Need Help on Transitioning Out of EB IB to RX Consulting
Kinda in a weird situation right now. Am currently coming in at a top 2 EB, in their RX group ( PJT RSSG / EVR RX). So far, I don't think I'll be loving IB work as much as I thought I would, it's not as varied, and it's pretty repetitive. I've been on this forum for the past couple months, and RX consulting has been absolutely popping off in that time. Reading through all that, I'm curious about the whole recruiting process for the industry, among other questions.
Are there dedicated headhunters for RX consulting firms? If so, I'd really appreciate some insight onto who they are. What does the recruiting timeline look like, and what materials would you all recommend prepping with? Any other nuances I should be aware of?
One more question: I've known quite a few colleagues who tried to make the jump but failed, granted they only applied to T1 consultancies. What could have been the most likely reason, and how is that preventable? T1 creditor heavy is what I'm most interested in, but I'd be happy to learn about T2 as well (still at a creditor engagement heavy firm). And yes, I understand that RX consulting is extremely stressful, won't pay as much on the high end, and is super granular, but I'm fine with all that.
Transitioning from an elite boutique (EB) RX group to RX consulting is a strategic move, and based on the most helpful WSO content, here’s how you can approach it effectively:
1. Recruiting Process and Headhunters
2. Preparation Materials
3. Why Some Fail to Transition
4. Actionable Steps
By diversifying your target firms, preparing thoroughly, and leveraging your RX IB experience effectively, you can position yourself for a successful transition into RX consulting.
Bump, is there no-one on here that made the jump / knows any insights 😭
Since you haven't got any responses, I'll take a shot at it. I've never been in RX IB so take this with a massive grain of salt, if there's a response on here with a more relevant background, listen to them, not me.
As for the transition itself: you're in RX IB, and the transition, (especially at PJT RSSG / EVR RX — both top-tier and highly respected) into RX consulting is 100% doable, but it’s not a tap-in. Gonna be totally honest, I didn't have a PJT / EVR guy trying to move into RX co. post on my bingo card. To elaborate on it not being a total tap in: you’re coming from a pure execution background where you're deep in the modeling trenches, but RX consulting is also heavy on driving strategic recommendations, operating under limited info, and navigating messy stakeholder dynamics (creditors, management, legal, etc). The skillsets overlap, but the lenses are different, banking focuses on valuation/outcomes; consulting focuses on diagnostics and process. You're trying to get into creditor side rather than debtor, and since creditor is the more technical side, the jump should be easier than making the jump to debtor side.
As far as headhunters go, maybe the world's changed, but as far as my experience goes, there isn’t a single headhunter scene that dominates RX consulting recruiting, unlike the very structured PE pipeline. That said, I've heard murmurs of a couple firms like CPI that have been known to work on more niche RX roles. Your best bet is to go direct. These firms don’t run massive cycles — they hire opportunistically and real interest is what makes or breaks ppl. Cold outreach works well here, especially if you’re targeting groups like Alix, RPA, Alvarez, or FTI. Also, this is key - leverage your deal experience to show relevance: creditor work, anything with operational restructuring, business plan reviews, whatever else.
For actual recruiting, I don't think this is gonna be comprehensive, but your prep should be slightly different than for banking; less LBO modeling and more focus on turnaround plan structure, cost-cutting frameworks, liquidity management, and the relationship between operational levers and a 13-week cash flow. Case studies are slightly less about Excel whiz and more strategic (e.g., comp is burning $10mm a week with $50mm liquidity — what do you do? / lender’s collateral is underwater, DIP needed, but no unencumbered assets. What’s your play?). Review stakeholder communication tactics, liquidity forecasting, and operating models. Also brush up on accounting.
Now as far as your friends failing...idk. They could've had a piss-poor narrative, a bad pitch, bombed the case (which is much different from MBB cases).
One more note: RX cons doesn’t have the same prestige-driven ladder as banking. It’s more relationship-based, and promotions aren’t always linear. You’ve gotta really want the type of work : lots of travel, real-time fire drills, messy work and fluid scopes.
Just so you know, as far as creditor heavy T1 firms, that's basically FTI. You've got more options in T2, 3, 4 etc, but less name recognition.
Edit x1: Looking at some comments below, I should probably mention that all the above is for ppl recruiting the regular way, not through internal connections.
Extremely helpful, much appreciated! I know FTI's creditor heavy, and it's on my list of target firms, maybe M3 and Province as well.
I have a potential opportunity with RPA and I had never heard of them before this. But I noticed you have specifically mentioned RPA in a couple other Rx/Turnaround threads on here. Obviously FTI is the top of the mountain in terms of creditor advisory, but it appears you view RPA as being somewhere near them or #2 in terms of creditor side advisory?
