I’ll be starting FT as an analyst in a BO role. I am wondering if people ever lateral from BO to FO, it’s been my dream to work in IBD since I was an intern but I didn’t get a FT offer back to my group so had to find another job
What’s BO mobility like?
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Close to zero. You can sometimes go BO -> middle office (ideally risk) -> FO but haven't seen that as much lately.
The faster way is to do 2 years in BO (spend your extra time prepping MBA application), M7/top 15 MBA and then onto IB. Having finance experience already will help you when recruiting from the MBA
It’s unlikely - the longer you’re in BO, the less likely you get into FO.
Look, working in front office doesn’t really mean much. Even though basically every kid on this site jerks off to working at black rock and stuff, just remember that but no matter what job you have you should do your best and focus on how you can do well and people eventually stop caring what job you have after 1-2 years after you graduate.
If you really want to move into IB, you could apply to a top MBA program and then consider getting to ib from there
Yeah man noones going to think less of you if you move into BO. Just make money and enjoy your life and that’s all that matters
Nope. BO is kind of like a different world within finance that isn’t finance
Very difficult. I think this used to be a legitimate path pre-GFC as firms like Bear Stearns were known to lateral strong internal candidates from BO / MO to FO if they have right people vouching for them (an old neighbor did this, broke into Bear Stearns TMT IB a few years post UG - had a shitty GPA coming out of school from a semi-target).
Was FT recruiting that tough this year?
You’re almost better not to work at all
get a product marketing job somewhere for a few years then top mba and get into IB
or do a masters of finance
really you want to be in any IB even if it’s a shitty one
think about trying for charlotte IB or Houston to get started . Any IB job is better than anything that is not IB
Terrible advice. Back office is still 2 years of work experience at a BB.
Also 99% of Houston hires have some tie to Texas or energy, they are not hiring someone with zero reason to be there
Ignore the rest of the comments - it is possible and I’ve seen it happen multiple times over.
Haven’t seen any back office go to IB lol sorry
Yeah I wouldn’t hire anyone from BO - reason why is because they don’t know how to think critically, like people in FO.
It's not impossible but very slim. My advice is to take some credible certifications to make your resume stand out and probably start from Big 4 advisory then make the switch to IB front office role.
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