IB recruiting for internationals
Incoming MBA student at a target IB school (Wharton, CBS, Booth) with prior experience in IB (2 years) and PE (1 year) in LatAm.
I'm curious to know how are the recruiting outcomes for regular international males in IB. I do have prior experience, but from what I noticed so far most internationals are doing pretty average to bad during IB recruiting, even at top schools (not interested in LatAm groups at banks). It's mostly DEI candidates who are doing well, which is honestly a little discouraging.
Can anyone shed some light on what should be my expectation?
I don't have direct experience as I'm from the US but international males did generally bad during IB recruiting, at least in my program (T10). Also, I wouldn't rely too much on your prior finance experience - You will likely have coffee chats or get interviewed by MBA associates who pivoted from a different field, so that can actually be held against you. Just something to keep in mind
I don’t think having prior IB experience will be held against OP. I think they’ll just have a leg up in the technicals because of their work experience but again they’ll be viewed the same as other peers.
Currently in the process of interviewing students. I tend to say that it differs from student to student, but OP will have to demonstrate that he is actually interested in pursuing IB and not using it as a temporary spot before heading to PE. But I wouldn't be surprised if some associate decides to cut someone because he / she pivoted to IB from a different industry (like most MBAs do). At the end of the day, we are all humans and we will be more connected to folks with similar background to ours.
The thing is that a lot of students with prior IB experience (most of whom are internationals) are simply using IB recruiting as a back-up, given the early recruiting process, prior to the kick-off of the PE / IM process which they want to land in spring time. That's perfectly fine, but it often raises questions from bankers who are then cutting these candidates, not because they are bad or anything, but because they appear less committed
Sorry to break it to you but technical competence is not a thing for MBA associate recruiting. I came across too many instances of students landing top spots despite bombing their technicals and mediocre professional backgrounds, and vice versa. I won't get into the whole DEI thing, even though it's pretty much a consensus that if you're a women, PoC, etc, your bar is lower.
To your point, the only thing that OPs prior finance experience is going to be helpful in is the fact that he will have to spend less time preparing for technicals. No other positive impact whatsoever during the interviews or superdays.
I'm a first year and I can tell you that it is straight-up bad, regardless of whether you have or don't have prior IB / finance background or whether you can hold a proper conversation in English
Why is it bad? Do you factor Canadians into this as well because they can work in the US much easier because they don’t really need sponsorship with TN.
I'd say Canadians too, unless they did their UG or worked in the US. There is a very heavy discount to non-US background unless you are a diversity candidate. That's the truth unfortunately
They're doing slightly better than ppl from SEA countries but still worse than Americans or DEIs
As someone who interviews first years like you, I want to see two things: (a) you can be manageable (ie swallow your ego, even though you have prior experience), (b) you aren't considering recruiting for "sexier" finance roles like IM/HF or PE during your MBA. A lot of prior finance folks fail with one or both of these points, and IMO this leads to them getting disappointed in the IB process. My 2 cents.
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IB doesn't pay more than HF/PE at the post-MBA level, where did you get that info from? Even MM PE will pay in line with EB pay (base + bonus). Only exception is firms like Q or CVP, but they take maybe one person from like each of the top 3-4 programs.
You trolling I guess.. Dunno what is sexier but PE/IM/HF at a respectable place (doesn't necessary have to be MF PE or Tiger cub HF) is much more desirable and probably competitive than any IB gig at the MBA level.
What a tool lmao
You should expect to land a role in IB, especially if you go to a strong school such as Wharton, Columbia, or Booth. Now, I'll be real with you and say that top groups or firms (eg GS TMT, MS, PJT RSSG / M&A, CVP, EVR M&A etc) tend not to take non-diversity internationals. So don't rely too much on your prior experience, as the process doesn't compensate you for that or gives you a leg up.
What counts as DEI?
Women (especially white or Asian-American), PoC, veterans, LGBTQ. Not sure whether Hispanics or Latino are also DEI
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