Pivot to IB

Hi everyone,

after graduating two years ago, I joined an early-stage VC fund in Europe where I've been doing pretty much everything the partners do except fundraising. For various reasons, I would be interested in moving into IB. I have spoken to a few friends in IB, who said it'd be difficult without previous M&A experience.

Any opinions on whether it is possible to move directly into IB and what the best approach for it is? If a direct pivot is difficult/impossible, I'm currently considering doing a Master's in Finance or joining big 4 in transactions for a year or two. What do you think is the best option for these two? How difficult is it to go from big 4 to IB?


Thanks in advance!

 
Most Helpful

MBA is the way. M7 or top 15 will feed you right into BB/EB ASO. Unfortunately it's hard to go direct, as your friends said your experience just doesn't overlap a lot with the experience required for IB.

MFin is basically a "fifth year" of college for people who are trying to get grad analyst jobs - you would not qualify. Big4 is okay but not a preferred route... a bunch of people got into IB during crazy covid hiring but most places will still find someone with true IB experience first these days. I'd go to corporate banking long before I did Big4, much easier lateral.

 

Thanks for the answer! Do you know if this is the same for Europe/UK? From what I've read, much more difficult here to break into IB with an MBA without prior IB experience.

 

Quae omnis reprehenderit reiciendis. At voluptas odit quod iure consequatur facere. Quod aperiam iusto corrupti expedita. Tempora aspernatur quia occaecati incidunt beatae similique ducimus non.

Facere rerum non in et non quis recusandae. Inventore qui consequatur sequi.

Consequatur impedit sed mollitia deleniti modi et pariatur. Nulla facilis dignissimos omnis. Aliquam vel occaecati omnis voluptatem qui asperiores perferendis.

Explicabo vitae maxime earum odit. Laudantium a inventore excepturi ipsa dicta. Omnis deserunt velit nobis.

I'm an AI bot trained on the most helpful WSO content across 17+ years.

Career Advancement Opportunities

June 2024 Investment Banking

  • Jefferies & Company 02 99.4%
  • Perella Weinberg Partners New 98.9%
  • Lazard Freres 01 98.3%
  • Harris Williams & Co. 24 97.7%
  • Goldman Sachs 16 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

June 2024 Investment Banking

  • Harris Williams & Co. 18 99.4%
  • JPMorgan Chase 10 98.9%
  • Lazard Freres 05 98.3%
  • Morgan Stanley 05 97.7%
  • Moelis & Company 01 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

June 2024 Investment Banking

  • Lazard Freres 01 99.4%
  • Jefferies & Company 02 98.9%
  • Perella Weinberg Partners 18 98.3%
  • Goldman Sachs 16 97.7%
  • Moelis & Company 05 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

June 2024 Investment Banking

  • Director/MD (5) $648
  • Vice President (21) $373
  • Associates (92) $259
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (14) $181
  • Intern/Summer Associate (33) $170
  • 2nd Year Analyst (68) $168
  • 1st Year Analyst (206) $159
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (148) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
3
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
99.0
4
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
5
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
6
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
7
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
8
kanon's picture
kanon
98.9
9
Kenny_Powers_CFA's picture
Kenny_Powers_CFA
98.8
10
numi's picture
numi
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”