Switching from 'Industrials' to 'Restructuring'.
Hey!
So, a bit of a background - I'm a soon-to-graduate engineer that's currently looking at MSc in Finance programs in Europe to get into IB. Reasons? Initially, it was the money, but after diving deeper into the field, I've discovered that the work is pretty interesting too. I know that life would suck, especially for the first couple of years, but I'm willing to put up with it. My family has struggled a lot, and I'd like to ensure a safe future for them.
Moving on, I'm primarily interested in working with distressed assets and other special situations through restructuring, and would thus like to work in the 'Restructuring' group of a BB or MM, or with an EB in the field such as Lazard, HL or PJT.
The problem is, that my best chance is to actually break into the field is by leveraging my engineering background to break into the 'Industrials' coverage group instead. So, my question to you all is, if I do pursue this, will it be possible for me to transition to restructuring at a later point of time? I really have my mind set on it, and would like to eventually end up in a distressed-focused buy-side firm.
Thank you.
EIG
If you are interested in restructuring, pursue restructuring. Reach out to restructuring bankers. Learn about how different professionals got into restructuring. Start following the distressed debt market. There are more than enough resources on this site and others to help you recruit into and secure a full-time opportunity in restructuring. There's no need to do an intermediate stop in industrials banking.
Also, in my experience, it is fairly uncommon for bankers to move from a coverage group into the restructuring product, outside of Oil & Gas in 2015.
Like others have said, companies in the industrials vertical often end up in distress due to high leverage and cyclical nature. You don't have to abdandon leveraging your technical background, but if distressed advisory interests you the most, then go directly for that.
Participate in as many clubs, attend any events you can that will expose you to people in the field, cold network on LI with as many people as possible. You said you'll be in EU, but if you're in London, HL RX has a large presence there and you should definitely try to put in the effort to meet as many of their bankers as possible. Cold network on LI before you go for your masters so you can be top of mind for people when it comes to looking for internships/full-time. In order to get real life experience you're going to have to network your way in to even get the chance at it. Network, network, network, all the time. My last two gigs I was only able to get my foot in the door through networking. Now once you get there, make sure you have all the technicals down cold. Coming from an engineering background there will be some skepticism, the easist way to silence that is knowing the interview guides chapter and verse. Good luck. It might seem annoyingly difficult, but you've definitely got a good shot at it with your current background.
If you are recruiting into an analyst role, investment banks are going to be looking for smart, motivated candidates that have the ability to think logically, take on responsibility for work product, and present well in front of clients. So it's more important to have great grades, show maturity and curiosity, and be able to figure out problems without needing someone to hold your hand along the way. This is especially true in restructuring groups that are smaller groups relative to the M&A product offering at most banks.
In the above scenario, the best advice I could give you is be scrappy. Read Moyer. Find out if your university library can get you student access to DebtWire, Reorg Research, LCDComps, etc. Start following interesting distressed situations. The more capable and prepared you can be for informationals with restructuring professionals, the more likely they are to pass your resume on to hiring managers.
If you are recruiting for an Associate or VP role, I would tend to agree with you more with regards to selling your education and experience as relevant.