What should be my strategy to make this happen? Is associate feasible? The 5ish networking conversations I’ve had so far cite my lack of IB experience as very problematic.
About me: few years into a post MBA (T15) F50 CorpFin FP&A rotational role (industrials). Big4 Accounting experience pre MBA.
ask yourself if you would hire you if you were a hiring manager at a bank.
your strategy should be to get a deal experience.
Yeah it’s a great question, thank you for the feedback and advice!
What are the most feasible entry points for deal experience?
The obvious answer is at my own company, but rotational periods are strict, and the soonest I could get to CorpDev is a year from now - and it’s a long shot b/c of course they too want deal experience - not worth waiting around for to me.
yeah only having experience in fp&a and accounting will be a tough sell. If you can go to a corp dev or strategy role and get some deal experience it’s possible. Once you leave school recruiting just gets tougher and tougher.
Thank you for the feedback and advice!
Almost impossible in my experience, unless you’re joining LMM IB or no name boutique
Do you mind elaborating on your experience, and clarifying almost impossible?
Were you in my shoes, and able / unable to pull it off? If able, how?
You just wouldn't really fit into the pipeline. If the group is bringing in associates with no experience, there's a pretty robust vetting process that takes place in the form of b school recruiting (coffee chats, technicals, multiple interviews). You're not still in school, so there's no easy way for a group to make the determination that you'd fit in well and that you've got the technical skills (at least compared to the level of interaction that the groups have with mba recruits)
If the group is bringing in laterals, they're looking for people who can do the job on day 1 because there's not really any time to train you or let you ramp up. It's also a time consuming process for people, so they don't really want to bring you in for a 3 hour modeling test unless they have a good idea that you'd do well.
Thats not to say it'd be impossible, just that I've never seen it for the reasons I mentioned
Your best bet is to lateral to a regional boutique or LMM IB shop within industrials, get 6-12 months of IB experience, and look to lateral as an associate 2/3 to BB IB industrials. These roles post sporadically, but you'd be competitive with IB experience.
Appreciate it! This is currently my strategy, so glad to be reaffirmed, just trying to be flexible and persistent, something will hopefully stick.
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