I was hoping to get more of your perspective on RPA, how you are familiar with them, what you think their reputation is like today, and anything else you think might be useful to know. There isn't a lot of information out there about the firm specifically. For context, I am on the debtor side and looking to make a move with less travel, hence my interest in creditor side advisory. I am also weighing another opportunity at a LMM/MM PC special situations / workout team (think Twin Brook/Antares/Monroe), so trying to gather as much info as possible. Everything I know about RPA has come from people that are there, so I was hoping to get a neutral/third-party perspective.
Any information you can provide or your personal view would be appreciated.
Not op but can give some ideal of them. They’re primarily ex-FTI senior people, including until recently, Policano who’s a legend in the RX world. They’re basically pure creditor, and are on some pretty notable cases.
I wouldn’t call them a whale hunter, they just exist, but they’re really unique in that in terms of experience, they’ve basically got some of the most legendary people in the industry, mostly those who worked on debtor cases. Like these guys basically made the RX Consulting industry. As such, they can pretty much charge whatever they want and deal teams are usually 1-4 or 5 people. It’s a great place to be at once you’re nearing retirement age and just want to chill while making money, but I’d say your other offer is much better given where you’re at right now.
So tldr, it’s a place where people with tons of experience in the industry, in both debtor and creditor side go when they get old. Nothing really special, but at that age you’re not looking for special.
Idk if they’re still around or dissolved or whatever, but that’s the extent of my knowledge
Can I ask why you prefer creditor side? Have you just preferred working on that side in IB compared to debtor?
I generally like work that requires a little more technical horsepower than operational, and creditor side accomplishes that.
Spent years in IB, creditor and debtor.
That was not my experience at all, debtor was way way more complicated and a lot more money.
Creditor shit was pretty easy, esp with bank risk tolerances and term sheet preferences
UCC is bitch work
That doesn't make sense, I feel like management consulting has more technical and quantitative complexity than RX consulting...so does strat consulting. Another plus is that you get to work with more c-suite people directly in management consulting
I’m not sure you understand the full extent of what a RX consultant does. It isn’t just liquidity management (13 wkcf). It’s also margin analysis/recommendation, financial reporting improvement implementation, process strategy implementation, product and customer/vendor analysis, cap structure reorg (d waterfalls, amend and extend, refinancing, cash to pik, etc), divestiture analysis (m&a analysis). While the latter two are run by Rx IB, the shots are usually called, or at least suggested, by the rx consultants, which brings tons of nuance and technical complexity. To me, it sounds the same as if you said DCM IB is more technical than RX IB.
Yeah...you might be on your own on this one brother
Lmao bait
I would beg to disagree lol, if we're really talking about RX consulting being technical etc, McKinsey has its RTS practice, and so does BCG, yet those are arguably their worst practices
You have no clue what you’re talking about lol
This is just a LARP.
Anyone who's ever actually done RXIB (especially at a top group) knows that the by far the simplest answer is you just ask your MD to pick up the phone and call Alix / A&M / FTI and just get you a job. If you actually worked in RXIB, you'd know that you spend at least 25% of your day interfacing w/ rx consultants (who provide 100% of all the inputs to every model you build and are on every management call). When I finished my RX analyst program I knew just as many RX consultants and bankers - your network to make this transition should be huge.
At the exit friendly EBs like PJT and Evercore the senior bankers regularly help out with recruiting and this would be a laughably easy layup for them to get you a seat for a role that hires dozens of new junior employees a year that you have directly relevant experience for vs the standard analyst ask of trying to get you eg: the one seat a year at KKR Industrials or Angelo Gordon. I'm not joking when I say that if I walked into the group head's office and told them I wanted a job at A&M it would be wrapped up within a week.
The thought crossed my mind, but no, given how small the industry is, and how junior I am coming in, I don't think walking into my MDs office and asking their help to jump ship is the best idea.
I'd much rather recruit normally, and based on the other responses in this thread, it isn't gonna be all that hard
Doesn't the door swing both ways i.e a rx consultant could do the same with their SMD?
You think a random Rx consultant can just walk into PJT RSSG💀💀💀
I'm not going to bother responding to all the people who are fighting in my replies, but notice up and down the thread that every person who responded who actually worked or works in RX IB agreed a) that this is a LARP and b) that this is a layup. It honest to god is really as simple as just asking one of the SMDs to pick up the phone.
For all the people in a dick measuring contest about if the transition is reasonable or not and the ultra sophisticated "supplier negotiations, business plan rebuilds" (lmao) you do as a consultant, this is an analyst, recruiting for a lateral analyst or associate position (ie, entry level, competing against new grads from undergrad or MBA). The average hire for these roles has literally zero relevant job experience (new grad associates). Some of them have no job experience at all (new grad analysts). In comparison, this analyst has two years of literally the most directly relevant job experience possible short of working at a direct competitor, and a reference call from a senior professional in the industry to a friend who is a decision maker at the consulting firm. It's literally impossible to fuck up that big of a lead. The big 3 rx consulting firms hire dozens of new consultants a year - there's no world where there are 100 people more qualified than someone with this background and that reference.
