Advice for getting into IB

Hey everyone, I really want to get into IB and want to ask for some advice about doing so. I just graduated with an MBA (not a top school) and have been working in corporate FP&A for the past 6 months. I've always been interested in IB but have never had an IB internship due to being an athlete in school. My bachelors is in corp. finance and marketing while my MBA was just a general business management concentration. Would I be able to obtain an analyst position even though I have an MBA where it caters more towards the associate level?

Again, I do not have any IB experience except classroom related material. I was wondering what I could do to make my resume more attractive when applying to positions to get my foot in the door for interviews. In all honesty I'd even intern to start out although I'd prefer to come in as an analyst right away. Any advice would be great.

4 Comments
 

Hi Bud,

Know that feeling, made the mistake of not doing a top MBA and missed my op.

Are you a chartered accountant? What age are you?

I would say that getting your ACCA (chartered accountant) status often opens doors in the UK. Other option is to look at Transaction services role for the Big 4 and move from there.

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I'm 23 and live in the U.S. I was finishing out my athletic eligibility and had the opportunity to pursue a full-time MBA. Also, I'm not a chartered accountant.

What you mentioned about Transaction services was a thought I had as well. Are most of the people at Big 4 firms in Transaction services CPA's? And would I need one to get my foot in the door?

 
Most Helpful

If banking is something you really want to do, and you are willing to make the personal sacrifices (e.g. 90 hour work weeks, few vacations, etc.), then there are steps you can take to better position yourself.

1) Finish your year in your current role, but ask to take on more responsibility and exposure to more strategy oriented facets of your firm. For example, is there a business development team you can work with or sit in on meetings, even informally? You need to demonstrate that you are leveraging your current experience to the best you can 2) Why do you want to do investment banking? You need to craft a pithy and logical story as to why you want to get into IB - know what IB is, have reached out to / spoken with industry professionals, etc. 3) Get the investment banking guides and study all of the technical / behavioral questions to prepare for interviews / superdays 4) Use the search function on this site. There are endless hours of reading on this site on this very topic, so you'll need to do some research. Most people are less willing to answer these questions directly when they have been answered dozens of times. So, you'll have to take some initiative 5) Start networking aggressively. Reach out to your classmates that are doing IB, cold email, use your professional networks, etc. You need to start having conversations with people doing IB - you can gain insightful knowledge and potentially set yourself up for securing a spot if one opens up

Good luck!

 

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