Hi guys,
Would like to get your genuine opinion / advice on what I could pragmatically get in Canada.
Personal background
- 6 years of solid experience with international investment banks (the likes of CS, UBS, JPM) in Hong Kong (work obviously pivoted towards Asia ex-Japan deals but in terms of standards, practice, procedures, learning, etc they are all in line with US / Canada). Left Hong Kong as a senior associate, capable of running financing deals on my own and with solid origination skills too
- Area of expertise is in leveraged finance / DCM. Opportunities in these two areas are preferred (I know they are very niche especially in Canada), but I'm also open to related areas incl. credit risk, corporate banking, or even IB industry coverage teams. Either way, I'm not "breaking into" banking
- Currently pursuing MBA at a top 3 Canadian school (not the one in Toronto). Reason for that is, my immigration status requires me to stay in Canada (hence preventing me to pursuing better MBA in the US, for example), and obviously to leverage the brand name / network of the school in order to get my foot into the door here in Canada.
While career management at my current MBA program is of some help, but what they are able to do (e.g. bringing in corporate partners for info sessions / interviews) and the advise they are able to offer to me specifically have been too generic to be of real value to me specifically (e.g. never stop using the word "banking" without being able to get down to the specifics of what's most relevant to me).
The other thing I want to mention, for the sake of completeness of information, is that I don't view internship as necessary for me (again, past the stage of having to do an internship, and I'm not trying to break into something new). Hence I'm currently in a one-year MBA program.
Questions for the community
- Where would I have the best shot, on the back of my prior experience and preferred job paths forward?
- What areas I should focus on in terms of improving my interview skills that would maximize my chances?
- What's the best approach I should take when it comes to recruiting - utilizing school network, LinkedIn connection, coffee chats, hitting the recruiting cycle at the right point, etc?
- Which banks /firms should I target (I know possibility for my to get into CPPIB credit investment right out of my MBA is zero, so I won't waste time on that)?
Appreciate it very much.
If you have solid IB / Levfin / DCM experience at a global BB, I think CPPIB would give you a look. They've taken people out of MBA in the past. The ones they like taking usually come from strong US MBA programs, but they’ve taken out of say Rotman before (just from past memory of what I’ve seen from LinkedIn).
I think if the MBA career services has not been useful, and given it’s a one year program (so you miss out on using the internship summer as an avenue to recruit with a bank), you’ll likely need to do a lot of legwork yourself. So reach out to alumni and also firm alums (people that are currently working in or previously worked with the firm(s) you were with in HK). Given you were a Sr Associate with a legit bank and not a scrub, people should take your cold emails or requests for coffee seriously. Whether or not there are jobs, is another story. Also, if it’s with a bank... I wonder if they’ll give you credit for your past experience and let you join as a lateral 2nd year associate... or make you start as associate 0/1 given you’re coming out of MBA.
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