Step-by-Step Guide: Breaking into Investment Banking with No Finance Experience / Off-cycle IB Recruiting

11 min readJun 17, 2024

In the last 2 years, I’ve switched my career 3 times. I was a consultant and a product manager. In a month, I will be an investment banker. I have no prior finance experience.

Investment banking (IB) recruiting is highly structured and restricted. It’s nearly impossible to break into IB unless you get directly hired from a top undergraduate / MBA program. Even with these two paths, recruiting timelines are rigid; they often begin almost immediately in year one.

I missed both of these paths.

Despite this, I landed a IB job (industry focus: tech) at an elite boutique firm in October 2023, during my second year of MBA. I took advantage of one last unlikely path to break in: lateral recruiting.

Lateral recruiting is when banks hire off-cycle (not directly hiring from undergraduate or MBA programs) on an as-needed basis. Lateral hires often have prior IB experience (“poaching”) or finance experience from a closely-related field. If you’re a lateral hire, you likely won’t have mercy, because they will expect you to contribute starting day 1.

Thankfully, I was still in my MBA program when I recruited, so lateral recruiting put me in the same training bucket of MBA associates who pivoted into IB with limited prior experience. Regardless, lateral recruiting is a lonely process. Many banks don’t advertise their need for lateral hires (they rely on their network to bring people in) and there is no standardized path to follow. You have to carve your own.

Below, I’ll share how I approached off-cycle recruiting as someone with no prior finance background, along with an exact timeline. The key to achieving success in this process is speed and being proactive.

1. Finding your edge — May 2023, ongoing

When presenting yourself to banks, you need to come with a clear value proposition. Since you’re not a brand new analyst, you’ll be expected to bring more than a good attitude and a willingness to learn to the table. On top of this, if you’re like me, you won’t have relevant finance experience… so what else can you bring?

I presented my “edge” this way while recruiting for tech IB:

Expertise in Tech industry: as a former tech consultant and tech product manager, I’ve worked with tech companies from many different subsectors, and I established myself as an industry expert. Many banks will have industry-focused associate positions, while others will have “generalist” positions, meaning that they focus on multiple industries. I primarily recruited for tech IB roles in order to leverage this aspect of my “edge.”
Experience in professional services: I pushed my background from consulting and drew parallels between the two professions as they were both professional services. In interviews, I told them I thrived in dynamic environments in which I get to work with multiple companies, an aspect that distinguishes professional services from other careers.
Familiarity with client advisory / management: I had to work with various levels of clients (peers to CFO’s) in my previous careers. While I don’t expect my time as an associate in IB will yield the same degree of exposure to these levels of clients, I shared this experience as evidence that I have comfort in various levels of client interaction.

My “edge,” written as part of an email.

2. Prioritize list of target firms — June 2023, 3 days

Banks are categorized into: 1) bulge brackets and 2) boutiques. Bulge brackets are large firms that often provide various finance solutions while boutiques are smaller shops that focus on IB.

When lateral recruiting, it is best to cast a wide net. Many firms won’t have positions open. That’s why this point is called “prioritize,” not “make” a list.

In order to tackle this step, I would make a list of all banks that you’re aware of and then do a quick LinkedIn search on other banks that your network is working at / those that have open job positions. If you care about prestige, you can also Google search phrases like “top boutique IB firms in the US” depending on the location you’re hoping to recruit for.

As a data point, I was talking to / submitted applications for 20+ banks.

3. Create a tracker — June 2023, 1 day

One you have a list, time is crucial. You have to chug forward in a very organized way, because you’ll be speaking to multiple banks at once. I made the classic mistake of mentioning another bank’s name when I was having a coffee chat. Double check who you’re speaking to before each meeting.

I organized my tracker like this:

Summary tab: bank name, application submitted (Y/N), submission date, decision / notes
Recruiting contact: name, email, outreach (Y/N), contact date, notes
Each bank had a separate tab: network (name, position, email, school alum Y/N, coffee chat date, notes on individual), action items, bank-specific information (gathered from network, coffee chats, individual research)

Below is a screenshot of a bank-specific tab. Please comment your email for full tracker access.

