Retail Banking Pigeonhole

Hello Everyone,

I finished my undergraduate degree from a top school last summer with a 3.9 GPA. During my senior year I took a job at a retail bank for some extra income. I’ve been here for over a year and feel like I’m stuck with no where to go.

What should be my first steps to transition from a retail banking job to an analyst role at an IB?

Any advice would be appreciated and if anymore info is needed please let me know.

Thanks

5 Comments
 

Step 8 is definitely the most useful tip LOL.

But seriously, I work at a BB completely separated from any of the main IB locations. Could you give any actionable tips to networking from my position. I feel like LinkedIn gets me no where fast.

Thanks for the quick response by the way!

 
Most Helpful

So, Let me put it this way. You are about as far away from IB as you can get. Even if you are at a BB on their Retail side. Its just not at the same. Nothing is going to happen fast for you. It is going to be a grind for you. Probably 6 months minimum of networking with 10-25 connections a day. I also want to make it clear that 6 months is in a perfect and lucky world.

Actionable Steps 1. Expand your horizons. Look at different cities, and banks than BB. You have definitely missed the BB train. 2. Network as hard as you can. 10 to 25 connections a day and patience is all the advice I can give you. (you might be able to get farther by stripping the retail banking title and just using your banks name and then killing Info interviews)

 

Would try to lateral to some other position ASAP - asset management, PWM, anything not named retail banking. Even if you make a good connection through networking, retail banking is not a respected role and you would struggle to get traction.

Nothing wrong with networking now (top school, 3.9 will help you) and looking to come in at A1 in 1-2 years, but it's not realistic right now. Find a new role and your school/GPA/decent job combination will make it a lot easier for you.

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