Current junior at a low semi-target in Canada. I’ve got a 12 month corporate M&A offer from a well-respected Canadian firm, and my previous experience includes two small boutique advisories. My goal is to land an IB role by graduation, but I know most Big 5 banks and top boutiques mainly hire from their SA classes. Should I take the offer or keep looking for another boutique stint?
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Based on the most helpful WSO content, taking the 12-month corporate M&A offer could be a strategic move for your situation. Here's why:
Corporate M&A as a Stepping Stone: Corporate M&A experience is highly relevant to investment banking. It provides exposure to deal processes, valuation, and strategic decision-making, which are transferable skills for IB roles. Highlighting this experience on your resume can make you a competitive candidate.
Networking Opportunities: Use your time in corporate M&A to network aggressively. Build relationships with bankers you interact with during deals, attend industry events, and leverage alumni connections. Networking is often the key to breaking into IB, especially if you're outside the traditional SA pipeline.
Boutique Experience: Your previous boutique advisory experience already adds value to your profile. Combining that with corporate M&A will create a well-rounded story for why you're a strong candidate for IB.
Big 5 and Top Boutique Hiring: While it's true that many Big 5 banks and top boutiques prioritize their SA classes, lateral hiring is still possible. Focus on making your resume IB-centric by emphasizing deal experience, financial modeling, and transaction exposure. Additionally, consider applying to mid-market or smaller firms, which may have more flexible hiring practices.
Keep Options Open: If you feel confident about securing another boutique role that aligns more directly with IB, you could explore that. However, the corporate M&A offer seems like a solid opportunity to gain relevant experience and position yourself for IB recruiting.
Ultimately, the decision depends on your confidence in securing another role and your ability to leverage the corporate M&A experience for networking and skill-building. If you take the offer, ensure you maximize the opportunity to prepare for IB recruiting.
Sources: corporate development regrets?, Why corporate banking instead of investment banking?, Negotiation for Guaranteed Promotion?, Knowledge Sharing: Corporate Development / M&A, Lateraling Guide for Investment Banking
If your long-term goal is IB, I would not take a 12-month corporate M&A role unless it is (1) directly tied to an industry you want to specialize in, and (2) from a brand that materially strengthens your resume. A year-long internship will take you out of alignment with the IB recruiting cycle, and it makes it much harder to position yourself for SA recruiting, which is by far the main feeder into Big 5 and boutiques in Canada.
I work at a big 5 and the reality is that about 95% of full-time IB's are from the SA pipeline. Full-time recruiting has dramatically fewer spots and significantly more candidates competing for them. We have only had a couple of full-time spots filled and all of those were from kids who had a intership or a full time role with another bank and then switched over.
Corporate M&A does help with deal exposure and can be valuable for networking, especially if it’s in a strong sector (mining, energy, infra, tech, etc.). But if your priority is maximizing your chance at landing an IB role, your best move is still to target an IB summer or off-cycle internship, even at a boutique.
What industry is the M&A offer in, and does it align with the groups you're targeting in IB?
thanks for your advice man. the role is in industrials, specifically transportation/manufacturing. kinda aligns with the coverage groups I’m targeting (industrials and infrastructure) since the deal exposure is similar. my issue is that as a junior i've already missed the SA recruitment for class of '27 so i'm hoping for some exposure in the sector through this role to later get into a middle market advisory/investment bank and than try getting into big 5
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