Big4 Valuation to IB
Hi all I managed to land an analyst position at the valuation practice in one of the big 4. It’s my first after-graduating job even though I have some extra experience (I’m 27. Where I come from we start academic studying a bit later).
I do consider it as a starting point for investment banking eventually, preferably an EB.
My question is 1. whether the experience I’d gain where I am now can leverage my case into IB, or is it not that relevant for investment banks since I won’t actually work on transactions and mostly do the valuation/PPA/OPM/audit support.
- I’ve read that it is recommended to go for the transition within 6 months-year into big 4 experience. Is there a reason for that? Trying to transfer after 3 years for instance would lower my chances?
Thanks in advance.
I made my way into IB from a valuation firm (non-Big4) so I have a fair amount of insight here. Valuation is essentially the perfect field to land in as a next best thing for people who are unable to land offers in IB due to the transferable skills. In the valuation field you will go down to a far more granular level of financials diligence than in IB so from a technical standpoint you'll be set. The biggest hurdle I found and the biggest knock against me when interviewing for IB was that I had very little experience in PowerPoint and while I did study and know the ins-and-out of a deal process I had no real hands on experience, so when interviewing against people who had at least a few months of actual IB experience I was at a disadvantage. Making the transition within a year is definitely key but not impossible if it takes longer than a year, I did it after 3 years and was able to lateral in as a 3rd year analyst which is pretty much unheard of considering I had no actual IB experience. The issues is that if you have 2-3 years of experience you'll be "over qualified" for a first year analyst spot but but since you don't have IB experience you'll be "underqualified" for a 2nd and 3rd year analyst spot.
It's never too early to start networking and developing relationships but I would make sure you have your story down and know your technicals in the event that a casual chat shifts to more of an interview. When it comes to what banks to target there seems to be a mentality on WSO that if someone comes from a non-target school, or doesn't have any internship experience, etc., that they need to limit themselves to only reaching out to MM or Boutique banks because they feel they have no shot at the BB or EB. This is a really dumb approach in my opinion, target every bank because the worst they can do is say no. Maybe target your banks of choice first and after that initial outreach to your preferred banks then just blast your resume out to anyone and everyone.