So i am finishing my second year at a big-4 accounting firm preparing audits. Sometime around last year I realized this is not right for me, I love learning and accounting is so limited. I've been trying to break into different roles for the about 4 months, and have not even gotten an interview. So I got proactive, I finished the Invest Like the Street program. I reached out to every MD/CFO/CEO I knew, all wanted to give advice that just keep chugging along and/or go back to school. But one helped me on the spot about a month ago with an interview for M&A at a mid-tier bank, but I havnt heard back about an interview and followed up last week with the responce "im on it."
Outside my current network, and current experience, does anyone have any advice? Maybe places to apply?
And I don't think school is going to to be worth it; if I go back, have to go Ivy, and to save money would want to live at home so columbia is the only option, and its 150K for the two years, plus the opportunity cost of not working. With all that info I think its just more advantageous to work in accounting.
Start cold-emailing and reaching out to anybody that shares anything in common with you. Whether it be alumni from your undergrad in IB, people who’ve transitioned from your Big 4 into IB, or whoever. LinkedIn is a powerful tool for this. Also, you need to make sure whenever speaking with someone, ask them to introduce you to more people in the industry, then ask them to introduce you to more people, and so on, expanding your network. Keep going and keep networking, and you’ll eventually start to get to know a web of people in banking which leads to interviews if you play your cards right.
Thanks for the advise, will post updates as they come in for any other accounts trying to make the transition.
Barring a networking miracle or getting your MBA, I think your best shot is to transfer into transaction advisory / financial due diligence / valuation. This will give you deal experience and make you more marketable. You would of course have to continue to be really aggressive in your networking but it's much easier for a bank to take a flyer on a TAS/valuation guy then some dude in audit.
FWIW it's worth, I would also take a long hard look at an MBA program. From a financial perspective, you'll make close to $200k as an IB associate straight out of school; your total comp in Big 4 Audit will not come close to that until you're well into your 30's / tenured senior manager. In financial terms, I think going to get your MBA to go into banking would be a no-brainer; it's when you start weighing other factors where it gets more complicated. Lastly, if banking / corporate finance is a legitimate interest for you, that needs to be a factor in the calc as well (i.e., some discount to the big 4 wages).
Just an update talked with the Head of HR at my the quote "im on it's" bank. They are looking to get me in but currently no opps, follow up call set. Updates to come
Network with Associates/VPs they will be the ones making hiring decisions (usually). Also, in my experience they were the most helpful. Apply to every single investment banking analyst position you come across I probably applied to over 200+ positions and of those 200 about 10 led to an interview.
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