Hey everyone – recently joined WSO as a mentor and figured I'd introduce myself and do a Q&A / AMA. I've always enjoyed helping students and younger professionals navigate recruiting, especially those coming from non-target backgrounds like myself.
Quick background:
- Born and raised in NYC and went to a non-target for undergrad
- Had no real finance network or traditional recruiting pipeline coming into college
- Interned throughout basically all of undergrad and gradually worked my way into more relevant "high" finance roles
- Started full-time in capital markets at a large bank
- Lateraled into a top BB M&A group and spent a few years there
- Eventually made the jump into LMM PE, where I'm having a terrific experience
I didn’t have some master plan when I started. A lot of it was figuring out the best next move from wherever I happened to be at, getting rejected plenty of times, networking, and simply creating as many “at-bats” for myself as possible.
I know how easy it is to read WSO posts as a non-target student or just someone who feels a little lost early in their professional career and come away feeling like everyone else figured this stuff out from the get-go.
Happy to be an open book about my overall experience and chat about what worked, what didn’t, mistakes I made, what I’d do differently today, etc.
Hit me with anything. If you don't feel comfortable posting publicly or have a more specific situation, feel free to shoot me a PM too.
Based on the most helpful WSO content, here are some key takeaways and advice for navigating a career path from a non-target school to roles in capital markets, BB M&A, and LMM PE:
Key Insights:
Start Early and Intern Often:
Networking is Critical:
Create Opportunities ("At-Bats"):
Lateral Moves:
Adaptability and Resilience:
Breaking into LMM PE:
Mistakes to Avoid:
What to Do Differently:
If you have specific questions about any stage of this journey—whether it's networking, transitioning roles, or preparing for interviews—feel free to ask!
Sources: Non-target to non-MBB consulting -Q&A, https://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forum/job-search/my-2-cents-on-sa-recruiting-from-a-non-target-background?customgpt=1, Networking 101 – 8 tips from a “non-target” school student, NON-TARGET TO BANKING FORMULA: 100% SUCCESS RATE (so far)
How did you move from capital markets to M&A? And were you in ECM vs DCM?
Thanks for the question! I was in a more niche area within DCM rather than traditional ECM / DCM. A few things helped with the lateral move. I already had a solid finance foundation through undergrad and had also gone through the same general IB training program when I started full-time, so the technical prep was fairly manageable.
The bigger piece was developing a story for why M&A that actually made sense coming from my group , rather than sounding like I was just chasing a different seat. Timing also helped a lot as the lateral market was very active (deal activity rebounded from the COVID lows), so was fortunate to get a number of looks and ultimately multiple IB offers. Def a combination of prep, having a coherent story, and shopping around the market at an ideal time.
Thanks for doing this! At what level did you make the move to the LMM PE, and how did your comp compare? If you took a meaningful pay cut, what made the trade-off worthwhile? You mentioned you’re having a terrific experience - looking back, is there anything you wish you’d weighed more carefully before making the jump?
Great questions! I left banking as an Assoc 2 and did take a pretty meaningful pay cut going to LMM PE. For me though, by that point I was pretty convinced PE was what I wanted to do, so comp honestly wasn’t a major factor in the decision.
The more sell sides I worked on in M&A, the more interested I became in what was happening on the other side of the table — seeing PE firms dig into the business, request different cuts of data, pressure-test their thesis and ultimately decide whether they actually wanted to own the company. All of that was def intriguing. I was getting pretty good at banking and was definitely still learning a bunch, so I wouldn’t say I had “plateaued” like you sometimes hear here. I just found myself increasingly more interested in the investing side and knew that i wanted to try PE, it was probably time to make the jump before I got too far down the career-banker path.
On your last question, looking back, there’s honestly not much I wish I had weighed more heavily. By tail end of banking, I had thought through the different paths pretty extensively and once I started recruiting, I was determined to make the move. If anything, I’d weigh the near term comp haircut less. Even a meaningful difference for a year or two is pretty small in the context of a 30+ year career if you’re moving towards work you find more interesting and a path you think is simply better fit.
As I said, having a terrific experience as I’m getting much closer to the actual investment decision and spending more time thinking about whether a business is good, what can go wrong, what needs to be true for the thesis to work, how to create real value during partnership hold, and generally just more autonomy and current team has given me the “green light” to run with things (obviously after earning their trust and producing quality work) so… can’t complain!
I’m In a similar if not the same boat rn. Currently at a large bank not BB but decently large doing cap markets. Looking to go into traditional advisory/coverage ish role at a BB or strong mm. Got 3 interviews (cold) so far but not the strongest of places. (I started like 2 ish months ago post undergrad). Can you talk about your timeline? When you started networking / recruiting? I know bonus season is coming around and so lateral spots open up - would you recommend networking now? (My situation: I get no responses despite having a rlly nice email format). Should I wait to finish my first few months?
First off, well done on the capital markets full-time seat + securing 3 interviews this early.
I'd be a little strategic with the timing though. At only ~2 months in, a lot of networking convos as well as actual interviews are naturally going to turn into "you just started, why are you already trying to leave?" and you'll probably spend half the call defending the thought process.
I mentor a lot of students / recent grads, and my advice to your specific situation at least would be to network aggressively now, but recruit more patiently. Use the remainder of the year to build genuine relationships and come across as curious about traditional IB rather than immediately asking everyone for a lateral opportunity. I'd probably hold off on really aggressive recruiting until at least the new year and ideally ramp it up around Spring. That gets you closer to anywhere from ~8-12 months on the desk by the time processes actually materialize. That's important because your story will be much stronger which helped me as I mentioned above. You'll actually understand your current role, can explain what you learned, and why you gave it a legit shot, and then articulate specifically why you want to make the jump now. At 2 months, most banks aren't going to give you much credit for having "tried" capital markets yet.
I actually started my lateral recruiting process a little later than I probably should have and recruited pretty aggressively toward the beginning of Summer but one of the biggest reasons how I ended up in a position of multiple IB offers (from top MM and BBs including the one I accepted) was having a very coherent story for why M&A that made tons of sense coming from my capital markets seat.
To sum it up... network now (many ways to craft emails / cold outreaches as I received hundreds and hundreds of chat requests over the years), kill it in your current seat and be able to explain what your group actually does in 2-3 sentences, and keep refining the "why traditional IB / why now" story. Then come Spring, I'd recruit aggressively and hopefully leverage some of the relationships you're starting to build today.
Give yourself time too -- lateral processes can be a drag and not every interview is going to convert. Hope that helps!
Dude, amazing advice. Truly appreciate it!!
Consectetur omnis et voluptatum qui officiis. Libero aspernatur quis rem. Omnis eos et nostrum velit voluptatem qui.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...