Open to questions of any nature from professionals working in M&A finance fields. To give you a bit of background, my clients include big 4 consulting firms, tier 2/3 chartered firms, bulge bracket/global/boutique investment banks and financial advisories. Also, more recently I have started to work with a number of ASX listed corporates on more group based strategical M&A roles and start-ups too. My bread and butter placements run from analyst level, right through to director and everything in between which has provided me with the network I have. Saying that, I would not be able to provide any insight or advice to graduates or C level professionals. Further to that, I often carry out head hunting assignments. I began my recruiting career with a banking, typical accounting focus and then moved any from that quite quickly to my patch now. Sydney based, I am happy to take questions from all corners of the earth. -Tom
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Hi there,
In response to your initial question, I could not provide a solid answer as my experience does not go far enough to quantify a trend. However, in increasing numbers, I am starting to see top talent be more and more flexible towards salary in order to gain vital experience in line with their career path and thinking more about the long term goal/10 year plan.
After my brief 2 years specifically recruiting across this patch, I am seeing IB candidates take more of a lean toward the in house M&A roles, regardless of industry given the commercial experience on offer and the work-life balance to go alongside it. I have only seen one candidate make the move into management consulting (I am aware this is greater in other cities).
With the rise of new technologies, I am seeing IBs moving into extremely niche roles which are popping up quite frequently now, such as a top tier associate moving from Goldman last week into a brand new crypto-currency based organisation.
Are number of applicants down in IB with Tech drawing more people into the industry?
Sydney might not be relevant to this question, but do you discriminate against non-target applicants?
Give 3 tips to applicants to wow you on a phone call and progress to the next stage.
Hi,
Your initial question is dependent on the level. At the lower end, applications are high, although bulge and boutique firms are getting very good at recruiting from a graduate level through to analyst 2/3. At the upper end, applicants for IBs have definitely gone down, not just due to the tech industry but due to larger corporates of all industries, expanding their group M&A divisions.
By non-target I assume you mean not straight out of the box/the standard fit? I do not discriminate against people like this and welcome candidates with varied backgrounds as firms are seeing greater value in commercial experience and finding interesting ways to put it to use.
Here are three tips for how an applicant can wow me on a phone call and progress to the next stage:
1) Research
Make sure that you have researched the hell out of any where you are looking to interview with. This includes previous and prospective deals and is the easiest way of allowing you to apply your knowledge in interview and express to what depth you understood/can be critical.
2) Clear vision
Spend a good amount of time focusing on your 2,5 and 10 year plans. If you know where you want to be in 5 years and can verbalise how the role will benefit you and how you can benefit the organisation, you have the "WHY" covered and will allow the organisation to give you something to buy into rather than just a salary package, leaving them knowing they have done everything in their power to employ a longer term team member.
3) Fire/humbleness
Shout from the mountain tops if M&A is your passion - it's an exciting space. Show how fired up you are to learn, make mistakes and succeed. Also, be humble, regardless of deal sizes, the industry is made of people like you with exceptional knowledge and wealth. Be happy to educate seniors but also be happy to be educated by juniors.
Where are you based?
Hi,
Sydney, Australia. Please see my contact below including link to my LinkedIn profile page.
What is the best way to approach you as a potential job seeker? For example, I'm currently a PE associate now, but let's say I wanted to move into industry in an M&A type of function(or into a req that might be suited to my background).
Should I send you a message on LinkedIn? Send you an email? Attach my resume? What type of intro works best?
Hi,
I would recommend giving me a call on the number below to run through what's on the market currently. That will allow me to get an understanding of what you've done, what you're doing currently and where you want to go. Whether you are actively or passively open to new opportunities, I think it's always worth having a knowledge of what's out there.
Of course, any conversations will be completely confidential.
Always happy to chat!
Gotcha, I was more curious about reachout to recruiters in general. I've got names of recruiters or headhunting firms that I would consider reaching out to if I wanted to leave my current firm. My question is more around candidates reaching out to recruiters and your take on that.
How receptive are employers to someone from another country, (Canada for myself) moving to AU?
Is the interview process similar to North America or different?
You need to look at the barriers. Generally speaking below:
Visa/working rights - for example if a candidate based in Australia with full work rights has your skill set and drivers but you only have a 2 year working visa, it is much easier to employ the unrestricted candidate. However, if your skill set is in a high demand, organisations will happily look at providing the platform for visas etc.
Skill set - is your Canadian skill set applicable to the Australian market? What challenges will you face when applying it? And how long/difficult will this be?
Remove as many of these barriers as possible. I often see candidates relocating to Australia and take a COMPROMISE role. By this I mean, the job is very hard to fill and not directly in their field by their skill set works and they can do the job so they take it just to get their feet on the ground. I would not recommend doing this as it becomes very difficult to get back into the initial discipline.
In answer to your question, employers have been fairly receptive Canadian/American candidates and are getting more and more open to initial video conversations. I am regularly seeing candidates relocate and pick up desirable roles.
Have you placed any Big 4 Financial Due Diligence (FDD) professionals before? If so, what were the typical roles you helped them get?
Yes - Between Analyst - Director. Typically in a deals based Transaction Services role or in a M&A advisory function.
I would recommend tier 2/3 chartered firms too, in order to gain a a fast tracked exposure and responsibility (generally speaking for people looking at a stepping stone in corporate group functions).
Hi Tom,
Many thanks for doing this.
Kind of similar to nbd786's question, but not identical - how are (European) big 4 M&A guys with three years of experience and a Chartered Accountant qualification (ACA) viewed by investment banks (middle market, and bulge bracket) for Associate roles?
By Big 4 M&A I mean lead advisory and not due diligence (transaction services). The team in question acts as the lead financial adviser on M&A deals from start to finish.
Thanks once again!
Hi,
IBs have needs for people with big 4 M&A advisory skills. They are getting very good at adapting/directing their skill sets in order to benefit the business unit.
Obviously the more relevant exposure you have had, the better. When considering a role, try to look at how you can apply your skill set rather than how you may not fit.
I have placed a number of people in this situation.
Many thanks for the response Tom, makes for some food for thought!
Push my resume?
Happy to have a conversation and see how I can help. My contact details are below!
.
Hello Tom, Have you seen candidates moving from Coverage/Debt Bank top Big 4 M&A or IB ?
Hi Tom, thanks for doing this! I'm currently at a 2nd tier management consulting firm that focuses on a very specific industry (think Entertainment/Media, Consumer/Retail, TMT, etc.) so the name recognition of my firm is pretty low except in very select circles. However, I would say that my project experience has been closer to IB than most consultants - I've done a lot of due diligences, etc. (instead of ops, etc.)
What advice would you have for someone looking to lateral into IB? I'm also only a little over a year out of school, if that matters. Lastly, I know you didn't mention PE, but do you have any advice on how to approach PE headhunters in my situation?
Pardon the straightforwardness, but why are so many of your colleagues utterly terrible at what they do? Outside of a small handful of HHs that are frequently mentioned on WSO, I have had terrible experiences with 99% of HHs and recruiters in general. I regularly get emails from HHs trying to pitch me unrelated roles, trying to get me into a company that I already know cannot afford me, emailing me about jobs that do not exist or they have no mandate for, etc. Just lack of research, lack of qualified individuals working in recruiting, or misalignment in how HHs are compensated?
Absolutely agree with you on this. I had a friend who's headhunter called his boss by accident to pitch him.
I think that outside the handful of respected headhunters, most are doing it as a volume game and test their luck with whoever they can find.
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