Career dilemma - in need of advice
Hey everyone, I am kind of in a dilemma right now and really need your advice.
I am an international student who just finished my master's at a target, no prior investment banking internship in the past four years (closest being financial modelling courses and a consulting internship that had some cash flow modelling). As of now, I managed to secure a summer internship at an equity research boutique and also have a big 4 grad scheme in audit lined up after that.
I am currently debating whether to rescind the big 4 offer so I could go into full time recruiting, or go into audit while still recruit on the side.
First choice:
- Pros:
- More time for applications and interviews
- Cons:
- Hiring freezes, plummeting conversion rates, competing with people with two or three internships at bigger and more visible banks
- Most optimistic scenario: 1.5-2 years to become full time analyst, but unsure if family could support my living expenses in the meantime
Second choice:
- Pros:
- Protects my downside so I would not be unemployed
- Perhaps I can spin some work into relevant experience (valuation testing when auditing PE clients)
- Cons:
- Less time for recruiting
- Traditional path of audit to valuations/FDD to IB becoming less relevant as I heard about push backs from audit partners
- The longer I stay in audit, the more difficult it is to leave
My ultimate goal is to get into a IB front office role, and I would like to leave audit in 1-2 years if I have to choose the second option. Do you guys have any advice or opinions regarding how to proceed? Any help is greatly appreciated!
I have a strong preference for going into Audit BUT sticking around to get your ACA / CPA.
From there, lateralling into FDD / Transaction Services if you're highly ranked should be quite easy, and then it's a short step to IB or PE.
You aren't likely to be an attractive candidate in those first 1 - 2 years, so I don't want to get your hopes too high.
However, you aren't likely to be an attractive candidate being unemployed and without any past experience, and you put yourself at tremendous risk financially (you already mentioned that living expenses might be an issue). Having a long gap right out of university on your CV is risky for any career path, least of all banking.
I'd also like to correct one point you raise: "The longer I stay in audit, the more difficult it is to leave" - no. As soon as you get that qualification, you improve your marketability enormously - it's very non-linear (although after you have the ACA / CPA, it'll become difficult to leave over time if you stay).
Thank you for the response, I feel the only reason that I am still weighing the first option is fear that I will be taking a much longer route to my end goal with the second route. I think I have a slimmer of hope that the extra hours spent on recruiting could land me an off-cycle/grad scheme, since I finally have one internship related to IB.
But you are right about not having long gaps in my CV straight out of uni, so I should be mentally prepared that I probably will not be in IB for 3 years.
Would it be possible to transfer to a transactions role internally in less than three years? I think transaction services in the UK also study the ACA so I could still get the qualification done.
And what are your opinions on corporate banking? Still a front office role and exit ops certainly include IB. Perhaps I should also apply for "less glamorous" front office roles and valuations/FDD at other big 4s while working?
It's possible to transfer to Transaction Services in less than three years, and you can try, but the realistic advice to manage expectations is that your marketability will improve dramatically after you get that qualification.
There's also quite a lot of politics internally at the Big 4 more recently with Partners reluctant to let their juniors leave to other parts of the firm. I hope that the market has turned a bit in 1 - 2 years, but if you were thinking about moving internally today in this market, it would be hard.
I'm not familiar at all with corporate banking candidly (my own IB doesn't have it). My views (now that I've given this disclaimer) is that it's less appealing than Big 4 or IB at a smaller place IF your goal is front office IB at a big institution - you'd be competing with many candidates to transfer and the skills aren't as comparable; and the road is less trodden than Big 4.
I'd stay well away from Valuations. It can be all sorts from valuing debt portfolios to quarterly hedge fund positions. I actually have a couple of friends who've moved into IB from Valuations, but both acknowledge that they were lucky (one was a top bucket and transferred internally after threatening to resign, and the other got lucky with a friendship connection).
FDD probably won't take you without an ACA - they usually feast off the pool of graduating accountants. Very good place to be though, and a lot of MM banks and A LOT of MM PEs take FDD people (the MM PEs very often prefer them to bankers).
I see, so from my understanding, when it comes to breaking into IB:
Transaction Advisory/FDD > Valuations (if related to transactions) > Corporate Banking at BB/MM >> Audit.
Thank you for your insights, I think now I have a clearer picture regarding what to expect and how to proceed. Really appreciate it.
Having done the audit aca > valuation advisory > ib route I would flag one thing: it is not as easy for internationals to navigate the big4. I felt there was a very heavy preference for middle/upper class white Brits. It’s not impossible, but calibrate your expectations. I feel that I got somewhat lucky as woman because there weren’t many British women that applied.
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