The OP commenting that "given how small the industry is" that they don't want to ask their team for help is a) legitimately the most stupid thing on this thread and b) another clear example of why this is a LARP. You should be asking for help precisely because of how small the industry is - everybody knows each other and is friends. The minute your resume gets reviewed from the online app they 100% will call whatever senior banker they know at your bank anyway for a reference check. And at places like PJT and Evercore where they have all but 0% analyst retention, recruiting isnt a secret, seniors help all the time, and are particularly excited to help when someone wants to stay in rx / distressed because 25% of PJT / EVR RX analysts do.
And the RX consultants on here are telling you that it's extremely easy but not a layup. Who's more relevant? You're so deep in your echo chamber that you’ve started mistaking LinkedIn logos and internal team calls for guaranteed job offers. Let me be clear I used to lead teams, hire RX consultants, and personally review resumes from your so-called “untouchable” analyst pools (LAZ, PJT, HL etc). And while your background gets you in the room, that’s all it gets you. What happens next depends entirely on whether you actually understand the job and most RX bankers don’t.
The idea that RX consulting firms like Alix, A&M, or FTI hand out seats because your MD calls their MD is delusional. They'll take the call. Sure. They might even bump the resume up the pile. But if the candidate walks in and starts talking about debt docs and recovery modeling like that’s 100% of what they do, that resume dies on the table. Because here’s the reality you clearly don’t get: this job is not a continuation of RX banking, and it's not subordinate to RX banking either ; it’s a pivot. It’s operating under fire. It's working with broken management teams, negotiating with landlords and suppliers at midnight, and building 13-week cash flows that determine whether payroll clears next week. It's setting out the overall strategy that you people (RX IB) have to follow. None of that is taught in your models.
You want to make the jump? Then drop the superiority complex. Because we don’t care how many creditor mandates you sat on — if you can’t think strategically, if you can’t show business judgment, and if you can’t build trust with clients who don’t speak “capital structure,” then you’re a liability. You’re not competing with clueless MBA grads; that’s a strawman you made up to feel better about yourself. You're not being compared to raw MBAs. You’re being compared to other experienced hires. Many of the best junior consultants Rx consulting firms bring in come from audit, FP&A, Big 4 TAS, or ops-heavy gigs. They might not build full LBOs in their sleep, but they actually understand what it takes to run a business under stress. That’s the lens we care about. These folks aren't gonna be modeling waterfalls in their sleep, but they sure as hell know how to keep the lights on when liquidity’s running out. Also, you're putting yourself up against ppl who put in the effort to actually learn what RX consultants do and come in with a humble attitude, not the "look at me I'm from so and so RX IB" attitude that you're showing on here. The fact that you couldn't stomach the fact that an exit isn't a guaranteed slam dunk further proves this.
And for the love of god, don’t give me the “everyone I know in RX IB says it’s easy” argument. That just proves your circle hasn’t been tested. Every RX consultant I know — and I mean the ones who’ve actually run real workstreams, not just taken notes on a call — will tell you the same thing: it’s different, it’s very easy but not guaranteed, and you have to earn it. You don’t get to walk in because you sat across the table before. Knowing our names doesn’t mean you understand our work. And yes, some bankers try — and they fail — because they don’t respect the shift in mindset. And we reject them. Because we’re not looking for people who think they’re above the work — we’re looking for people who are ready to do the work.
To conclude this nonsense: having PJT or Evercore on your resume makes you a strong candidate. But it does not make you an automatic hire. The difference between an interview and an offer is whether you’ve taken the time to understand what we actually do , and shown that you can bring the same excellence to our world that you brought to yours. Until you grasp that difference, all you’re doing is flexing on a forum about a world you clearly haven’t worked in, and MSing this post unfortunately won't change that. You're an analyst, pipe tf down, put aside your ego, and listen to ppl who've got more experience in a world you're not from.
Just to be clear, idk if OP is actually in RX IB or not, but I'm gonna give them the benefit of the doubt.
Thought that all of the RSSG and Evercore RX analyst were done with recruiting already?
At Evr RX and can confirm. Poster is a larp.
Never said I'm making the jump right now,if at all. I'm atleast waiting a bit, then I’ll maybe consider it.
Did you start out in M&A?
I came from rx banking at a good shop, def not RSSG, and found it pretty smooth.
I just called people I met while working. A&m in particular likes bankers
Just let me know which one of PJT/EVR when you quit!
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