IB Associate Hires: more post-MBAs or IB Analysts?
I interned in a BB IB group this past summer and will be returning full-time. I've been thinking about a career in banking mainly because my group does only okay-ish in PE exits (mostly MM, outlier MF exit) and I do believe I enjoy the work enough to stay in IB at the ASO level. I'm currently at a mid/low tier BB, so I would be most interested in lateraling to a top-3 or an EB, or even just a better group at a mid/low tier BB.
Are IB associate hires usually post-MBAs or IB analysts? Is either one preferred? And, is this a common juncture for folks to lateral to a different bank? I know an associate who has been at his BB since he was a summer analyst in undergrad, and he had a quite rigorous process to land an ASO offer at his own bank after 3 analyst years, so I'm not sure how the hiring process is.
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It depends.
Some banks have a lot (relatively) of Analyst-to-Associate promotes. Some banks do not. Some banks really want A2As and try to encourage it. And, some banks are perfectly happy almost exclusively hiring MBA associates and having their analysts become potential clients on the buy side, so it’s not easy to go A2A
Thanks for the great info here. When you say that analyst retention varies bank-to-bank, is this referring strictly to BBs?
All banks. Harris Williams has essentially no A2As for example (it’s you don’t have to go to PE, but you can’t stay here), but Goldman as another example for contrast will promote high performers in ~2 years
The bank I work at very, very heavily encourages going A2A. They won’t even officially call it a 2 year analyst program to not give the impression were supposed to leave after 2 years
Have heard places like Blair have really high analyst retention which is why they cut their mba associate hiring. When people say it’s really high, what % do you think they’re referring to. 20%, 30%?
It's very group dependent but from what I've seen, the best way to trade-up in terms of firm is by lateraling as an analyst. I haven't encountered associates that were analysts somewhere else and moved over as associates straight from analyst. The most straightforward paths are:
It's hard to lateral as an analyst for an associate position, especially if you are moving upstream in terms of banks. You'd usually have to (1) get promoted at your current firm to associate and then lateral over as an associate; or (2) lateral over to the new firm as an analyst and then get promoted, as you normally would.
Appreciate the info here. Can you speak for analyst to analyst laterals? When is the typical time for this? I'm assuming I'd have to spend >1year on the desk where I currently am before this is an option
Also interested in this as I could definitely see myself trying to lateral from a BB to an EB
In Canada, there are way more A2A. Makes it difficult for MBA associates because you're a dumbass in comparison for the first 6 months. Maybe after too.
that's exactly why I thought A2A would have priority over MBAs lol. Post-MBA ASO bankers are definitely stigmitized for lack of deal experience vs analysts they work over
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