Hello all,
So I am moving to NYC in Jan '19 on a family-based immigrant visa.
Here to get your suggestion/advice on how to go about the job-hunt once I reach there. (read some content on networking on WSO). More importantly, I want to know if I stand eligible for the IB roles.
I am presently working as a credit analyst in the biggest bank of India (State Bank of India, which is way smaller in asset size as compared to the American Banks). Prior to this, I have done MBA in finance and marketing from a reputed MBA college in India (Indian Institute of Management, Kashipur) and Bachelor's in Technology (Electronics and Communication Engineering) prior to MBA.
(I have sent my marksheets to World Education Services for evaluation and waiting for conversion into the 4 grade system)
Given my experience and education, do I stand eligible for analyst roles at IB firms of wall street?
If yes, how should I go about it and which firms should I target?
This is going to be an uphill climb. Not to discourage you, but more just a heads up. A few tricky things:
Where to place you? Are you an analyst or an associate? Typically post-MBA roles are entry level associate hires, but depending of number of years or quality of your experience, you may not be considered for it. Also, lack of familiarity with your MBA can cause people to wonder whether it’s credible. You’d think then people might look at your resume and think “well, he/she is not an associate level hire, but maybe they’ll consider an analyst role, let’s interview them for that”. But banks can be surprisingly rigid, and may not consider that for a slew of reasons (assuming the candidate wouldn’t take it, not wanting to be seen as taking advantage, there are more “straight forward” analysts to hire from, etc)
MBA not recognized - I’m going to put this bluntly - your MBA won’t be recognized in US. Maybe some folks (Indian or familiar with Indian landscape) might, but if they are Americanized, they and everyone else will look at it with doubt (and may make some unfair assumptions about you - e.g. English ability, understanding of western workplace culture, etc).
Your experience in an Indian bank will probably be discounted - Again, this can happen. They won’t outright tell it to your face, but some assumptions on the quality of your experience may be made. Usually done to experiences seen outside of westernized markets / historically “prestigious” financial markets.
Understanding that barriers can exist in one, some, or all of those above, you’ll need to approach your search in finance strategically. If I were you, I would:
Do a search on any MBA alumni you have in NY. Build relationships there. Learn from them how they made their way into finance. After you’ve developed a good rapport, see if they know of opportunities, or if they can connect you with friends or colleagues.
Also see if there are other people that came from good Indian schools (other than your own). While they don’t have ties to your school, they’ll at least understand the uphill climb and could maybe grab coffees.
Cast a wider net. Understand you may not be able to get into IB the first step. Or a big bank as a first step. Know to keep your options open (looking at boutique opportunities or roles that aren’t quite IB but provide similar skills to leverage for the next interview). Know that a lateral IB role is not that common, and even when they do come up, there are plenty of people (locals without needing visa support) gunning for it. So know that you may need to find a good stepping stone before IB.
Thanks for the guide. I will not need visa support as I will be having green card. Will this fact change anything else in your comment above other than improved chances at lateral IB roles?
I would put somewhere on your resume a short line on you having US work visa or whatever. But frankly, it’s just one of many hurdles. Other than lateral roles being few and far between (those may not even come up via postings... applicant shortlists may just be done through warm intros, so by the time you get the posting there may already be a few favorites lined up - hence the importance of networking), there are also some of things Bateman Begins highlighted. Cultural fit (re: can I grab drinks or joke with him/her) is a huge thing.
Not a lot to add beyond this, kanon hit the nail on the head. To elaborate on the analyst vs associate placing problem, a common reason in these cases is age - hypothetically, you may be willing to work as an analyst even as a 28 year old, but nobody is going to want to screw up "team dynamics" by having you report to a 24 year old associate. It's just too big a mismatch.
This next bit may sound harsh, but it's not meant to be. You have some rather obvious Indian-isms in your writing style, and that's based on this small sample. Combine that with your background and it's a recipe for a lot of people to jump to (possibly unfair) conclusions about you. So I'd suggest trying to make as many American (or Americanized) friends as fast as you can, assimilate well, and consciously work to minimize your idiosyncrasies. I'm all for diversity and inclusion and the whole 9 yards, but this will just make your life easier while recruiting.
As others have already said, IB right off the bat is going to be an extremely difficult and uphill battle, so gunning for some of the tangentially related fields would be your best bet. Good luck.
I had concerns about the age factor and the cultural fit but that's how things are and there's not much I can do about these things. I can not and do not blame the people there for having prejudice either. They'll look for organizational fit in a candidate.
Given these constraints, I am trying to weigh in my options so that I don't waste my efforts on improbable paths.
But I guess, I will face these issues everywhere; be it IB or CB or any other finance/management job available there.
Your skills might be better suited to a Commercial Banking or Corporate Banking role. Your best bet would be to search on linkedin for any other IIM alumni working in finance in New York and reaching out to them.
Also are you moving to the States without a job lined up? Is it just you or do you have a family to support?
I am moving there on spouse visa as my wife lives there. I will not face financial issues as she is working (though in a different field than mine).
I was not willing to give interviews before getting the visa in hand so I do not have any jobs lined up. I will try to get some interviews, if I can, in next two months. I have will resign here in India and then move there.
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