Moving out to London
Yo fellas, currently, I’m a first-year analyst at one of the top investment banks in Poland. Next year, I’ll be graduating with a bachelor’s degree in finance from a local “target school” (Warsaw School of Economics). Don’t get me wrong—I’m super happy with what I’ve achieved so far and really appreciate my current position in life (especially since I moved out from a small town just two years ago). However, I feel like I’m not fully utilizing my potential.
I’m considering moving to London in the next few years, but I have almost no knowledge about how to approach this transition. The only IB-related moving-out story from Poland I’ve heard is about someone getting an internship at J.P. Morgan and hoping to be relocated to the UK. In my opinion, that sounds like a long shot and depends heavily on luck.
Do you think it’s possible to land an IB analyst-level job in the UK without prior foreign experience or a degree from a European target school? I’d love to hear about your experiences or any advice you might have.
As an EU citizen in post-Brexit Britain, your opportunities are more limited compared to a few years ago. You’ll either need to secure a position with sponsorship before relocating, which most investment banks are reluctant to provide for junior roles due to the abundance of local candidates, or pursue a Master’s degree at a target school in the UK to improve your chances. Even then, you’ll still require sponsorship to work in the UK.
This is just not true lol. Only for Summer Analyst positions this may hold true
London is still the M&A hub for Europe, and as such there will be plenty of need for experienced Analysts with continental languages. Given how your average analyst will exit to a PE / Corp Dev / etc. after 2 years, Banks will definitely look abroad for experienced talent
The only issues may arise if your experience is a bit too niche. In the case of a Polish analyst, their fit may be moreso in a CEET team which are usually not too big. However, if he closes 2-3 deals in a specific sector he could target moving to that sector team
How many EU sponsored analysts in your group?
In mine: nil
Time will tell, and I wish the best for OP, but it's better to keep expectations realistic.
Find other Polish ppl on LinkedIn and ask for intro calls, learn from them
There are ceemea focused teams for example
Likely youll need tk build some relevant experience locally first eg super solid internship
Then its networking and lots of luck
Easiest route would be recruit for IB jobs in Frankfurt (ideally BB/EBs) - transfer internally after a year in the job. Happens all the time and fairly straight forward as long as you have a decent reputation.
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