Been lurking on this site for 5+ years (though not with this account), which has provided invaluable advice (and amusement) so gonna try and give back!
Background:
- London based, went to a semi-target university in the UK
- Joined the Deal advisory programme and ended up in lead advisory
- Transactions worked on has ranged from GBP 50m to c.GBP1bn
- I started recruiting for IBs a few months ago and accepted an offer recently to join a reputable global MM IB. I had the opportunity to join a BB and was in a few other processes but decided to go with MM as I enjoy MM transactions, the pay is the same as BB and really like the team.
Happy to answer questions around the big 4, how to deal with internal transfer/secondments, interview processes from Big 4 in London and anything else relevant.
Not OP, but did Assurance and moved to Banking.
1. Do not choose Financial Services under any circumstances. The hours are so much worse than other Assurance teams and the pay is the same. I don’t usually post here but am writing this specifically because Financial Services Assurance is awful. The businesses you are auditing (e.g. Life insurers) are so large and complicated that you barely ever look at the financial statements. Therefore you don’t get the main benefit of doing Audit (knowing financial statements inside out). Further, it will likely pigeon hole you into doing FIG banking when you move, that’s fine, but just be aware of that if you do now want to go down that path.
2. Networking is by far the most important thing. Don’t both learning modelling beyond the basics, Big 4 M&A doesn’t really do any. Their interview process is much more likely to be a company profile than a model of any kind
3. They are usually offered after you have completed your ACA (used to be able to do before you were qualified, but Audit make it harder and harder). You apply internally or hear about it through your network.