"Easiest" area to break in from non-target?

The title says it all. If you go to a non-target, what's the easiest (relatively speaking of course) field to break into out of banking, consulting, S&T, etc.?

 

I would say consulting is the easiest since its just so general. I mean, I haven't heard of half the consulting shops people talk about and I know 3.0 and 2.8 kids who got into IBM and Accenture consulting.

Obviously I'm biased but I think at most banks Banking > S&T but that's just me. If your interests are so wide then I would just focus on getting a job rather than "breaking in".

Edit: To respond to the above, yes back office is usually easier to get into as a non-target. Perhaps audit/services/etc. would be a good place to start.

 

Operations jobs are back office support jobs for front office jobs like sales and trading. Operations folks are responsible for fail management, risk control, trade processing and confirmation, legal drafting, and client services. Operations folks are the core that makes the trades and sales the front office executes actually go through properly. Essentially, it is the dirty work.

 
Best Response

Small consulting firms are generally not as selective as BBs / MBB and give you a good experience to leverage later.

Also, operations or back office roles at BBs will at least give you the opportunity to network.

Would suggest getting as many internships as you can, because having that experience can compensate for other weaknesses you may have (school, grades, etc)

Breaking Bankers


Chase Us, Break In! http://chasingconsultantsbreakingbankers.blogspot.com/

 

For someone in my situation, do you think it would be better to get something related to business that isn't business (such as math) to show a different background and demonstrate quantitative ability, or is it best to just stick with a accounting/finance major and do well in those courses? This is my dilemma right now.

Also, you guys say that some consulting firms are easy to get into, so do you have a list of ones that are easier, and do you think they'd hire math guys from non-targets?

 

IMO the easy ones would be Accenture, IBM, Deloitte. There are literally dozens of other smaller ones that would be "easy" to get into. Like I said, 2.8 or 3.0 GPA is fine from a top private but my friends said there were plenty of state school kids there too. They also hired majors ranging from English to Policy and Management so don't worry too much about your major.

 

Lots of bullshit here on consulting... if you work for a small no-name consulting firm, this is RARELY going to set you up well for "exit opps" in the way that people on this board understand them. The exception of course is LEK, Marakon, etc.

Even Accenture, Deloitte, etc. have a strict GPA cutoff at 3.5; in my experience a few years ago, they were actually more dogmatic about it than MBB (i.e. a friend who interned at a top-tier HF with a 3.4 got interviews at MBB but got dinged by Deloitte for OCR).

There is a pretty clear understanding in the industry of the relative prestige of various firms; the better the firm, the tougher it is to get into. You guys are looking for data points that don't fit that trend, when they don't really exist.

Leaving aside smaller, no-name consulting firms - it is tougher to go into MBB coming from a non-target than it is to get into a BB. The reasons are myriad but that's the reality.

 

There is no "cut-off GPA" --- it's really not that simple. Well, I guess 3.0 mights perhaps be an absolute cut-off, but anything below 3.5 any you're not doing yourself any favors. It also depends hugely on where you're applying.

To put it simply: get the highest GPA you possible can.... every point matters

 
Ravi-Makhija:

Can you rank the following fields on easiest to hardest to get into from a non target (rutgers)

Asset Management
Sales & trading
Regular I-Banking
Research
Risk Management

Hardest:

  1. Elite I-Banking
  2. Regular I-banking
  3. Raceme I-Banking

Those three are really a cut above, then you have:

ER AM S&T RM

 
dest149:
Ravi-Makhija:

Can you rank the following fields on easiest to hardest to get into from a non target (rutgers)

Asset Management
Sales & trading
Regular I-Banking
Research
Risk Management

Hardest:

1. Elite I-Banking
2. Regular I-banking
3. Raceme I-Banking

Those three are really a cut above, then you have:

ER
AM
S&T
RM

Read BlackHats post on top AM
 
jss09:
dest149:
Ravi-Makhija:

Can you rank the following fields on easiest to hardest to get into from a non target (rutgers)

Asset Management
Sales & trading
Regular I-Banking
Research
Risk Management

Hardest:

1. Elite I-Banking
2. Regular I-banking
3. Raceme I-Banking

Those three are really a cut above, then you have:

ER
AM
S&T
RM

Read BlackHats post on top AM

 

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