Moving from Big 4 (Canada) Wealth Management to IB

Unlikely at a big bank with a structured recruiting process - those new grad analyst roles are designed that way for a reason, plus those spots are only available if the summer analyst program didn't fulfill next year's full-time needs (which typically only shakes out to 1-2 spots per bank). I was a lateral hire so understand the recruiting process well - I came from a boutique IB and even from an IB background, the lateral hiring environment is incredibly competitive. As such, you need to best position yourself for recruiting, which likely will be the suggestions I listed above.

Not to say that it's not possible to directly break in from WM (albeit I've never seen it happen) - I've just seen too many people waste months if not years throwing their resume into the lateral recruiting process and getting zero traction. Now that I'm on the other side of the table, I have a better appreciation for why this is the case. It's not that bankers think people from a different line of business are inferior (in fact, would argue that a lot of people in IB aren't the sharpest tool in the shed), but rather are looking to "de-risk" the hiring process by selecting candidates that 1) have the transactional experience that will be directly applicable to the job (or close to it), or 2) hiring a candidate that has proven that they'd be capable of doing the job otherwise (creating M&A pitches, self-study modelling courses, etc). IB in itself doesn't involve rocket science or need people who bring unique / different perspectives; the last thing a group wants to do is take an unorthodox approach to recruiting and hire someone from a non-traditional background who ends up being a dud / can't handle the hours or stress (the upside is capped). With that being said, your best bet is to pivot to a role that is transactional in nature (boutique IB, Big 4 transaction advisory, etc) and making a pivot to IB after a year.