Commercial Banking to MBA to I-Banking Associate
Assuming all three are in Canada, is this possible/probable?
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why would that be impossible?
that's right, i'm not sure if I'd have to do time as an analyst first
What kind of "commercial banking"? are you doing?
.....and what MBA are you getting?
if commercial banking is being a bank teller than not much chance, but if commercial banking is cheif loan officer than thats another story. Be more specific.
Regardless, it all depends on where you get your MBA, even more than your previous experience; although better experiences will help you get into a top program and land a job... so take this advice with a grain of salt.
Depends on what kinds of deals you're doing, and what your role is. We've rejected a bunch of commercial lender applicants, simply because they were doing micro deals that just weren't relevant to anything we do. But if you've ever worked on an M&A deal or have provided financing for deals where an investment banker is involved (growth capital raise, for example, or dividend recap), obviously you'll have a leg up. Role's important too...credit vs origination, etc... So's capital type (mezz, cash flow, ABL, etc...).
Anyway, that seems like it's a lot of variables, but it's really not. For the Associate spot, just as long as you have a good understanding of credit analysis for medium or large businesses, which you probably do, and know what i-bankers do and can say why you want to get in to the biz, you should have a pretty good shot. Solid MBA program could help.
I know quite a few people that got hired without any previous banking experience... you need to go to a target school and sell yourself in the interview... aside from the basic technicals (which you should know like the back of your hand) the interviewers are really looking for you to answer 3 questions... 1. Why do you want to do investment banking 2. Why do you want to do investment banking 'here' 3. Why should I hire you over anyone else - (this is where you really have to know yourself and the skills you have to sell... and then sell them)
for those ppl you knew who were hired without banking experience, were they hired on as analysts?
Just go to a target school and your experience, esp. if you have provided corporate credit in banking deals will help. Also, know exactly why you want banking and why you did not/could not do it before.
A Canadian IB is not going to hire you as an analyst after you get an MBA. They save those jobs for undergrads. There is a huge difference between being in IBD at TD Securities and working as an Associate TD Commercial Banking, for instance. Plus, those guys at TDS probably think very low of those in Commercial Banking.
You need to do an MBA at Rotman, Ivey, Schulich or Queens to even have a shot.
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