I have a 13+ years of technology company experience and MBA from top 20 school. I am trying to get a job as a analyst or associate in investment banking company. So far I have applied to 100 position without a response. I spoke to someone and he mentioned they don’t even look at 30+ applicants so don’t even try. Anyone here who has gotten a break in mid 30s and has any tips on job search?
They want to get at least 10 years out of you before they work you to death.
I am from a top 3 b school, I banking is easier if you go via internship, not saying the door is closed but it's tough. An alternate route is looking at VCs or PE firms.
PE and VCs need startup experience or tons of money. I am broke after paying for my MBA
Go back and get a finance MBA, do the summer associates program at an Investment bank, hope you perform well enough to get a full time offer. Then prepare for 80-100 hour work weeks.
Why do you want to do this?
My interest and enthusiasm for finance and investment. It happen to be that I chose a engineering route but somewhere in middle (when I started investing my own money) I was interested in investment, acquisition and financial instruments. So am willing to take a pay cut to do better in future.
Ok. Well first thing to know is that investment bankers do not invest or manage investments. If you’re interested in investing as a career, look at investment management (fidelity, pimco, etc. or smaller hedge fund type shops). Investment bankers (like the ones who work at banks) are in client services and advisory. These teams develop relationships with the CFOs and Corp dev teams at companies, and provide (mostly free) advice on capital structure (raising debt, equity, structuring things differently) and acquisitions or joint ventures. The hours are terrible because you, as a junior person, are either helping your MD cultivate a relationship with c-level execs or executing on a financial transaction (IPO, debt offering, merger) for your client and there is a lot of money on the line for them (and your bank in the form of fees and future work/reputation). There’s another category of banker that works in the capital markets - either as a trader/broker (executing trades for their clients at fidelity, pimco, or hedge fund) or actually executing the work around IPO or debt offering (like actually making the market for securities).
Exactly, why? Mid 30s is when people get out of investment banking.
Yeah I am crazy but I want to leverage my finance MBA to fullest which I can only if I am in a banking company.
That's bs. I had 3 jobs in finance between 30 and 40. As engineer though, so why don't you start with what you know?
Have a kid and force them to fulfill your dreams
No chance at a top bank: analysts are top undergrad and associate top MBA who worked there during the summer. You can try lower tier mid America bank. Not sure though that your reasoning describes what investment bankers do. Can you share what type of jobs you are applying for and what city? What banks? Would recommend: go to your schools alumni directory and find people that have the jobs you want and ask them for a coffee chat. Understand if what they do really excites you and ask for their advice how you can get a career like them. Have seen that work for an ENG friend to move into finance. Lastly: eng is I think more fun and challenging than finance
Yeah this is good advice. And as someone who has also worked in finance, investment banking, and tech, I also agree that building things is more fun and impactful than crunching numbers and moving money around. Another thing to consider is looking into the CFA program to build your credibility when looking for investment management jobs (if that is what you really want to do).
These are good tips. I have seen alumnus is hit or miss and experiences vary. I know that IB people either do research/pitches for investment or merger and acquisition. I have also heard research side is easier for my age. I am trying UBS, ML, etc some not so know banks and firms. I have few friends who have done it but they moved out after 5yr for MBA and the went to Wall Street.
If by “research/pitches for investment” you mean “client advisory/pitches for changing their capital structure through debt offerings or IPOs”, yeah you got it. If you mean “research to tell companies what they should invest in” then no, that’s not what they do. An M&A pitch would be the closest thing to this, but still would describe it more as capital structure / advisory focused... Equity research might be possible if you have technical expertise that you can leverage. Equity researchers who are able to deeply understand a space due to their professional or academic background have a leg up. This may also get you closer to what you’re looking for if you’re truly interested in analyzing investments.
Check out https://www.wallstreetoasis.com. This is something similar to blind for the finance (banking, hedge funds, investing) industry. Be honest what you think your skills are and use that to “sell” yourself. Not sure about all you did so far but you could be the perfect fit for a quant hedge fund that does not care about you mba but coding skills. Good luck!🍀👍
What school and what kind of MBA? When did you graduate from bschool?