Advice on breaking into IB M&A

Hi everyone,

I'm a 27(M) professional with minimal experience. Graduated with a dual masters in business from a non-target and a BBA in accounting & finance. My internship experiences has been with SMEs and non profits in business development and a book keeping role. Most recently I was a financial analyst at a management consultancy in their profit recovery arm of their auditing business line. However, due to a recent acquisition and budget cuts I was made redundant. I have completed a financial modeling and valuations course and have minimal experience valuing companies in retail and Healthcare as part of my due diligence for my personal portfolio.

I would really appreciate any advice on how to break in. Who should I be trying to network with? How do I go about it? LinkedIn or cold emails? Anything at all as I've had 0 luck with just applying.

It's been a challenging couple of years since graduating back in March of 2020 and I've had to dig deep to keep afloat. Really appreciate any advice/help.

Thanks!

7 Comments
 
Valueme

Unfortunately, since the onset of the pandemic I'm no longer in the position to financially afford to continue my education. I've pretty much burnt all of my savings and used majority of my investment gains to get by.

Just take out a loan for a T10 MBA

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 

"Just take $250K of debt" is not good advice. 

OP -- getting an in at a BB/EB is going to be hard. I would recommend looking into boutique banks in your area. Are you in a metropolitan area? If you're in a mid-size city, there's bound to be smaller shops that with some crafty networking may take a shot on you. It won't be glamorous or lucrative, but it'll give you a shot to build some real deal experience, etc, that you can then further leverage down the line. 

 

Yeah ok buddy it’s not as bad as a medical school loan. 

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 

Actually reading this again, it seems you already have an MBA? Not sure if you’re allowed to get another one.

You should seek out your alumni network.

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 

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