My previous IBD team is hiring - how to reach out?
Hi bit of a unique case here.
Back in 2016, I completed an IBD internship, but didn't convert. At the time, I struggled with understanding the technicalities of finance and the tools like PowerPoint and Excel. Unfortunately I had no luck with IBD applications after that so I went down the strategy consulting/corp dev route where I am now a VP with 7 years experience.
I saw the team I interned in is hiring for an Associate and the job spec says IBD experience strongly preferred but not required and open to other financial professionals.
Whilst I may be very overqualified in terms of years experience, I lack the IBD technical background so I'm happy to take that step back in title for the learning opportunity and a role I've always been interested in as I feel this will be my last ever chance in life to make the move.
I worked with an Associate during my 2016 internship who is now a Director in the team. I'm unsure whether reaching out to them is the right approach, considering I didn't convert the internship. I'm concerned they might remember me as the struggling intern and reject my application. For example, even when I joined my graduate role in consulting, I still remember all the interns we had and who was bad/good.
Any tips on how I could maximise my chances to get a first round interview?
Thanks.
Why would u want to be an associate after working for 7 years?
You miss 100% of the shots you don't take. Sounds like this is something you'd regret not doing, so just send him a quick message.
That said I kind of agree with you - if you struggled as an intern and have been in mostly non-technical roles, I imagine they would question how quickly you'd be able to ramp up in an ASO role.
Is this the only IB posting you've seen? I think it might be a situation where you'd do better applying to places that don't know you, and maybe have postings that are more VP level so you're not expected to be as deep in the model and PPT. They don't have the background that you did poorly almost 10 years ago in an internship, and you could just say you had gone a different direction at first, but are reevaluating a few years into your career and want to get back into IB.
Ignore title. No harm in reaching out, go for it if you really want to!
Just a note though, I'm not sure you'd be considered for an Associate position although you have 7 years of experience. An Associate need to have gone through the Analyst years in order to perform well as an Associate; the technical aspects you mention lacking are essentially what you learn during your Analyst stint. So although you likely have great skills required to manage projects, probably on par with IBD VPs, your lack of technical knowledge would probably hinder you from even landing an Associate gig, given your role then is to review technical work done by the Analyst.
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