Uni Student need advice Big4/IB.
Hi,
I'm a final year student, and a lot of my banking applications are halted or seem as though they may become unsuccessful. In the case I don't secure anything - what would be the best course of action?
I have an offer for Big4 audit - should i get qualified and then move over or should i shift my focus towards off cycles for next year?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.
Bump
What are you looking to do and what’s your metropolitan area like? Are there boutiques that you can apply to/network with? What do you mean by get qualified? Getting your CPA?
Hi,
Thank you for your reply. I’m in London and looking to go into IB/CM and I’ve applied to most places but it seems as though I might not secure something for my graduation year.
Yes, so get my ICAEW/ACA and get chartered and transfer over.
Got it. Apologies as I'm not familiar with the London market. Are you from there and/or looking to stay there? If you're originally from the states and still have family/permanent residence there, perhaps that could be a possibility (although a big jump). Keep your head up, and keep applying and networking where you can! Wishing you the best.
With that being said, some of my rough thoughts below:
- See this M&I article if helpful. Also see this WSO thread if you haven't already.
- Find out about the possibilities regarding transferring around the Big 4 divisions. Are you at all able to transfer into their M&A division? As a follow-up, if you're at least able to transfer to Transaction Advisory Services, that could be more helpful when making the push into IB given the "deal exposure"
- I don't know much about audit either, but with IB I believe there's typically a short window post-grad to make the jump from a different area of finance/accounting. If you take the Big 4 gig, be sure to work on your story on why you wanted out, and what you learned during your time there. You will likely have a much stronger background in understanding financial statements and the nuances therein compared to bankers, but I think you would need to find a way to show interest or exposure in deals (either through following them on the internet/news, or asking your peers at Big 4 firm if there's any way to gain exposure through the company, although not sure how viable this would be with Chinese wall)
Not a problem, I should have mentioned it within the post. Yes, am originally from there so I'm looking to stay.
- Yes, I'm trying to move over, however they're very strict so I guess I'm stuck unless I apply to another firm. Would having transaction experience outweight the benefits of having the CPA or part of it?
- I see that makes sense, how short of a window would you say? If I don't secure anything - could I take the offer in September and apply for grad/off cycles?
Drop me a PM, I’ve done Big 4 to IB switch in LDN. Can offer some advice.
Pm'd you
Hi mate, thank you will do!
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