A Story of Breaking out of BO/MO Hell

Thank you to everyone on WSO for giving me the tools and courage to pursue this huge career change. After 6 months of slowly decaying in a middle office role, I was finally able to land a FO Coverage role at a BB (think Deutsche/BMO/UBS). Here is my story:

My Background:

I came from an extreme non-target with a horrible GPA (~2.5). I was a shithead in HS and most of college and partied almost everyday. During my junior year, I became really interested in challenging myself with a career in IB and other sophisticated financial services. So I busted my ass to land a bunch of internships in various fields of finance, but was still unable to close on any IB Analyst roles. During full-time recruiting, I snagged a backup MO offer at a multi-national IB on the West Coast.

Getting out of Middle Office Hell:

I was somewhat comfortable with it because I was able to negotiate an all in salary of ~80k, and thought I could try to lateral internally. However after the first couple weeks, I knew immediately that it would never happen and that I needed to GTFO of living hell. The combination of mind-numbing work and a clash with the MO culture was not the best place to be in. It definitely took a toll on me, led to depression and unfortunately went back to my old partying ways. Lost my girlfriend of a few years and fell into a deep spiral, but the hope of a better career/life kept me pushing on.

Interview for a Front Office role:

After months of networking and cold-calling, a dozen phone screens and two superdays with no offer, I started to get discouraged. However, I kept at it and kept finely tuning my resume and deal-experience. Then one day as I was looking through online job boards, I fired off a blind application online that turned into a superday. Due to my lack of FO experience, I was heavily grilled on technicals and behavior, but was able to successfully navigate it with ease because of the interview guides from WSO. In the end, I believe my understanding and passion for the business of banking really sold me as a candidate. As I was being walked out by an MD, he basically hinted at a verbal offer. Got the written today.

Success!

I credit my success to never giving up and being relentless. Being in the right place and the right time was crucial, as well as having an immaculate, well-formatted resume. Coming from a BO role with little FO experience, utilizing the WSO interview guide (http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/guide/investment-b…) was crucial to giving me a basic outline on how to prepare for technicals. I'm happy to answer any questions, give out any advice to anyone else who is in my shoes, whether it be a life-draining BO job or a poor GPA.

Happy fucking new year everyone.

Mod note (Andy): Throwback Thursday - this was originally posted Jan 2017

 

I omitted it on my resume, and it never came up in any of my super days. My resume honestly did not have room for it, it was really structured around my internship/deal experience. I think acting real humble, understanding my technicals and confidence in my own capability gave my interviewers no reason to probe further.

 

During my junior year in college, I took an unpaid internship at a search fund that worked on lower middle market sized LBOs. Without giving too much away, I sourced a deal and helped with the lbo model. Great talking point during my interviews and a big bullet point that helped my resume pass through online applications.

 

I found just getting the interview was by far the hardest part. Must have applied to 100+ roles over a year when i was in MO/BO, maybe got 4-5 callbacks, and one eventually lead to a FO job. You definitely learn what works and what doesn't as you go along. Broadening your horizon also helps, and doesn't necessarily mean lowering your standards.

 

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