MBA Pivot to IB Associate Questions
I'm a burnt out software engineer looking to decide between Tech Product Management or pivoting to an IB Career focused on Tech M&A. Currently enrolled in a Part-Time MBA program at a T20 B-School with the ability to switch to Full-Time if I get a summer associate role. Few questions:
- How feasible is landing a post-MBA associate role without an IB internship?
- What's the quality of life of a post-MBA associate after a career pivot?
- Do I stand a chance at getting a summer associate internship given my tech background?
- If I'm hired as a summer associate somewhere, is it expected that I would be working there full time after graduation or can I leverage my internship for an associate role elsewhere?
Any and all advice appreciated. Let me know if I'm being an idiot for even considering this.
1) Kind of feasible and hard. Consulting is the most open place, as in they don't care about your background or internship and will still recruit you for full-time. IB on the other end is a bit opposite from consulting. They may somewhat consider your background and most likely you will be converted to FT from internship. The team you intern with is most likely the team that will offer you to come back to their team - given you do well as an intern. They don't go out and recruit for straight FT. They look to convert from interns to FT.
2) Pretty shit. Everyone knows that work-life balance is shit for IB. But coming in as an associate who has no prior background - you get sandwiched by the analysts and the VP. You have to get up to the curve pretty quickly and at the same time guide the analysts - who will have a better idea of what to do than you. But also learn to take the shit from your VP/MD if you miss out on things.
3) -
4) Yes. Goes back to point 1 - The team you intern with, is most likely going to be the team that will offer you to come back. You can try to interview at other places for FT - but many banks don't recruit from straight FT, but more so look to convert from internships.
Thanks for the detailed response, much appreciated. What is the general time frame that recruiting / interviews begin for summer associate positions?
Usually a year before. So for summer associate positions for this year, recruiting begins in Fall of 2021.
Make a big excel file with all firms and their application date (when it opens).
Do you currently have the same resources from career services as full-time students? Access to clubs, OCR, etc.?
If you do not get an internship, it is tough to get into IB at a reputable shop from a part-time program. It would be more challenging than getting an internship if you have access to OCR. My advice would be to get an internship anywhere and re-recruit after the internship if needed. Even if it's an LMM shop, you can tell your story about how committed you are to breaking into the industry.
Yes, access to CS / clubs is the same for Part-Time at my program. Follow up question - when do most firms begin recruiting / interviewing for summer associate positions?
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