours/week...this happens maybe once every couple of months. In my 3 years thus far I've never worked more than 90 hours in a week.
3. What are your roles and responsibilities?
- Idea generation/ deal sourcing (usually in conjunction with the strategy team)
- Lead valuation analyses
- Participate in structuring and negotiating deals
- Due diligence
- Help prepare term sheets and definitive agreements
- Help organize post-close activities
- ad-hoc projects for our CEO, CFO, senior leadership team, and board.
4. How much do you get paid?
My total comp (including base + bonus + stock options) is ~$150K. Remember though that options typically vest over 5 year (1/5 every year). So you don't see that money immediately. As an analyst in the FLP total comp was ~$100K as a 1st year (most 1st years avg. $90-100K) and ~$120K as a 2nd year (most fall in the $110-120K range).
* forgot to add the following
* forgot to add the following to #3:
- help manage relationships with banks and VCs (mainly as part of the deal sourcing process)
Very interesting, thanks for
Very interesting, thanks for the response. Where does your firm typically recruit MBAs from? What are hours like for manager-level guys directly out of MBA? Compensation?
Sounds like a pretty sweet gig. Any thoughts of leaving and going to get an MBA, or are you planning to stay for a while?
5. In terms of recruitment
5. In terms of recruitment into the corp dev group, how are BB analysts viewed?
most F500 corpdev hires are former BB analysts. I am an exception since I was not a former banker.
6. Also, do you deal with recruiters?
My company does not use headhunters or recruiters for junior level hires (post banking, etc.) we post everything on our internal site and post on places like linkedin, etc. Some companies do use HH or recruiters though.
7. How would we get in touch if a BB analyst wanted to get into corpdev?
Go through a headhunter (for companies that use them), keep an eye out for job postings on simply hired or linkedin, etc.
8. Also, once you're there, is the goal to become the head of the group? Or are there 'exit ops'?
The goal generally is NOT to become the head of the group. As far as internal exit opps, most corpdev employees move into junior executive (i.e. director+) and eventually leadership (GM+) roles within each of the different divisions at the company. At my company, for example, a large % of the divisional CFOs came from corpdev or strategy teams. As far as external exit opps, those that leave generally follow one of the following routes: 1) VC, 2) CorpDev or Strat (lateral move to another company), 3) MBA , 4) startup management jobs, 5) junior exec/leadership roles at other company
I'd love to work in the
I'd love to work in the States but heard firms only offer green cards to Associate level and above... Do you know this to be the case for 2yr rotational programs as well? Should i just apply to an EU or Cad position (have a similar firm in mind)
Great thread. How did you
Great thread. How did you find out about the FLP program? About 90% of the postings through career services are for banks financial firms, and I have yet to see any significant corporate development postings.
9. How do they place you into
9. How do they place you into a group after the rotation program? Do you get to choose?
Groups usually apply to hire analysts. Then analysts rank which groups they'd like to interview with and groups rank which analysts they want to interview. The based on these rankings analysts and groups are matched for interviews (usually 1-2 interviews with each group) which them leads to an offer. Usually 1-2 analysts in each class land a strategy or M&A job - most land them after they did a 6 month assignment with one of those teams and prove themselves (this is what i did).
10. Also, any chance you would tell which company? (a PM would be good) Understandable if not.
I would rather not say. However, it is a large F500 tech firm based in the bay area. My comments generally apply to most large tech companies...non-tech companies tend to have lower comp.
11. Where does your firm typically recruit MBAs from?
Top 10 MBA programs
12. What are hours like for manager-level guys directly out of MBA? Compensation?
Hours for manager level post-MBA guys tends to be 40-50 hours. Total comp ranges from like $150-200K. Remember though that this includes stock options which are not immediate comp.
13. Any thoughts of leaving and going to get an MBA, or are you planning to stay for a while?
Haven't really thought about it much.
14. I'd love to work in the States but heard firms only offer green cards to Associate level and above... Do you know this to be the case for 2yr rotational programs as well? Should i just apply to an EU or Cad position (have a similar firm in mind)
No idea on the immigration policies for the analyst program. We do sponsor in corpdev for post-MBA hires. Not sure how standard this is across the tech industry.
+1 SB for you my friend.
+1 SB for you my friend. What is general recruiting like out of undergrad? Is recruiting already over for kids coming out of school? If you don't mind me asking, why did you choose Corp Dev. over IB or more traditional finance route? Lastly, how does pay look like as you move up through the org?
harvardgrad08 wrote: 9. How
9. How do they place you into a group after the rotation program? Do you get to choose?
Groups usually apply to hire analysts. Then analysts rank which groups they'd like to interview with and groups rank which analysts they want to interview. The based on these rankings analysts and groups are matched for interviews (usually 1-2 interviews with each group) which them leads to an offer. Usually 1-2 analysts in each class land a strategy or M&A job - most land them after they did a 6 month assignment with one of those teams and prove themselves (this is what i did).
.
How many analysts are in a class? In other words, are these(^) groups more competitive than others? Are they difficult to get placed in for a 6-month rotation?
Thanks for doing this man, tons of help.
15. How did you find out
15. How did you find out about the FLP program?
I went to the tech company's presentation at Harvard during recruiting and asked about finance jobs even though it was a technical presentation. The HR person put me in contant with the person that ran the program.
16. What is general recruiting like out of undergrad? Is recruiting already over for kids coming out of school?
The program generally recruits at top school with a particular focus on top schools with undergrad business programs. I think full time recruiting for the program has ended.
17. If you don't mind me asking, why did you choose Corp Dev. over IB or more traditional finance route?
So I always had an interest in M&A but hated the banking lifestyle (interned in banking). Plus I've always had more of an industry interest as opposed to PE or VC. So i figured even if I did banking for 2 years I would probably end up in corpdev. After I learned about the program and figured out that I could get into corpdev without doing banking, without sacrificing too much in comp, and having an awesome lifestyle it was a no brainer.
18. Lastly, how does pay look like as you move up through the org?
Structure (from top to bottom):
- C-Level Executives (top 20 or so people at the company): total comp $5M+/year
- VPs: total comp ~$2-5M/year
- General Managers: ~$500K-$2M/year
- Sr. Director/Director: ~$300-500K/year
- Sr. Manager/Manager: $150-300K/year
- Sr. Analyst/Analyst: $100-150K/year
*Total compensation includes base salary + cash bonus + stock options (generally have 5-year vesting period)
How often do you work on the
How often do you work on the weekends? I would assume it's very limited, but just curious.
How much better are you liking corpdev as compared to banking? Bet a whole hell of a lot. I'm jealous. I work in a software-focused banking group so we probably work with you guys.
19. How many analysts are in
what if you didnt have the
22. What if you didnt have
interested this in well, if
Any tips for undergrads on
24. Any tips for undergrads
Thanks. Not related, but do
double post
For someone looking to do 2
I just a got a FT offer for a
26. Thanks. Not related, but
28. I just a got a FT offer
Does the below compensation
29. Does the below
* oh and also remember a
harvardgrad -- thanks a lot
Thanks for starting this
harvardgrad08, thanks for
MKballer
30. How many acquisitions
33. [question asked multiple
This is a great post, much
how often do you work from
34. Are there also intern
First off, great thread I'm a
38. I was wondering, in terms
What did you major in while
I win here, I win there...
39. What did you major in
I'm about to start full time
40. Once I go through the
Hey, do most corporate
43. do most corporate
How large was your analyst
44. How large was your
Thanks for your willingness
People ask me, would you rather be feared or loved?
Um easy, I want people to be afraid of how much they love me.
Really appreciate the post,