Do Canadian investment banking seats still exist at the junior level?

carl.sagan

There have been like one posting every ~3 weeks in the past few months for lateral. Couple in CIBC, one in RBC PUI, one in MS and Evr, one in Barclays. All these in the past ~4 months.

For recent grads, there was like one or two.

Looks like Scotia is hiring in Houston

infinity@finite

Did you break into IB directly into US office, or did you lateral from Canada?

the latter - didn't want to FW the TN stuff.  It's still a good play if you're young; just make sure you marry an American, the clock will likely run out if you try the TN--> change status to H1 (which is a lottery) ---> green card route.

MBA without IB experience will be tough. Generally look for relevant deal experience (sector, transaction size, etc.) as 1st prize. This is my personal view as a coverage banker and may differ from others, but I generally rank candidates as follows (on paper only):

1. Lateral ASO from a competitor (e.g. EB / BB / Big 5), same sector
2. Lateral 2nd year / 3rd year IB ANL from a competitor, same sector (probably offer the same position; unlikely for my firm to "uptier" them to ASO / need to prove themselves. 3rd year a red flag as it makes me question why they didn't get promoted)
3. Associate at a reputable PE firm, same sector (IB day to day is fundamentally different, but should be a quick learner)
4. Lateral ANL / ASO from a product group (M&A / ECM / etc.)
5. Corp dev. / ER & other non-deal roles, same sector
6. Boutique IB ASO, same sector (I personally apply a heavy discount on boutique experiences because I've been burned in the past. You'll most likely be stepping back 1-2 years in terms of seniority / title)
7. Everyone else (clearly some roles rank above others, but you need to really stand out in other aspects to pass the first screen)

You'll note I place a big emphasis on sector given I cover a fairly niche industry, and as a lateral ASO you won't have 2 years of runway that an analyst would to wrap your head around valuation, key players, sector themes, etc. 

I also place little value on MBA / CFA / etc. and also GPA (unless its horrendous) because I've found them to be fairly poor proxies for actual performance on the job.

sheldonxp

So only CIBC is a no-go?

There's nothing wrong with CIBC and don't think it's any weaker a franchise than Scotia.  The one I'd highlight as problematic with culture is BMO.  

Specifically, which are the "radioactive shitshows"?

Think about it, there's like 5 jobs postings and there are 1000s interested, maybe 100+ that are actually qualified. The same couple people in that team are going to get bombarded with LinkedIn requests and cold emails while still trying to do their job to not be the next one fired in this environment. People are going to be extremely selecitve in who they reply to because they see so many candidate options.