Two Years M&A to Two Years No Job Any Advice
Hi,
I’m looking for advice on my career situation. I have two years of experience working at a large Technology M&A Corp Dev acquirer and currently live in a west coast city with a M&A job market. I graduated from a top 30 school, though it’s not a target for IB recruiting. Most alumni in banking from my school pursued MBAs or master’s degrees before working in M&A.
During my time at the company, I worked on several multibillion-dollar acquisitions, managing a team on financial and tax due diligence and M&A integration. However, I didn’t have the opportunity to build financial models I just reviewed them.
After being laid off, I received strong recommendations from my boss and have since interviewed with investment banks, private equity firms, corporate development teams, and accounting firms, but without success. I’ve also contacted PE recruiters and cold-emailed larger PE firms in my area with no positive results. On the M&A tax side, I have already met with all potential employers which have been reluctant to hire me with just a bachelor’s degree.
I’ve been applying for nearly two years without securing a position and am currently self-employed, though not in a role related to M&A. I’m considering giving up on M&A since I've had no luck for too long and would like to avoid going back to school for now.
Any advice on what I should do?
Thanks!
Given the unemployment gap, id focus on landing whatever remotely close to finance role you can find and working your way from there. Hiring market wasn’t as bad a year or two ago so if you weren’t able to land then, its going to be very hard to find your dream role with the two year gap on your CV..
Also have you tried actually working on the feedbacks you received from all the places you interviewed at?
I received varied feedback from different firms regarding my resume. Initially, I emphasized all core skills, including finance, but might have overemphasized my tax experience due to its niche nature. A boutique investment bank owner mentioned that I was too tax-focused, and a hiring manager from a big 4 FDD group gave me similar feedback and did not offer an interview.
When I considered international tax, a big 4 recruiter suggested that M&A tax would be a better fit. Despite having over five first-round interviews for M&A tax positions, they were all brief, under five minutes, and I was told I was not a good fit once they looked at my resume. In contrast, my other M&A interviews lasted 30 minutes to an hour.
I later revised my resume to be more finance-focused for roles in investment banking, private equity, corporate development. I also revised my resume to be more project management focused on corporate development integration roles. Consequently, I secured final round interviews with investment banks, PE firms, and corporate development roles, but not with accounting firms.
One PE firm and a PE recruiter mentioned that my educational background did not match their criteria, and a boutique private equity management consulting firm considered me overqualified. During final interviews for corporate development or PE roles, I was asked if I had built financial models. While I mentioned that I reviewed them, I had not built them I also mentioned this on my resume to accurately reflect that fact. I did consider learning how to build financial models but I decided against it since there's not a lot of entry level positions for financial modeling for someone who is not a new grad. I still learn new skills, but they are more focused on my current business and starting other businesses since I've not had much luck applying to M&A jobs.
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