Just wondering how likely it is to get an offer from a MM/Boutique SA in IBD as a Canadian. I know some BBs recruit from places like Ivey/Queens/McGill (for the record, I go to one of those schools) but how willing are smaller firms to bring people over? Is the Visa process complex/expensive? Is it even worth trying to break into these firms for an SA? Or should I wait until FT?
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Unless you're talking about elite boutiques (Evercore, Moelis etc), then it's pretty rare for Canadians from Canadian schools to positions at NY MMs and boutiques. They don't do formal recruiting at the Canadian schools since these places are so small and there's really no justification for them to spend extra money and effort to come to Canada when their talent pipeline can be filled completely from US schools. It's not unheard of, however, for kids to land SA positions at MM/boutiques, but it's completely up to you and your networking efforts.
It's the same story for FT recruiting, but it's slightly easier to get a MM/boutique to take a gamble on you, especially if you have a banking summer under your belt (i.e summer at Canadian bank in Toronto --> MM in NY)
Yeah, I was planning on networking my way in, not going through OCR or anything. Is it still worth trying then?
even big firms are reluctant to sponsor canadians b/c of cost and time. small firms won't do it.
It's worth a shot to try to network your way in, but honestly I'd say your time is better spent networking with the Canadian banks and the global firms who actually do recruit at your school. Networking can be a pretty time consuming process, and even if you land a job at a boutique, there's no guarantees you'll actually get a meaningful work experience.
From my experience, usually the Canadian kids who end up at random NY boutiques are the ones who struck out in formal campus recruiting and network their ass off to avoid unemployment. It's simply a numbers game, as there are way more boutiques in the US than in Canada.
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