Why do you need an MBA to get into banking coming from a different finance role like fldp etc.?
Is it just a prestige thing? Or to show how bad you want it? Considering most fldps and other areas of finance were finance majors it's not like they're learning anything from a technical pov from the mba that's needed for banking. Don't they end up just studying the vault guide anyway? Maybe just take a WSP modeling course or something. Feels unnecessary that you're required to drop 200k on an mba...
All about relationships. MBA sends recruits who then become bankers who then recruit from MBA and validate the money spent on MBA with high paying banking job. World keeps on spinning.
That's a very good point. I can assure you that if you studied finance in undergrad or coming from an fldp role, you hardly learn anything new in your MBA years.
The only reason it matters is because you are entering the recruiting pipeline of IB. Most BBs and EBs are making most of their hires out of Business Schools and only few out of lateral hires. Thus, your chances of being hired oustide this pipeline are very slim.
This recruiting process of hiring straight out business schools has its benefits. Hiring out of Business Schools is a more standarized and systematic approach that can help banks hire double-vetted candidates (once during the business school admission and once during banking recruiting) faster (some banks hire more than 8 candidates in a cycle from a certain school). We should also not forget the fact that there is a more diverse pool of candidates in business schools that may be harder to replicate if you hire laterally.
Good point overall though.
Because it is a more organized feeder system for them. They go to the schools they have relationships with, have last year's summer associates vet a little bit, send a list to the current associates (alum) at the firm, so on and so forth. In essence, it's just a more organized system for them.
Also a double filtering system, good school = some kind of stamp of approval. I know people scoff at this and I do too a bit, but the schools really help them narrow down candidates. At the top schools the people did reasonably well in undergrad, had jobs in between and also some schools most students have ~750 GMATS. I know none of the above necessitates someone who will do well in IB, but it just makes it easier and more organized for them.
It has nothing to do with skill or prestige - it's about marketing channels, e.g. OCR. You can come in from corporate into a front office role, but (a) it's very tough / you will have a lot to prove from the second you hit the desk, (b) the labor demand needs to be there (looking for experienced candidates for senior analyst/associate roles), (c) you're going to be competing against candidates from other shops that will immediately be prioritized over yourself as a candidate, and (d) there is a good amount of luck and right place/right time random walk-y type things that need to go right.
And, at the end of the day, you've only got one option (the bank you happened to super day with to break into the business)
MBA is just the formal recruiting approach that most banks won't deviate from when onboarding new talent, so candidates get to explore all banking options, time to prepare for technicals and how to market yourself, and generally the established networking connections between bank/school.
Agree 100%. On top of that, banks know that someone else has done some diligence on the applicants. Its definitely worth something when an M7 adcom has signed off on someone.
You could probably go to some regional boutique and take a A1 position with Corp Fin Exp.
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