Hi All - I know there have been some threads on nontraditional paths to IB. Figured I'd put myself out there in a Q&A for those who found IB a bit later in life. Over about 2.5 years went from personal training to joining a MM IB as an analyst.
Brief background: Health science undergrad from an extreme non-target school. Was unsure of what I wanted to do but enjoyed health/fitness so I went into personal training. Became interested in the business side and then interested in finance as a whole. To summarize the switch went like this:
- A lot of outreach to everyone from portfolio managers to data analysts to accountants. I had no idea what area to pursue
- Got a operations role at a local company to get some general business experience as I explored grad programs
- Researched schools in my area. I did not have the money to move and did not want to take out a bunch of debt
- Chose a state school MSF program as it was affordable, short in duration, and covered the resume check list courses (this was before I realized how hard it is to get into IB from a non-target - IB had not crossed my radar yet)
- Started school thinking I wanted to do PM / wealth management then met an IB VP at a career event. I was sold. Seemed 2ish years in IB would be the best way to make up for lost time. However, that VP gave me a reality check and said not to get my hopes up.
- Upped the networking and focused on bankers and adjacent professionals (corp dev, valuation) to cast a wide, but targeted net
- Missed the memo IB internships recruit early for internships. Ended up with a corp finance internship at a local company. All I needed was a finance related internship to get the ball rolling. After that landed internships in valuation consulting.
- Finally after a lot of networking, I was on a follow up call with an IB associate walking him through my resume (which finally had some finance experience on it) when he said "You know you'd be a good fit for our analyst program. We usually save a few slots for non-interns. Would you like me to intro you to our recruiter?"
- Did a little over 2 years in IB, ranked top bucket. Enjoyed the grind as much as one can. Made solid friends. Enjoyed the bonuses. Was able to buy some property. Exited to a corp dev role where I am building out a new corp dev team and actually have time to do stuff during the week.
A lot of people helped me make this career move. Some of the people that helped the most were complete strangers. Now I am just paying it forward. Happy to answer any questions over the next few days. Hope this is encouraging for those who want to pull off a career switch. Thanks!
At what age did you start working in IB? and what would you say was the KEY in your specific situation to be able to break into IB, luck + hard work?
Thanks for the question! I had just turned 26 when I started. As for the “KEY” to breaking in with my situation was probably 3 things.
1. A lot of networking, as you mentioned, just a lot of outreach both via LinkedIn and cold email. Had better success with LinkedIn. You know how you can tweak the searches on LinkedIn? I’d search and look for people that had a step inbetween college and IB so I knew we’d have that talking point in common. If a person has been in the spot you’re in, they’re usually more willing to help out and give solid advice.
2. Yeah luck plays a role or fate or whatever you want to call it. I’d still lean towards calling it grit or determination more so than luck. I just kept trying to kick in doors. This goes back to #1 but also what helped was I’d ask if there was anyone else they’d recommend me talk to (assuming the convo went well). This quickly multiplied the number of connections of people I was talking to. Now I do this for students that reach out. If they ask I’ll usually refer to them to other people I know. My team might not need an analyst but my buddy over on consumer or oil&gas might have an opening. See where I’m going with that?
3. I knew given my unique background and nonstandard profile pretty much any application algo would reject my resume. I knew I’d need a internal referral to get over that initial barrier. But to do that I needed to get my story down to tee. So really worked on my “elevator pitch” to the point where within about 1.5min I could walk someone through my background and clearly lay out the journey and the reasons for the switch. Now that I’ve been on the IB side all the calls we get from students / interviewees usually sound that same so the unique backgrounds stand out. The unique backgrounds that pitch their story and their “why I want to switch” in a way that in clear and concise really stand out. I hope that helps.
Forgive any typos I’m on my phone.
Thank you! I appreciate your response, this is really valuable information.
One thing though, you mentioned: "The unique backgrounds that pitch their story and their “why I want to switch” in a way that is clear and concise really stand out". This implies the existence of both unique and not-so-unique backgrounds, what would you say is a unique background and how to have/build a unique background to stand out among other candidates? TIA
Good question - This was really interesting for me when recruiting. I knew my background was “nontraditional” and for awhile viewed that as 100% disadvantage. But a few bankers and mentors I spoke with were the ones that helped me craft the story to make myself appear unique rather than simply nontraditional/nontarget.
In my case I did not check any traditional box for an analyst program. I was NOT in undergrad anymore. Prior to grad school I had NEVER taken a business course. I was several years older than the standard 1st yr analyst. No one outside of my state really heard of my undergrad. No family connections in banking. The list goes on.
However I just didn’t realize I had my own value adding experiences despite that. When I was in PT I serviced high net worth type clients. Lawyers, drs, business owners. A good PT can hold conversations with clients. So I had built up the skill of connecting with people older than me and way above my pay grade. When I hit the desk I had no problem chatting with the seniors on my team and not sounding like I was too young to relate to them. I had spent over a year discussing for lack of a better phrase, old man interests with my clients. My time doing operations management helped me learn more about the operations side of a business. This helped with my ability to fine tune model assumptions and sort of start thinking more from an owner perspective (while this helped some in banking, it helps a lot now that I’m on the corp dev / strategy side). Plus in the ops management role I had prior to grad school, I had a team of about 30 direct reports across a few locations so I had started building valuable teamwork skills and communication skills outside of just group projects from school. None of the above clicked til I was on a call with a mentor and they pointed out I had valuable experiences to bring to the job even though they were not the standard ones you think about when recruiting. Once I viewed my background like that and then layered on some relevant internships (corp fin -> small val shop -> big val shop) the story became easy to follow by just looking at my resume. Resume + a tuned in elevator pitch got my story and my “unique” skills communicated within the first 2-3min of a networking call. Changing how I viewed my experiences and how I articulated them really changed the game. I got more calls scheduled, more interviews, more internship offers etc.
To your question of unique vs nonunique. Once you’re in the seat of interviewer you’d be surprised how many resumes and candidates sound the exact same. Good school, 1-2 banking internships, return offer (or not due to hiring freeze rif etc), investment club, dad / uncle works at a bank. Nothing wrong that. I pushed forward several people with that exact background and they turned out to be good hires. However, then you get a candidate that worked 30-40 hours a week in undergrad paying or partial paying his way through to reduce his loans while also juggling full time classes. He may not have the standard internships or a 4.0 but from talking to him you find that he worked his way up from cashier to assistant manager, he’s got a 3.6 despite working nearly full time, he does well on the technicals it’s clear he’s also found time to study up. That candidate has a different kind of grit to them that, in my mind, will only work harder once they hit the desk because they know just how rare that opportunity is for them. Both the traditional and nontraditional backgrounds can be great hires and alot of it comes down to how well you interview once you get your foot in the door. Maybe due to my untraditional background I have a soft spot for those similar to me, but regardless when we’d get a stack of 50 resumes to flip through a lot of the traditional ones would go in the interview pile of course. But the 2 non traditional ones in a stack of 50 definitely stood out just from a “hey guys come check this kid out cause of XYZ”
Does that shed some light? / is that helpful?
Wow, thanks for the very detailed response. I get the point now, this actually shed some light! Build your strengths to overcome your weaknesses
I’m currently 23 in FDD with 1.5 years of experience at a big 4. My goal it to make a switch like you did. Last year I attempted this switch and networked with those that switched from FDD to IB. Most of the people I connected with did the switch during the “great resignation” and when the market was hot. That’s not the case now so I’m stuck on how to network in a tougher market. Any tips? I’m really trying to make this switch this year. MM or LMM is the goal, I just need a shot somewhere.
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