Hedging by Recruiting for IB and Consulting Simultaneously

I'm in the pre-MBA stage of my career and currently working for a T2 Strategy Consulting firm. As the title suggests, I am hoping to get perspectives about how feasible it would be for me to recruit for Banking and Consulting at the same time during MBA recruiting. I would also welcome any general advice about my situation.

Investment Banking is far and away my first choice, and I would be willing to devote much more focus to IB recruiting than consulting, the latter of which I think could be done successfully with less effort given my background. That said, I want to be realistic about my odds for IB and be well-positioned in the event that it doesn't pan out. My chances for consulting are considerably better than they are for banking for the following reasons:

  • The most obvious: I have pre-MBA Consulting experience at a brand name firm (this experience is very much strategic, but I have not done transaction-oriented work of any kind)
  • I studied business in undergrad but not finance
  • I currently have good standing at my firm as well as a considerable network across MBB and many of the other top firms (my IB network is decent but not as strong as consulting)

The dream case scenario would be to land at a BB/EB, but I'm also open to respectable MM shops. For additional context, I am admitted at a solid non-M7 school (think Darden/Tuck), but will not be enrolling this fall. I am hoping I can get into CBUS down the line to better set up my aspiration of breaking into IBD.

Thanks in advance for any wisdom

 
Most Helpful

I’m a first year MBA at an MBA business schools">M7 school, and will be a Summer Associate at a top BB in the next few weeks. One of the biggest mistakes I have seen at BSchool is trying to recruit for both IB and consulting. This folks ended up lost and didn’t get either. Recruiting for IB and PE is compatible, it also is to do Tech and Consulting. It is a matter of the timings. Consulting and IB recruiting happen both from October to January, and are super time consuming. You will literaly have the Mck event and the GS event on campus at the same time, and it’s sort of required to attend.

A couple of things to keep in mind. IB recruiting is far less competitive than MBB. If you are well prepared and follow all the steps from your IB Club at the school, your likelihood of getting a BB/EB offer is over 80%. The equivalent figure for MBB would be around 30-40%. Second, if you are interested on both, doing a summer in IB and then recruiting full time for MBB would perfectly work. The other way around is just completely impossible. Third, breaking into IB eith no previous experience is completely fine, and is actually the norm. You are not expected to have any solid background.

In conclusion, if you are focused and do your work for IB recruiting, I would be very surprised if you did not get an offer (you will probably have more than one).

 

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