IB Associate or Analyst?

Need your opinion!

I am a current MBA student having 0 years of experience in corporate finance but having 3 years of Tech experience(Machine Learning, Python, all geeky stuff). I am a bit confused that what role I should look for?
As I don't want to be the typical MBA IB Associate who knows nothing about finance also not the oldest analyst, so what should I go for? If IB Associate then how can I improve my competency as I just started my MBA, so have some time to work upon stuff. 

11 Comments
 

Associate, ideally summer associate. Analyst roles are for 22 year olds coming out of college, you will not be considered as an MBA. Very common for associates to start out with no corporate finance experience.

The MBA associate meme is kind of unavoidable as you start, but should still try to pick up finance and modeling skills during your MBA rather than just "soft skills". Your background will interest tech IB groups, but could also target generalist roles if you want out of tech.

Look up summer associate roles and the recruiting timeline on this website. You don't have the amount of time that you think even just starting your MBA, as summer 2021 associate recruiting happens in the next few months. 

 

Associate 2 in IB-M&A

Associate, ideally summer associate. Analyst roles are for 22 year olds coming out of college, you will not be considered as an MBA. Very common for associates to start out with no corporate finance experience.

The MBA associate meme is kind of unavoidable as you start, but should still try to pick up finance and modeling skills during your MBA rather than just "soft skills". Your background will interest tech IB groups, but could also target generalist roles if you want out of tech.

Look up summer associate roles and the recruiting timeline on this website. You don't have the amount of time that you think even just starting your MBA, as summer 2021 associate recruiting happens in the next few months. 

Thanks for this insightful response. Also, I have the basic knowledge of accounting, reading financial statements, and understanding of macroeconomics. What would you recommend should be the next step? My take is to start with DCF & LBO modelling but as per your experience what would you recommend?

 

Start with and focus on getting the job. Network, spend time on IB-specific behavioral and technical questions - put yourself in the best position to land a 2021 summer role. Focus 100% on this until you land an offer, get comfortable with modeling AFTER. IB recruiting runs on a very specific and accelerated timeline so landing a summer role needs to be the priority. The technical aspect is to check a box and 95% basic finance and accounting questions. You need to know what a DCF is at a high level (explain the concept in 2 minutes) but no need to know any kind of advanced modeling until 2022 when you'd start full time. 

 

Thanks for this insightful response. Also, I have the basic knowledge of accounting, reading financial statements, and understanding of macroeconomics. What would you recommend should be the next step?
My take is to start with DCF & LBO modelling but as per your experience what would you recommend?

 

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