Off the beat: Breaking into IB

Hey everyone,

Thank you for reading my post.

I'm highly-analytical person who is trying to break-in to IB. I graduated from a top school in two years with honors. I received a full tuition scholarship and wrote for the undergraduate review journal. I also interned for a US Senator.

For the last two years, I've been in a graduate fellowship. After deep thought, I've decided that a career in IB would play to my most natural social and analytical strengths.

Sincerely,

8 Comments
 

Hi,

Thank you for your feedback. I was hoping to do IB before business school, I’d like to think there’s a way in for me before that.

How do I find these people willing to give advice on WSO? AMA threads? Have you seen cold emails work often enough to justify them?

 
Most Helpful

Didn't really take you seriously when writing my first response and I am sorry for that. I will write a more extensive answer to your question now.

Unless you go back to College as an UG IB or at least BB/EB/MM will be impossible to recruit directly. People getting in these positions have been trough a structured process with an SA often converted into a FT or they use that SA to leverage a FT offer at an other firm.

So to recruit for such firms unless you have done a SA it will be near impossible to recruit there directly, and to get an SA you have to be a full-time student, You could try to get into Big4 M&A, LMM IB, or similar positions through networking and then move up the ladder although it is very hard to do from what I've heard - other users have already discussed this on WSO.

 

Cold emails definitely work, but you likely have to target regional boutiques who do not have a structured process. Find a format you like and customize for each firm. Also network hard if you haven’t been doing so.

 

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