Toronto IB

Hi all!

Planning to move to Canada next year, What is the scene of IB Analyst 1 hiring in Toronto for a Masters candidate and which firms should I target from the beginning where the deal flow is good.

P.s. Profile is competitive in my home country, not in Canada.

Thanks!

 

Hey, thanks.

Planning to go to McGill MMF

(Wanted to know about its reputation and alumni in the industry)

Profile : From India, High GPA, Undergrad in Finance, Target School, Good GMAT/ECA

Planning to go for IB/Pension Fund Analyst positions after Masters and then move to PE after a year or two. Any thoughts on what firms should I target which can lead me to a good PE firm after that?

 

Hey.

McGill grad here. MMF is a decent program with some placements either locally in Montreal if you are fluent in French or internationally in the US if you are Canadian. IB recruitments are generally very very competitive in Canada. I don't agree with the comment on racism below but the cultural barrier is very very high coming from India to fit in with the MMF program which is not even 2 years.

Also, there is not much PE presence here, and breaking into a top performing pension fund team is extremely hard without Toronto IB experience. 

I have many South Asian friends, some came even as IBD VP back home and several as Analysts & Associates - back office and big 4 are considered very good exits for them... Not saying it is not possible for you to break into the industry but I would highly recommend you do your due diligence and grind as hard as you can. Don't ever think that you are competitive enough to land in IB with only online applications. 

Be mindful McGill is in Montreal which makes networking with Bay Street bankers much harder, and local teams won't take you for language reasons.

Also, no one cares about GMAT or your school back home. I have a 95 percentile GMAT which no one ever asked about.

 

Not sure why this comment is getting so many MS.. but he/she is spot on. Basically all the Indians or south Asians I know in IB/PE here have roots in Canada (went to high school, undergrad here), and therefore have connectivity with the culture here (e.g. the ones I've worked with enjoy talking about the Raptors or Game of Thrones in the pit, can hold a conversation about going golfing and to the cottage with the seniors, what have you - these are just random examples). 

I have almost never seen anyone with undergrad and work experience in India successfully landing a gig here at a "legit" shop (Big 5 bank, global, pension fund, etc.).. after all, if those places really want to hire Indians they'll just hire several Indians from Ivey, Queens, Waterloo, etc who can offer both the diverse ethnic backgrounds along with cultural immersion... 

 
Most Helpful

Agree with the above comment but take it one step at a time. McGill have an excellent reputation and alumni network so make sure you get in and meet everyone you can. Once you have a foothold then worry about landing a role in IB or a Pension Plan. 

I'll say this as nicely as I can, but no one here gives a shit about schools in India. You could have come from the Harvard equivalent and people here will still think you were selling Pani Puri on the side of the street. 

Be humble, work hard and best of luck!

 

Canadian IB recruitment is stupidly competitive given the small number of analyst/associate seats. Even lots of target school kids here end up at big 4 or back office or 5-man boutiques. And PE is basically non-existent outside of the pension funds and Onex. If you have the opportunity to choose the US instead, I would definitely take that option, since pay is higher and competition is lower for IB/PE positions.

 

Bro don’t listen to the peasants on this forum. There’s a huge amount of indians and south asians in IB in Toronto. Just network hard, have your story right, learn how people in Canada talk and communicate with eachother (otherwise you’ll come off awkward as fuck and nobody will give you an interview despite your strong skills and knowledge) and go on about 10-15 coffee chats per month and follow up each quarter with these folks.

There’s no racism in toronto recruitment, just sad incels who cry that the world doesn’t give them what they want because of their skin colour (in the most diverse and far-left wing city in the world).

 

Having lived in Toronto for over 15 years and now in Manhattan, Toronto is significantly more narrow-minded with hiring immigrants and the ones they do hire tend to be pretty homogenous with Caucasians in how they sound and act.  Very rare in Toronto IB (at a big bank) to have a guy with a discernable Indian or Chinese accent but it happens significantly more in the US because no one here gives AF what you sound like as long as you can do the job well.

 

Wow. Hiring quality in Canada has really tanked if this is how people think & talk. Brain drain has really taken a toll on the great white north.

 

Canadian, US and UK universities are most recognized in CAD recruiting. Like it or not, it’s the state of the industry and this is what you are up against. Diplomas from Indian universities do not hold sway.

 

The lack of diversity was def a thing pre 2019. But it’s been a generational shift since then. I was an active participant in recruiting for Big 5, and I have close friends who are involved in on cycle recruiting for other Big 5. Most of the summer analyst and summer associate class are non-white / intl. students across Big 5 and BB satellites. Toronto has changed, and very rapidly. I’m an international student myself and can confirm that all those from my cohort who made it were solid (technically sound and had good EQ, even if they had strong south and east asian accents / made the occasional grammar mistake). The only internationals who didn’t make it had some combination of shit grades, poor communication skills (rambled, didn’t know how to position themselves, couldn’t make small talk naturally), and didn’t know what the job / recruiting timelines were

 

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