I’m thinking about going from the US to the UK to study and work. I’m wondering how UK experience in investment banking will transfer back to the US.
On a side note, does anyone know if it’s easier or harder to get an IB job in the UK compared to the US?
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Bump. Would also like to know if UK IB experience (GS/MS/JPM) would allow placement into US MF PE.
Pan European Monkey said that you can't recruit on cycle for NYC.
Thanks for the tag.
Regarding which one is easier, I would say between the US and the UK IB is two different beasts. If you don't go to a targetted school you litterally stand 0 chances of making it in London. There is much more luck involved in the process as you cannot network. In the US on the other hand, you have much more control over the outcome of your recruiting as you can network with people that will vouch for you to get interviews.
Regarding IB to NYC MF PE, it'll just be impossible. You won't be able to meet headhunters, teams are in most (99.9%) not supportive of recruiting in London, thus you won't be able to fly to NYC for on-cycle. And even then there is more than enough talent of people that will have executed US transactions and gained a much better network in the US than you, why would they hire you?
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@The Pharma Guy
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One of my college friends interned with GS IBD London and went full time in NY after graduation. She’s the exception, not the rule. Also an international student.
I networked my way into a tier 3 investment bank FT role in London. Though, I also had interviews with GS and Barclays landed through networking (I was not at a target school by any stretch of the imagination). It's hard but not impossible to network your way into an interview with some of the BB banks. The process is more rigid in the UK. More focused around their online portals, and HR screening.
If I was going to do it again, I'd map out an org. chart of the team I'd want to interview at. I'd also map out an org chart of the HR team at that Bank (some HR professionals just focus on grad recruitment, or experienced hires, or IBD recruitment, and then there's a HR team lead - all typically female, and all typically see you as a number, with some exceptions depending on how you play it etc). I'd do this research all via LinkedIn sales navigator.
Essentially it's a two pronged attack, you need strong relationships in HR as well as the banking/trading team you want to work at. Not having one will disable you, but if I had to choose, I'd probably err towards building more relationships in HR - because they can screen you out early. And you can crush the interviews to make up for your lack of relationships in the team itself.
Then I'd try to get intros to the relevant HR professionals and bankers and start building relationships. I'd do this by connecting with people via Linkedin, set up calls for information interviews (everyone and anyone at that firm) and keep these leads warm until you go in for the referral. Keep track in an excel. And the senior, and mid-ranked guys on the team. It would be at least a 6 month operation. I'd perfect my online application well, well in advance and practise the sh*t out of those psychometric tests - and only submit my app once those relationships were waiting in the wings. As soon as I'd click submit, I'd email all my contacts just giving a update that you just submitted online. And at every stage of the online process, I'd email update all my contacts (esp. in HR). Sign off with my full name. Just a pure value giving, no response required, update email. This is exactly how I go through HR online screening process. I wanted my name in his head when they were scrolling through apps.
Hopefully after all the above, you'll land a F2F interview with a banker. Then you have to absolutely fucking kill. Make sure you stand out above all else. And then the final round becomes a formality.
This is exactly how I landed my role, coming from a ridiculous non-target (not even UK based, though I am British). All the other guys in my class were Cam/UCL/Warwick/Bristol Econ and Math majors.
I'd read some books like Fanatical Prospecting by Jeb Blount, or COMBO Prospecting by Tony Hughes. You can adapt the same techniques sales people use to sell large saas products to F500 companies by building relationships with disparate stakeholders, getting buy-in from the C-Suite to sell a £mutli-million technology solution completely COLD. Which very similar to landing an intern position at a BB coming from a non-target in the UK. There are other books out there. You are ultimately selling yourself, and need to be good at building relationships.
It's not impossible, but bloody hard.
Going to Oxbridge/LSE might be easier than the above if you want to walk into GS Front Office London.
This is more or less what I did to get into an international investment bank in London (non-BB). And land some BB interviews. Hope it helps.
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