Contoller to IB....open to suggestions
Ok monkies so I need advice from a real life IB professional. All you aspiring monkies save your speculation for the market. Currently I sit in a Controller roll in the finance division of a BB. Late my senior year I figured out I had a genuine interest in IB/PE. Anyhow coming from a state school (bring it!), with no big time internship (although I started operated and sold my own small retail venture while in school) during the downturn didn't leave me with many immediate options...so to the age old question: How Do I Get In The Club!
Do I start looking now at Boutique shops and work to secure a position pre MBA?
Or do I sit in my current roll gaining strong experience with the Balance Sheet imparticular and look to pivot off the MBA?
PS. Been with the bank over 6 months but under a year, but was brought on at a high level analyst...grad in Econ with honors
also I typed this on my phone so all relax on the spelling/grammer
Wait for a year...make the most out of your experience there...get very close with VP's in your group that would write a stellar letter of rec for you...leverage your experience as very transactional/in the middle of all the greatest deals/saved the firm from imploding...rock the GMAT - 750+...apply to B School and attend a top 3. Firms will be bending backwards for you, if you want to do IBanking. Few people want to do IBanking in Bschool. Demand vastly outstrips supply. Heed my advice. I was in your position a little over a year ago and that's what I did coming from a nontarget/no name public school and BB BO experience. Although I supported a very prestigious group in a very prestigious BB and what I did was similar to what the business guys did but from a different angle. That said, your experience in controllers is very leverageable to a position in finance.
Your chance of transferring to front office in your analyst stint is close to none. It is possible, but VERY VERY VERY difficult. You need to be VERY smart (only interest is not enough) and VERY lucky. I've seen ppl moving from public finance and S&T to IBD and losing one year (2nd year analyst relegating to 1st year analyst) and I don't see why they want someone in the Controller's office so desperately unless you are really that good, this is especially true when the market has plenty of qualified candidates with prior IBD exp. to fill in the few spots available.
You need to go back to MBA and then apply for associate position. However, go for your MBA after at least 3 years. Otherwise, you will have a difficult time to find a front office associate job in banks when you get out your MBA, and you will not qualify for analyst positions for obvious reasons.
Btw, nobody gives a shit to your VP's stellar letter of rec. He/she is only a VP, plus he/she is in the back office too and most likely has little exposure and connection to the front office anyway. I would not even be surprised that people in the front office in the same firm has never heard of him/her. When any firm is making a lateral hiring, they probably care least who is recommending you (well, maybe a letter from Lloyd Blankfein may help), as long as it is a positive rec, which I imagine would be the case most of the time to everyone, you should be fine. However, they wanna make sure they you can do the shit without going through extensive training.
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