Hi all!
Just discovered this group and figured I would join. Since we have all joined this group we must have some interest in it, right?? That said, I'm curious to know all of your backgrounds, what industries you work in and what your long-term career aspirations are.
I'll start. Graduated in 2010 from a complete non-target. Went to a fairly reputable MSF program on the east coast and got my shit together, finished that up in May 2011. I'm now working in the M&A group of a $13bb healthcare company. I'm hoping to get into PE or banking on the west coast (the weather out east just sucks) ASAP. Basically just looking to be around more intelligent/motivated people and experience more of a fast-paced, entrepreneurial culture.
Look forward to hearing all your stories.
Thank for sharing oR3. I'd be interested to hear why you'd like to leave corp dev for banking / pe?
I'm coming from an m&a group at a $12b healthcare company and I'm now at an m&a group at a ~$1b software company. Both out of Boston, love this city.
Hi guys,
I am interested in pursuing career into Corporate Dev in a fortune 500 company after getting my MBA. I have an engineering background from a top tier school in Canada. Close to 3 years of IT consulting experience with Big 4. I have only applied to the top MBA programs in Canada (Rotman, Ivey, schulich) and I am going to one of the top tiers in Canada in september. I am open to working in Canada, US or Europe for the right opportunity. I would really appreciate it if you can answer some or all of the questions below.
1) What do you think is the best way for someone with my background to break into corporate Dev roles. Should be pursuing an internship in IB for a bank in Canada for instance or should I look for other types of internships with start up or large corporations (if there are any corporate finance (dev) internships for MBA students).
2) Are there any post MBA leadership programs in corporate finance (similar to the analyst programs for undergrads) where you do rotations in different areas and then choose which area you want to specialize in (audit, FP&R, dev)?
3) how likely is it for someone with my background to be able to even break into corporate Dev after MBA or even be able to secure an intership in this area when I had no previous, IB or corporate finance experience. (I have already decided I don't want a long term career in IB because of mainly the work life balance and other factors but I am willing to do 1-2 years of IB post MBA if that is what it takes to switch to corporate Dev)
4) Do you find your work intellectually challenging and interesting? I am an engineer so as you might have guessed I like analytical work.
5) I currently set to start my MBA full time but I still have the option to do it part time. I am thinking about part time more because of financial reasons ( not loosing two years of salary and taking a big loan) and the other reason is I thinking if I can get a Financial analyst (more junior position) job at bank while doing my MBA it will probably improve my chances of getting into corporate Dev after MBA. The other option is to keep my job in IT consulting and do it part time ( in this case it would only be for financial reasons.) Do you think doing the MBA part time would put be at a disadvantage for getting into corporate Dev, of course if I do it part time I can not do an internship.
6) How do the recruiters or hiring managers look at part timers who want to switch careers into this field?
Thanks in advance for your help
While I can't speak exactly to Canada because although I am Canadian, I have been in the US for quite a while, I can give you some help. I was an Analyst-Associate promote from a non-BB who ended up working for a small-ish company in Corp Dev.
I was pretty selective/particular in terms of what kind of environment I wanted, and it took me a while to find a corp dev job (as well due to other issues)
1) From speaking to people I know back in Canada and in my own job search, companies in Canada will hire students for their corp dev groups directly from undergrad or MBA. However, the opportunities are few and far between because a) many companies are too small/not focused on M&A to have a dedicated corp dev team, or at least one with regular openings. I have found many people in corp dev stay in their positions for quite a while on the whole and b) those that do hire, often prefer to hire someone with investment banking, PE, VC or big-4 accounting experience. I haven't seen too many ex-consultants, however I'm sure they are out there (I don't know how well-regarded IT consulting will be though). That all said, If you do get into one of those 3 schools, anyone looking for an MBA will likely be recruiting at your school, so you will at least be exposed to the opportunities. In Canada, the IB analyst - MBA route is less common than in the US, so I'm not sure what your competition would be like from your peers
2) Not too sure on this one for Canada. They definitely exist in the states
3) Kind of answered this one in #1, but to go a little further, that's going to depend on your background. What type of engineering background do you have? I'm assuming it's some kind of computer engineering since you were doing IT consulting, but if it's something like mechanical/petroleum/metallurgical you might even be at an advantage for companies where that background is a key part of their business (eg. mining or O&G companies). I don't really know much about IT consulting, but I imagine it is a lot about implementation so I think that would at least be a strength of yours if you were working with a company whose corp dev team is actively involved in integration.
4) Yes, for the most part. Every job has tasks that you don't really enjoy, but I find most of my day-to-day stuff interesting
5,6) Not really sure on how the hiring managers look at it. Theoretically I don't think they would care, but I'm betting it depends on the quality of candidates that come out of PT vs. FT. I'm not sure how easy it will be to get a financial analyst job at a new company while you are doing your MBA unless it's a contract role. I'm also not sure how your current employer would react to you doing a PT MBA, so it's hard to say. I'd imagine there is some kind of tuition sponsorship which you likely wouldn't participate in, which may raise some eyebrows.
Hope that helps.
steve, i came from a finance training program that rotated me through a corp dev position. i would recommend doing that only if you could rotate through a corp dev position or get a lot of exposure to the team. otherwise investment banking experience would work too, but you'd have to be a banker for a while until you could make the transition.
2 - there is a thread floating around that lists a lot of the non wall street FLDP / flp type jobs. not sure how many are post mba but i'd be willing to bet if they're a f500 company and they have an undergrad program they probaby have an mba program
3 - i don't have an mba, can only speak from what i've heard, but it's a blank slate. you can definitely do it but i wouldn't expect it to fall on your lap
4- if you like engineering then you'd fit in well here. very analytical!! get some training material (e.g. - Training the Street), learn about valuation and modeling, and start figuring out ways to meet people in corporate development because they're sparse. that's my advice.
Hey guys- I just started a new group M&A Bankers-pls. feel free to join in, specifying your role/internship/experience.
It is all-inclusive, meaning you corp. development types and also active bankers ones. The road from corp. development to M&A Banker (whether boutique or large firm) is very sought after. The pay is obviously higher too. (average money for corp. development is in the 80s, and you don't get performance bonuses or carry like you do in banking)
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