Why are UK MD Profiles often rather „weak“
I often see this randomly on LinkedIn, when BB/EB make posts about deal announcements.
A lot of times even at top BBs/EBs those MDs have a profile a long the lines of:
- rather non-target/semi target University background (i.e, University Nottingham or something in Ireland/Scotland)
- 3-4 years experience at a big 4 such as KPMG after University
- switch to a bank as associate where they work themselves up the ladder
I mean obviously times were different back then, but according to WSO a CV like this (ie, weak Uni, big 4 background) is pretty much a dead-end so it is funny to see such profiles make it to the top.
That being said:
a) this is all anecdotal evidence - it might be just a massive case of survivorship bias
b) this phenomena is restricted to IBs. I have rarely seen less pedigreed candidates make it to a top bayside institutio
It’s just talent convection in a market where for the last 20/30 years PE was less saturated and seen as financially superior to an advisory career. + Competition inflation, the build out/saturation of PE specifically UMM/JAMMBO taking high %s of IBD candidates over the last 15/20 years.
Not too difficult, really.
So is the MBB saying of „the worst get counseled to leave, the best exit themselves and the middle of pack stays to become Partner“ also true in Banking?
You also shouldn’t discount the fact that many high calibre people might not have had the opportunities or visibility that people and students have today.
Therefore, some might have taken a non-linear path and proven themselves at every turn.
It's a pretty well known inside joke that if you ask an MD how they got into banking they will tell you about a time some GS partner liked their attitude in a pub and offered them a job on a spot or something equally ridiculous.
It was simply easier to get IB roles back then. Plus a lot less people went to uni. So any uni was much better than nothing.
Such profiles don't work now because the environment has changed. Labour markets, like all markets, evolve over time.
Go back far enough and IBs didn’t have grad programmes back in the day. The most well-trodden path into the industry was through accounting or law.
Accounting firms like Arthur Andersen were essentially your gold standard back in the day.
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