Making the lateral switch from Banking to MBB
I'm current approaching my first year as an analyst working at a top MM bank's satellite office (Piper Jaffray, Baird, William Blair, Houlihan) and have recently decided to pursue lateral opps to MBB.
A big part of the decision came from personal reasons - being an international student, I knew that continuing down the IB/PE path pre-MBA would mean seeing my family every year or so, and I realized that $$ isn't > family and other relationships I care deeply about. After a year in IB, I've realized that there's little room to think critically and creatively at the junior level, and strategy consulting would likely afford me more opportunities to work on business strategy more broadly outside of valuation and number crunching, etc. I envision doing my MBA 2-3 years down the road and potentially pursuing PE or a buyside role post-MBA, and feel that the MBB would help me build the skillsets and connections to get there.
To give an overview of my background, I'm graduated from a semi-target with a finance and economics major with stellar grades (summa) and a number of meaningful leadership positions.
As for now, I'm pretty lost as to how to kick off the lateral move - ideally, I would like to start past January once I receive my bonus, but given the structured recruiting timeline we typically see in consulting, I wasn't sure when I should be initiating discussions with recruiters if I'm targeting a February/March 2018 start date.
Any insights into the current lateral hiring environment at MBBs would also be extremely helpful, given my understanding that these opportunities are much harder to come across that directly recruiting from undergrad or MBA.
Thanks!!
Interested as well
A few things...
1) Seeing family that live abroad: Even in consulting, if your family lives on a different continent, I'd say that you'll most likely see them once a year. (Based on my experience at MBB--my parents live in East Asia.) Given the unpredictability of staffing / project schedule, taking a week or longer off more often than that is going to be tricky.
2) MBB doesn't fit with the near-term career goal that you state. Going into PE post MBA would be tough without coming from PE before school. And you could make the move to PE from MBB pre b-school, but it's a very competitive process with very few spots and low chance of success even for the best performers.
And I don't know if MBB experience would help you be more qualified for a PE job. I suppose that would be true if you want to be on the ops sides of things, but I didn't know if that's what you're looking for.
3) Lateral hiring isn't as structured as the normal recruiting process. My impression is that it's much more need based. So you should be ready to be flexible on when you interview and when you start.
4) I've heard business this year is softer than expected across the board, so might be a tough time to try to make the move. (Could be regional--this is based on what I hear among my friends at MBB and other firms)
Very good advice, especially point 2). IB => buyside pre-MBA is by far your best bet if your goal is on the buyside post-MBA. A switch from consulting to PE is doable - while HF is rarer - both pre- and post-MBA, but the difference remains significant.
Thanks for the advice, really appreciate it. From what you've mentioned, it seems like my prospects for securing a lateral opportunity isn't all too encouraging, but I'm hoping to use my global background (moved around all over the world growing up) to develop a unique angle as well as the pretty substantial alumni network my school has across the MBBs.
But I definitely agree that making the switch (if possible) may stray me farther from my post-MBA career objectives, but I had to make a hard trade-off in the end, and perhaps spending some time in strategy consulting may end up totally changing what I want to do long-term.
One additional question - how much difference does it make for my chances of securing an interview if the referral came from a junior analyst vs. more senior role vs. partner?
I've only seen lateralling to MBB at the pre-MBA level once in the US. The person was working at GS TMT and had interviewed with MBBs (and received offers) prior to that.
Definitely know people that have done it.
What were their backgrounds?
GS/JPM/MS are laterals, anything other than that not. I think it'll be an uphill battle with business not that strong and you're profile not being really a standout. Also, if you get an offer you can expect to get only very minimal work experience offered. Wouldn't be surprise so if you start over as a year 0. Other than that best of luck and hope you make it!
What about Post-MBA? Are they as fussy about your pre-MBA experience background?
Right after an MBA: everybody starts as an "associate" After some experience: experience is usually accounted for but on more of a case-by-case basis
Bottom line: pre-MBA is especially annoying in this regard and post-MBA less so.
My parent has a friend whose son lateraled into McKinsey, not from IB but from a marketing position at a CPG. At the CPG, they sent him to work in Bangladesh for 7 years. He became an expert in bangledash, and managed to lateral into McKinsey. Not sure how applicable this is to your specific case, but if you can demonstrate that you have unique specialized knowledge and can add value, it is definitely possible to lateral into MBB.
Curious about this case. I assume that was that post MBA, right? At what level did he lateral into the consultancy? Was it for an Indian office?
Aliquid ut libero neque. Consectetur esse qui quis non error sapiente quidem. Non neque ut saepe debitis autem quia minus ipsum. Est rerum ratione sint nihil.
Et magni nam ut nesciunt saepe consequatur consequuntur. Quas nostrum consequuntur sed rerum possimus consequatur est. Eius blanditiis voluptas quae voluptate. Aut quisquam autem dolore rerum exercitationem quas. Quos et ex et ut omnis earum. Omnis consequatur animi maiores ut inventore est ut.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...