Analyst Transitioning

I am a recent graduate. I graduated in Math and Econ from a feeder school. I currently work at an investment bank in corporate treasury which is a part of its corporate banking business. I have been working here for the past 5 months since I graduated. I work in Liquidity and manage corporate resources and their liquidity. 

I am looking to transition into Investment Banking. Will I be at a disadvantage if I did not start off at in IB? What steps can I take today to start recruiting for IB in a couple of months? 

8 Comments
 

Yes this is a difficult journey because corporate treasury is not relevant to IB. There are so many people with relevant experience, or even smaller IB experience, that it's just too competitive to get directly into IB from this role.

I'd look into two paths:

1. Moving into corporate banking and spending 12-18 months in that. CB is a bit more relevant to IB, and it's not too difficult to transfer internally after a year or two. CB will occasionally work with IB, so you have networking opportunities and build a decent skillset. You can't transfer internally at 5 months, but you could look externally or ask HR after a year in your current role.

2. Looking to do IB at a very small bank - like 10 people. These opportunities can be hard to find, but if you get a year or two of experience there you can move up the totem pole to MM and then BB IB.

 

Doubt you will be able to land MM from corporate treasury, you just do not have the same skillset as someone already in a deal environment. I'm sure it has been done anecdotally but the two paths I outlined are the highest chance ways to make the move.

You also need to land PE/HF before an MBA if you end up in IB as an analyst. It's really difficult to go from MBA directly to PE without PE experience. You need to get into IB first, recruit for PE, and then decide if you want to get an MBA once you are already there. If you get the MBA without PE experience, you'll have to be an IB associate first and hope you can land a spot in PE which is no guaranteed thing.

 
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OP, this is good advice, though, I would suggest #2 as the better option. As this poster points out, it's going to come down to one thing: relevant experience. The guy doing IB at a five-person boutique in Boise is going to have much more relevant experience than someone doing treasury at Goldman Sachs.

If you have CapIQ, do a search for investment banks and business brokers in areas you would be willing to live. If you do not have CapIQ, just pull up Google and start searching. It doesn't matter that none of these places have former MS guys running the show, that they mostly sell $1M EBITDA businesses, etc. If they are selling a business, the work is going to be very similar to what you would do at a larger bank, just on a smaller scale. Spend a year at one of these boutiques and then try lateraling to a larger bank. This is what I did when I struck out in FT IB recruiting my senior year. If you Google "Sil lateraling guide", the first result should be my lateraling guide that I posted after I lateraled. Read that.

 

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