Questions (Big 4 related)

I'd like to obtain an ibanking internship next school year, but coming from a non-target, I want to be as realistic as possible and have ample and sufficient backups. I plan to interview with each of the Big 4 Accounting firms, hoping to get into their Financial Advisory Services/Transaction Advisory Services department. One problem I've run into though, is that with one of the firms the recruiter told me she only recruited engineers or people with an MBA in finance for that line of business. This brings me to my questions...

First of all, for anyone who might know, is this a common thing? Do the Big 4 only look at engineers/mba's for their fas/tas business line?

Also, do I come off as cocky by asking (I talked to the recruiter over email), "Why do you only look at engineers and MBA's?" And from there, how do I swing it to make it seem like I too could be a good candidate? Though I am from a non-target, it's a strong public school nonetheless, and I have very high grades, in addition to good work experience.

Any comments are appreciated.

 
IBDilo26386:
Also, do I come off as cocky by asking (I talked to the recruiter over email), "Why do you only look at engineers and MBA's?"

If you have good grades, come from a solid state school, then you will be fine for big 4.

You won't come off cocky if you phrase the queston less directly than "Why do you only look at engineers/mba's". You should rather ask "Are undergrad candidates given an opportunity to interview for the ... group"... this is less threatening and will likely lead to a better answer. From there, I would ask what her experience has been with mba's or engineers in comparison to undergrads with non-engineering backgrounds... that will answer your question without having to ask it point blank.

Best of luck.

 

Thanks man, that helps quite a bit. Though I probably wouldn't have asked directly, "Why do you only look at engineers and MBAs", I really like how you worded it.

 

Do you go to school in the northeast? Why not try to contact some alumni from your school in i-banking. I go to a nontarget but have been able to find numerous grads from my school who cracked into the business. A lot of them went the Big-4 to MBA to I-banking route. Perhaps they have some contacts still at their old Big-4 job and can make a call to pass your resume along to FAS/TS.

Also, why not focus heavily on a boutique ibank? You'll get a lot more valuable experience working there than at a Big-4 firm.

 

I know people personally within the FAS/TS groups of half of the Big 4 and I can tell you with certainty that they are neither engineers nor do they possess their MBA. So you're certainly not disqualified from all of the firms. You seem to have rather good credentials from what you've provided so far, so remember to be confident enough.

Do as the above said about contacting alums and rephrasing your question. Keep a good attitude and good luck.

 

the big 4 do recruit from undergrad for advisory/ts interns. i had a first (pre-fall)interview for an advisory internship with a big 4 this summer.

i do know that one of the advisory groups actually have a subset which they hire info-systems majors for tech advisory (something of that nature)

 
Best Response

I think you just need to push a little more firmly for it. Be subtle, but let it be known you are interested in FAS/TS and NOT tax/auditing (aka- purgatory). See if there's anyone from your school who has experience in those fields.

Big 4 firms hire from almost any reputable college, but from what I have gathered, they usually only recruit TS/FAS from the top tier schools, hoping to get some people interested in IBD who don't get a BB job or want to give up 100 hours a week of their lives.

 

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