Hey I'm wondering if you guys have seen any Associates join your banks (OUTSIDE of campus recruiting) without any previous IB/M&A experience? I've seen tons of openings lately for experienced IB Associate roles at banks in New York and some of them don't even list IB experience as a necessary qualification so I am wondering if this is a path I should look into.
For reference, I have a strong finance/accounting background which is why I think this might be doable. I did my undergrad in accounting, followed by 2.5 years of Big4 public accounting + CPA. Then transitioned to a financial modeling-heavy strategic finance role in a F500 company for 2 years. After that, I went to a top 10 MBA program focusing on Finance and Strategy. Currently, I am 1 year into a post-MBA FLDP rotation program in one of the big tech companies on the west coast where I focus mainly on financial modeling, strategic planning and analytics. I have zero IB/M&A experience, but I have very strong modeling and financial accounting skills (my valuation skills are OK, nothing great, but not terrible - good enough to pass a technical interview though)
As for what is driving me to consider this: I just don't feel like I am learning as much as my friends that chose the IB/consulting route after bschool. I fear that if I stay in this role for another year that I will just get accustomed to a pretty cushy 50 hour week job where I am not adding a ton of value. Am I crazy for wanting to give up a pretty chill job for an IB Associate role? Probably, but I just feel like I should be learning a lot more at this stage in my life.
I'm actually trying to decide between post MBA Corp Fin and IB as well for my long term career plan since I'm starting my career in Big 4. Even though you're not learning as much, wouldn't you say you have a higher career growth potential staying in Corp Fin since you'll be a Manager after you finish the program and have the positive stigma of being a former FLDP? Correct me if I'm wrong but from there couldn't you switch to a smaller company every few years to get the next promotion. Whereas if you did IB->Corp Dev you couldn't do this tactic because there aren't as many Corp Dev jobs readily available like Corp Fin. So potentially you could stall out at Corp Dev Sr Mgr(coming from IB) vs getting to Director+ in Corp Fin. This is just from what I've read on WSO, feel free point out any flaws in my logic.
With the MBA you don't really have a choice but to shoot for associate roles. From what I've seen, most openings for experienced anylsts/associates are looking for just that - someone who can hit the ground running, no training needed.
But you seem to be well versed in the world of accounting/valuation. Other things you'll be doing on the job would be fairly easy to learn.
I'm sure you've seen this a million times on here - if you want to work in banking, network your way to an interview and just go for it dude
Personally I've never seen someone without prior experience enter banking as an associate other than through campus recruiting. The openings you're seeing for "experienced IB associates" definitely assume IB experience as a prerequisite even if it's not explicitly listed as a qualification (it's implied by "experienced IB associate").
I would suggest trying to use your alumni recruiting privileges to try to recruit through your school. My MBA program gives access to an alumni job board after graduation - I imagine yours has some sort of equivalent. Since you're only one year out of MBA you may be able to participate in recruiting to some extent. At the very least, you should try to leverage your school's network to try to get a foot in the door. Good luck!
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