Breaking Into IB - Canada

Hello Folks, 

I am in a dilemma regarding a finance/consulting career in Canada. and I am in desperate need for advice. I hold a BBA in Finance, and currently work in research (1 year and 2 months so far) (local consulting boutique). I am from north africa, but would love to move to Canada and get into consulting or Banking.

I am trying to decide between going for an MSc in Finance (Either McGill or HEC Montreal), the plan here is to start out in junior positions (Analyst). My second option is to wait for a couple years, then go for an MBA (Rotman, IVEY,Schullic, or McGill). here the target would be to get in at the associate level. 

I have 2 main concerns about these 2 paths:

MSc Finance: I tried looking up summer analyst programs at banks in Canada, and they appear to require only undergraduate students. I couldn't find any programs for grad students (apart from the summer associates of course). The concern is if there is no summer analyst path, then it is near impossible to break in.

What about boutiques? I don’t know the names, so I couldn't really search for them myself. Big 4 are also an option, how is their recruitment with regards to masters students (excluding MBA)

MBA: Post MBA associates are recruited in limited numbers it appears, at least from what I read in the forum. So, maybe it will be more difficult and competitive at the associate level. I am also worried about my lack of IB Experience. Have you heard of someone from outside IB, and landed a post MBA associate FT role?

Any advice is much appreciated. Thank you so much.

 

Hey KSHMR 0202, I'm the WSO Monkey Bot and I'm here since nobody responded to your thread! Bummer...could just be time of day or unlucky (or the question/topci is too vague or too specific). Maybe one of these topics will help:

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