Canada Off-Cycle Recruitment
Seems like many of the Canadian banking threads go into detail about SA recruitment, so wanted to start a separate discussion. My situation is a bit non-traditional compared to the typical Canadian banker, and looking for some insight.
A little background:
- Raised in Canada and currently studying at a target overseas
- Completed BB IBD SA in a non-US financial hub, but told staffer I wanted to move back home for family reasons (received strong reviews and have secured reference letters but no return obviously)
- Have many friends in Toronto in the banking industry
- Prefer any IBD role in a BB/Big 5/EB in Toronto
**Given that I have missed the SA/FT cycle in Toronto, what are some pragmatic approaches to securing a FT role in Toronto? Are there any precedent cases similar to my own? Do Toronto banks usually have an off-cycle intake for Analyst 0 say around bonus season? **
Thanks in advance!
You are in a tricky situation. Recruiting for next summer FT class is already over (as you know) and off-cycle recruiting tend to be geared toward filling immediate needs (either because of analysts quitting or the market picking up) and thus, this type of recruiting will almost exclusively target analysts at lower ranked banks that are already trained / can hit the ground running, etc. It does happen that banks under hire for their incoming analyst class, but I wouldn't count on that.
As I'm sure you're aware of, the Canadian market is small. Canadian banks usually hire around 15-20 analysts Canada wide while BB / EB will only get 1 or 2 at most (and sometimes won't hire). So although I understand you're eager to get back to Canada, I wonder if you shouldn't also target banks where you are studying / interned. It's much easier to move back to Canada if you have FT experience so perhaps delaying your return by a year would make sense.
Also note that educational and work experience in a financial hub will be perceived differently depending on where it is. Someone studying at Oxbridge / LSE and working in London will probably get a bit of a boast (but it will be hard to convince people that you really want to head back to Canada and are not just hedging your bets) while work experience acquired in other hubs will attract some kind of discount depending on location (ie. Singapore / HK >>>>>>>Dubai / Mumbai).
In any case, if you haven't already, you need to be networking like crazy and you will have to make trips to Toronto if you want to have any chance of success this late in the game.
The Toronto market is small and tough
Thanks for the insight. Toronto is indeed a tough market for banking.
Open to any other suggestions regarding the best ways/time to reach out to Toronto banks for off-cycle positions.
I was in a very similar position not long ago and I empathize with where you're at. Just to clarify, have you just begun your senior year?
A few things... if you're in your senior year now, I would say the odds of landing an analyst role at the type of bank you're looking for is close to zero straight out of school. Like the poster above mentioned, off-cycle recruiting is focused on bringing in laterals, and believe me when I say there is a LONG line of people who are already networking (and currently working full time) who are ready to jump at these opportunities when a seat opens up.
Now, if you are still in school this is also not the worst thing. It is much more common to see lower MM/boutique banks under-hire/have unexpected turnover and will put up new-grad roles. There's also the odd shop who will hire in January for new-grad roles.
I would still encourage you to network with the BB/Big 5 types, but just understand where to set your expectations. Probably not what you were looking to hear, but I think the path of least resistance is to weasel your way into a boutique (say start date ~July 2019) and lateral in the new year (Jan-Mar is typically when most Toronto banks do lateral hiring).
Hope this helps and feel free to PM.
Canadian at a Non-Target, Graduating Off Cycle (Originally Posted: 03/09/2013)
Hi Everyone,
I'm an undergraduate at a Non-Target university in Canada, which has almost no presence on Bay Street. I don't have a perfect GPA, but I have considerably relevant work experience. Previously, I was employed at a NYC based investment bank, as an analyst tasked with sourcing and evaluating middle market M&A transactions. Afterwards, I set aside personal plans to focus on helping my father build his own company, which I now have a non-controlling ownership interest in. Not to knock on him or anything, but my father certainly had no business acumen when we began. However, he had relations within the industry and I could see potential for a business of the kind he wanted to start, so I helped him build a company. I defined our strategy, envisioned our business model, sorted out our capital structure, managed the back office aspects, brought in revenue, and ultimately played a key role in creating a profitable firm which now competes against multinational corporations for high value contracts. We're on track to book several million dollars in revenue during 2013, and I'm quite proud of what has been accomplished. With that said, I would like to pursue my original career aspirations, while maintaining a level of interest in this business that I have helped to create over the past few years; since I believe that it will enable me to reach career aspirations later on in life. I want to go back to investment banking, but I'm in a precarious situation. Having partially set aside studies to build a business, I'm not going to graduate until August, and will need to forgo summer internship opportunities in order to study throughout the summer. Moreover, during the time that I reverted from studies to build a business, my GPA fell from 3.75 to 3.5. I'm late to graduate, unable to intern full-time throughout the summer, and my GPA isn't near where it should be, so I know that I will be facing an uphill battle as a non-target student. However, I know that I'm certainly not stupid or lazy, I feel technically capable, and I know the industry, heck, I've worked in it before.
Going forward, what do you advise? What is your take on graduating off-cycle as a non-target, particularly for someone in my situation?
which province?
British Columbia
plz explain how u worked ft at a bank without an undergrad degree/b4 u even went to college
does not compute
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