Competition in IB and the chances of breaking in
Hey WSO,
So, having discussions with people who have worked in IT for banks in Australia, they've all told me that to become an investment banker I have to be amazing, smart, genius, brilliant etc etc as well as a ruthless and competitive.
This led me to have some discussions about the kinds of people who even get into investment banking, which a friend of mine described as "the well trained elite" which she further elaborated as "someone who gets into the very best preschool and the very best schools all the way up to harvard where they get the very best jobs"...
This scared me a little, considering my background and my age.
I'm young, in the late teens but a bit worried about the future of my career. My grade average is nothing special, it's good; but not brilliant and I'm by no means an absolute genius. I am however very keen and very competitive, some thing that are a natural inclination to myself as a person. I don't have a certificate from my preschool and I don't have the proper grades to get into an Ivy league school, but I work very hard and I learn a hell of a lot. I come from a poor family, and left when I was 16 to rent a place to study in the capital of Australia.
That being said, I've tried extensively to get work experience at as many places I can despite my age, and I am willing to fight teeth to bone just to even taste what it would be like in the job.
I would really appreciate if someone could shed some light on exactly the kind of person I will need to become to get this job, because apprently the job is only fit for someone who was born with a WSJ in their hand and was enrolled in harvard since they were three.
1. What grade average should I be looking for?
2. What kind of school would be ideal for the job?
3. Is it even possible for a non-target, non-harvard, non-rich kid to get into IB?
It is good that you are starting early. I would start with getting an internship (assuming you are a sophomore) in PWM or anything remotely related to IB. Start networking with people at firms you want to work for and make sure your personality shines. You'll be in good shoes for junior year SA recruiting if you network profusely.
@"TwoThrones" good advice for someone in the US but he's in Australia I believe.....
OP, I think I commented on another of your posts - feel free to PM me for more info, I work in IB in Australia.
To answer your questions:
1) Ideally H1 average, lowest H2A average (doesn't need to be a high H1, mine was low 80s when I got my internship and FT offer) 2) Absolutely go to a target school (UMelb, USyd, UNSW, Monash, even UQ or UWA - which are not as heavily targeted, probably in part because they are simply further away). IB is small in Australia (each BB would be hiring a huge class if they hired 10 analysts in one year across all groups, usually fewer is normal, say 2-5/6 and even often just 1 analyst a year at top boutiques). This is because a) IB is smaller in Australia, as I mentioned, and b) IB is a longer-term career path here, whereas in the US it's largely 2 years and out. I do not know of anyone from ANU in IB (and I've met quite a few bankers) - not to say it can't be done, but you'll be doing yourself a massive favour and definitely taking the path of least resistance (by a long way) by heading to a target school. 3) ABSOLUTELY possible for a non-rich kid to get into IB. Definitely hugely beneficial to go to a target as I said, but no matter what people say, no-one cares all that much about where you went to high school etc - at most, you may get an interview because someone went to the same high school you did. However, as long as you get good grades and do well overall at a target school (as much as possible) you'll be competitive.
You definitely have to be smart and competitive to get into IB, as well as hard-working and resilient, but you don't need to be "ruthless and cut-throat" or anything like that. Most of the people (if not all of the people) I've worked with/met/know in IB are very driven and really good-natured (typical "Aussie") in many way - as one example; on WSO, people often talk about how you'll get out of shape and fat working in IB because of the hours, diet etc - I was pleasantly surprised when I started working in IB to find that in Australia, people make time to have a somewhat active lifestyle (surfing, swimming, cycling, just working out at the gym etc) in spite of working 80-100+ hour weeks (which we do) and I'd say 95% of the people I've met here in IB are actually in pretty good shape (if not actually ripped).
All that being said, I really do want to stress how important it is to go to a target school as much as possible. Networking isn't huge here and everyone applies online, and they definitely prefer target schools by a mile - add to the fact that if you're in Canberra at ANU you won't be able to network effectively (in person) anyway.
To give you an example, you may know graduate recruitment in Australia is basically at an all-time low (making it more important than ever to go to a top school). I know of multiple banks (including mine) that only gave out 1-2 FT offers at the end of the summer this year. To put that in perspective, that's something like 1 FT spot and for 1000+ initial applicants at some banks, and even at the banks that hired somewhat large classes like 5-7 FT spots for thousands of applicants. I believe it's actually more competitive than in the US by the numbers (given the small size of IB classes and emphasis on target schools) so every advantage counts.
I will caveat that by saying if there is no chance you can go to a target school no matter what you do, I wouldn't give up on IB completely because if you're resourceful enough etc you there is no reason you couldn't actually make it in (even if it means working big 4 for a few years and going to IB, which unlike in the US is pretty commonplace here - again, people are trying to get in for the long haul and getting an MBA/going to grad school isn't large here so that pathway isn't a beaten one). I'd guess that there are some ANU alumni in IB even though I personally haven't come across any. But again, I can't stress enough how much of a benefit it would be to go to a target school, even if you avoid Sydney and go to Melbourne to save on cost of living etc (if I were in your shoes and a hard worker as you seem to be, I'd literally work as hard as I possibly could to make a target school possible, even if ANU would be much easier to manage financially).
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