What are the odds of getting into Investment banking of M&A internship with a masters degree and without work experience?
Hello folks. So, I am from a place where Investment banking/consulting ain't that popular at all thus I never had an opporunity to get a internship at there? However I have done an internship at a local bank and basically work with credit ratings. The other working experience is irrelavent to investment banking such as marketing. Now I am looking for enrolling at an MIM degree but I am not sure what are the odds of securing a internship while being enrolled at an MIM program without previous experience? what would be the scenario like? How tough it would be to break into a boutique shop or any investment banking releted job at any company or bank? ( Of course, I am not hoping for getting into BB from the beginning ).
One more question? Should I complete atleast level 2 of ACCA to get some credtibility instead of CFA? I am not sure how effective it would be but this certificaiton is still somewhere releted to finance?
It'll be challenging, is the honest answer I think, with a low probability of entering investment banking through traditional routes.
My suggestions would be (1) try to enter the space through a boutique type of institution. This might require a bit more hustle and networking than the more traditional BB application process, but definitely worth trying. (2) try to enter the space by working at the Big 4, who have much greater candidate intakes, and are global, and then transferring internally to a Transaction Services / FDD / Corporate Finance role. From there, the move to a MM bank should be more possible.
Finally, if you're networking or interviewing for Investment Banking, be expected to respond to the question of why you didn't enter Investment Banking initially, and why you want to now.
I didn't know that the ACCA had another level - if you're choosing between the two, then CFA is probably more helpful.
Hey, thank you for the response. I had a question for you as you have said it will be challenging to break into IB. Is the scenario same for the summer analyst or spring analyst internship program since a large pool of the application candidates have work experience in IB?
It will be a bit easier to get into an internship or summer analyst program versus a graduate role, but still, we see hundreds or thousands of applications from candidates with more "standard" backgrounds. So perhaps this is like saying that it is slightly easier to summit Mount Everest than Annapurna.
HR's life is a lot easier when they can filter through applications and pick the profile of a penultimate year student from a target university who has interned at a BB previously, rather than try to justify why they've proposed a candidate with a more obscure background.
This is why I think there might be a better chance at a more boutique institution which doesn't see as many candidates, and where there might not even be an HR function (or you can bypass HR and try to network with Bankers themselves).
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