Is it too late for me?
Hi Guys,
It’s my first time here, and I got into here because I genuinely wanted to get some candid opinions.
Background: I currently work in Audit within one of the Big 4 (Rhymes with Delioited) in London, for Banking and Capital Markets. I’m 2 years into the role, and doing my ACA as well. Graduated in 2021 after BA HONS in Accounting & Finance.
As the title suggests - is it too late for me to move into IB? Late 2021 was a real rough year to find roles in IB, especially as an international student it was disheartening. By 2022 I was considered not eligible to apply, and once again it was hectic with constant rejection emails without even getting to an assessment. And then I got into Audit by late 2022.
Ever since, I’ve been still trying to break into IB. In the meantime, developing my knowledge about IB as a whole, and lot around different instruments and stuff. I try to reach out to recruiters, people on LinkedIn (Analysts and Associates alike). As I no longer can apply for grad schemes since I’m not a recent graduate. But it’s just constantly getting blanked by everyone. Which I totally understand as everyone is extremely busy, and they hold no obligation to respond. However, I am not ready to let it go or give up and accept my fate. But, it would be great to know your opinions or your thoughts or anything as a matter of fact.
Thanks for reading. Cheers.
MBA and pivot. Don’t wait just apply as soon as you can if you’re sure. You’ll be admitted if you make a strong case for why you need the MBA early. If you’re like “well i won’t be competitive for H/S/W” yea probably not, but if you present well you can get into a t10-t15. If your goal is to actually pivot then you shouldn’t be prestige chasing anyways.
Thanks for the advice mate. Honestly I’ve been thinking about it. But then again, I am an international and I don’t want to take a loan out for it. Neither do I want to ask my parents for the funds. So I pretty much have to save enough to go for a good Masters school.
But then again, is it worth spending £40k? In this economy for a masters? When I personally know people who completed masters struggling to find a role. Idk?
An MBA and a master's are pretty different in terms of your chances of getting to IB. MBA has a direct recruiting pipeline to get into IB, honestly go to any T15 MBA and if you really want to get into banking it'll probably happen, whereas getting a master's even right after undergrad tends to not really move the needle as far as breaking into IB (you'll be applying for FT roles).
Look at the employment report and see that all t15 mba’s have > 95% employment rate with a median salary of like $175,000 and median bonus of $40,000. If you’re a Brit there are plenty of options, EU, Japan, plenty of b school options. You don’t need a US mba
No, not too late. But I'm not surprised that you aren't getting anywhere right now - you haven't qualified and, like you say, the market is poor.
My view is to complete your exams. Do really well, and be top of your peer group. Transfer to FDD or TS at your firm or one of the other Big 4. From there it's easier to move into a MM bank or MM / LMM PE. It's not easy but I can say two people I'm really close to did just this (admittedly not in this market but still).
To be clear though, I think no amount of networking or online courses are going to get you into IB now - you need to take another route (the one I suggest, or as another user has said, through an MBA / Masters)
Well that’s what I’ve been eyeing in exactly. Move from Audit to TS once I qualify, within the firm itself. However, we just went through a huge restructuring and as you would’ve already heard about the 250 or so job cuts between Consulting and Financial Advisory (this is where TS sits).
Moreover, a good amount of people also want to do the exact same thing once they qualify. So I guess only time will tell.
However, thanks for the reply. I appreciate it mate.
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