Having trouble finding a concrete answer for this. If I graduated nearly a year ago, am I eligible for new analyst cohort (2024) applications at the big investment banks? Or will transferring into an IB role require joining through off-cycle recruiting?
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No, these roles are filled a year in advance (really 2+ years in advance since 99% of these roles go to returning interns). And even so, they very clearly say on there that you must graduate between December 2023 and June 2024. Your application will never get to a human because it gets filtered out by not being eligible.
If you're already 1.5 years into working and want IB, you should do an MBA - by the time you get your GMAT and application all ready, you should have enough experience to apply. Look into M7 or top 15 programs, these will deliver you right to a summer associate spot.
Would an MBA make sense with only 2 years of work experience? Have heard that MBA programs prefer 3-4 yrs of experience.
3 years is probably fine, especially if you've gotten a promotion - but at 1.5 years in already, that's not too far away. You would go straight to BB/EB associate too -the path to IB from a non-relevant job is incredibly arduous trying to lateral over, MBA is a nice little shortcut
Graduated in 2020, but joined the 2022 Analyst Class. Was offered to be an early starter once I received the offer.
Was that an exception due to Covid or is that typically the norm
My initial thought: No - not eligible.
I was in a similar situation as yourself. I broke into investment banking with 2 years of work experience. I applied to every IB position I saw. The only ones I got any response from were off-cycle "Analyst -1", "Experienced Analyst", or "Analyst - II."
Once I got brought on, I witnessed first-hand the very formalized process of recruiting new analysts fresh out of school. While I don't know 100% whether you're technically eligible vs. ineligible, your time for sure would be better spent focusing on the off-cycle positions I mentioned above.
Also, (this will be annoying but hear me out) do you like your current job? Obviously, you don't love it because you're looking for a new role, but do you hate going to work in the morning? The reason I ask is it was very difficult to adapt to the toxicity and cowardice endemic in IB, having a normal workplace as a reference point. No disrespect intended, IB is an incredibly prestigious, lucrative career, but I figured I'd pose the question as I just put my notice in after only 1 year to go back to my old job.
Understood on the work environment and culture typically in IB. How difficult did you find the recruiting process and how long would you say your job search to transfer over into IB lasted?
Was in a similar situation when trying to break into IB. When I was attempting to apply for the new analyst cohort openings my resume would always get kicked as ineligible because I had already graduated. Unfortunately, you have to apply to experienced roles and not new graduate openings.
How did you end up breaking in? MBA or through one of the experienced hire positions eventually?
I was eventually able to lateral in and land an offer with an experienced role at a MM shop, I was working for a valuation firm at the time so I had a very complimentary skill set to IB. Not sure what your work experience is but even with my experience working in a complimentary field it was definitely a grind trying to break in because a lot of the time I was interviewing against folks who already had IB experience. It took a few years of sending out thousands of emails, resumes, networking, and going through probably 100 interviews, which takes a toll on your psyche after a while getting rejected that many times but if you really want it and are willing to put in the work it's definitely possible to break in.
Sounds like networking and persistence are what you need to transfer over into IB after a year or 2 of experience then
Networking generally gives you your best chance but funny enough the role I did end up landing wasn't through networking, I had just applied for the role through their career portal and HR reached out. So many folks get tunnel vision and just use one approach, typically whatever they think will give them the best chance and be the best use of their time, which is a mistake, this is an accuracy by volume game. Try anything and everything and see what sticks.
u def can off-cycle. either way dont ask questions like that here, u will always get a negative nancy answer because everyone on wso is an anxious reject and they want you to be one too. position yourself as a recent grad and slide right in no one will notice or care. dont rule anything out this early, just get in and u can move around. nothing is set in stone.
Yeah, was just asking because was planning on applying to the 2024 start date programs but wasn’t sure if it was worth my time if I wouldn’t even be eligible for the program
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