Hi everyone! Long-time WSO lurker, thought I would give back by offering a Q&A. I feel that my experience touches a lot of topics of interest to this community, and I would be happy to answer any questions you might have. My background: * Target finance school in Europe for undergrad * Summer intern in MM IB in London * Switched to an EB (LAZ / EVR / MC) for full-time, where I worked for 2 years in London * Switched to PE and worked 2 years in a co-investment fund in London * Now in my second year at an M7, interned at an MBB in NY where I will return full-time Would love to discuss any aspect of my experience, and any questions you might have!
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Why are you switching to MBB?
While I loved my time in finance, I felt that I was specializing my skillset a bit too much and was eager to explore areas outside of the financial world. Also, being uninterested in pursuing PE longer-term, MBB offered the best platform IMO to re-orient my career towards more strategic roles.
Thank you for the AMA!
Have you given Corp Dev a thought at all? Or were you dead set on breaking into actual high level strategy after your time in finance?
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Works!
Can you talk a bit about the FT recruting process from a MM to an EB? What was the timing like for reaching out to other banks? Thanks.
Absolutely. I interned for 12 weeks between June and September at an MM in London. I started applying at BBs and EBs for FT in London in August (because that's how early apps opened then), and got interviews in a few BBs and EBs, likely because they valued my comparable experience and hadn't filled their classes with interns. Admittedly, I didn't do any networking to get those interviews (just normal CV drops), but in hindsight I would recommend to my 19/20 year old self to start reaching out to alums at those other banks when I moved to London for my summer internship (early in the summer) in order to maximize my chances of getting interviews.
Great - thank you for the response and your time.
Would love if you could touch on how well you were integrated into your team as a Summer Associate?
Sure - you are super integrated. In fact you are introduced to clients as a full time consultant, are given a workstream to take ownership of by yourself, and you present to clients almost as much as you would as a full timer. It really aims to emulate the full time experience and does a really good job in doing so.
Can you talk about your time at MBA business schools">M7 school and your transition from Europe to the US for school?
Absolutely. As someone who only studied for 3 years as an undergrad I always aimed to pursue an MBA at a later time. Given that I aimed to work in the US for personal reasons, an MBA in the US was one of the few paths to do so (barring an internal company transfer, which I didn't want to do).
My experience so far has been really amazing. These programs do a very good job of integrating students and helping them build genuine friendships, and the campus experience in top US schools is incomparable to European unis. My only frustration is the relative limitations we have in recruiting vs American students, which often constrains international students to careers like banking or consulting for visa reasons.
Thanks for the AMA. When you say you switched to an EB for FT, did you reapply by FT? Or maybe you started FT at a MM and networked your way into an EB?
My pleasure.
I did my internship at an MM in London, then applied and interviewed for full time at EBs and BBs, which is when I got my offers. So I started full time at the EB! As mentioned in a comment above I did not network in making the move but would highly recommend for you to do so early in your internship at the MM if you are considering this move.
How do you go about switching from an MM to a BB or EB while still in your internship? Especially since no one wants to give off the impression that they are ungrateful for their current internship (considering that it obviously gave you enough experience to move forward in this way!)
Did you do your MM Internship after the 2nd or 3rd year at uni? I have heard that FT recruiting in London for BBs is very diffucilt and only some firms recruit a few exceptionary people. Would you say it is true?
Thanks
Thanks for doing this. It would be great to hear some first hand insight on EBs in London as there is very little first hand information (for London) - how did you experience compare to that of your friends in BB’s in London, was it different/more responsibility/exposure? - how well recognised are the US EB’s in the London market for post-IB jobs? - which EB’s are particularly strong / weak in EMEA?
My pleasure!
I think my experience compared quite favorably with my BB friends in London. Pay was a little better, the teams are much smaller so you get significantly more client exposure, and you even get to be a little entrepreneurial because some teams are not fully built out in EMEA for EBs.
US EBs don't have much layman prestige in London - people outside of IB / PE have no idea what Evercore, Moelis or Centerview are. However, for roles which are typical IB exits (PE, HF etc..) they are well recognized. London is an interesting market because you don't really necessarily need to be at GS TMT to get the top exits, you even see Big 4 accountants get solid PE gigs. As an EB analyst you have access to most opportunities but aren't in a much better spot than the average BB. I did get headhunted constantly so it is an attractive place to be.
Top EBs in Europe are: LAZ and Rothschild no doubt (they are on par with GS/MS/JPM), they have European heritage and are much much bigger there. Then EVR and MC, which have decent dealflow, solid exits, and benefit from their US reputation. PWP, Centerview, Greenhill etc are all respected but mostly on the back of their US brands, and I personally didn't see them as much as the other names I've listed.
Great - thanks very much
Hi similar question actually.
Could you rank all the IB roles in London for analysts that are well known. You went through BB and EBs but I’m joining a MM bank (like Jefferies) and want to understand where that places.
Just wondering if I need to move to a BB or EB to get recruited for mid-market PE / Growth Equity shops (not really interested in mega fund PEs and want a better balance between consulting and banking work during my PE role)
Thanks!
Having done both a sell side role and a co-invest role, can you please elaborate on the skill sets a co-invest person would lack as compared to a sell side analyst?
Reason for asking is that I work in a FOF that does co-invest and am trying to spin my experience to get principal investments role. Has been extremely tough as I kept being told by recruiters I don't have the right skill sets. But they do not tell me what I am lacking.
Any advice on how to get out would be greatly appreciated too :)
Thank you.
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