4. Edit your resume — June 2023, 1 week

Before you start engaging with bankers or recruiters, you need to tailor your resume to fit the banking language (this is the case for any industry you recruit for).

Here are a few things I focused on as I recreated my product management-focused resume to an IB-focused resume:

Quantify any $$$ saved or new revenue generated: “improved accuracy in tax collection (worth $4B revenue) and saved $40,000 of monthly lost revenue”
Showcase any direct client impact: “served as direct counterpart to senior client on finance team”
Highlight any relevant work that can translate to IB tasks: “developed pricing model to evaluate project margins, potential timeline, and hiring needs for potential future contracts”
Differentiated subsectors of tech clients I worked with: “Finance Technology Consultant | Fortune Top 10 Big Tech Advertising Client” and “Finance Specialist | Future Mobility Client”

I spent one week tailoring my resume. I sent it to my trusted network (already working in IB or those who recruited for IB) for feedback and worked through 8 different renditions before finalizing it.

Please comment your email for a full version of my resume.

5. Warm outreach (practitioners) — June 2023, 2 weeks

Once you have your tracker and resume ready to go, it’s time to start the outreach. This is the start of the most time-consuming part.

I reached out to peers or recent Wharton graduates that I was close to for 15 to 30-minute coffee chats. These conversations were focused to get:

Firm-specific information / insider knowledge that I would not be able to get through individual research
Type of work they do, so I can draw parallels with my skillsets to prove to interviewers that I can perform at that level

I used some of their talking points as launch pads to start conversations during cold outreach (next point). Since these were people that I already knew, the stakes were low, but I still went into every conversation prepared with the following:

Rationale for pivot into IB
Process and timeline for landing a job
3–4 questions in case conversation died down (never happened, everyone was eager to share!)

At the end of every conversation, asked to be connected to 1–2 people in their company, mostly at the VP and MD level, because this level has the agency to make hiring decisions. My warm network also consisted of mostly associates, so this was also a good way to diversify the level of people I spoke to.

I noted down the outcome of every conversation down in my tracker.

6. Cold outreach (practitioners) — July 2023 ~ September 2023

Once I went through a few warm coffee chats for a 2 weeks in June, I exhausted my immediate network and got ready for cold outreach + warm introductions that resulted from step #5.

I used multiple methods for cold outreach. LinkedIn search, asking friends of friends, researching on bank websites. I found at least 3–4 people per bank, and sent out 5 emails per day for the entire month of July. Thankfully, banker emails are pretty easy to guess. The format is usually “firstname.lastname@bankname.com.” When in doubt, I asked friends who worked at these banks to verify their email for me.

I used the template below for cold outreach:

If someone accepted my request to chat, I replied back with my schedule within 6 hours. Bankers are busy; replying as fast as you can gives you a huge advantage.

Here’s the most important part of shaping the way a cold conversation goes: state from the beginning that you’re interesting in joining their firm and to keep you posted if any positions open up. When wrapping up the call, reiterate your interest in joining their firm and that you’ll follow-up after the call with your most updated resume so they can keep it on file.

Beyond this, I treated every cold coffee chat as a mini interview and and had the following ready to go. Many of these are also a part of the most basic behavioral questions in the interview process.

Elevator pitch (resume in under 45 seconds)
Why IB?
Why the pivot?
Are you looking at both bulge brackets or boutiques?
Do you have an industry focus?

Similar to the warm coffee chat, at the end of every conversation, I asked to be connected to 1–2 people (VP and MD level) in their company.

After the coffee chat, I sent a “thank you” email within 12 hours, and sent my resume. I did not send my resume when initially making the outreach (unless specifically asked).

Using this approach, between the months of June, July, and August, I was able to schedule a minimum of 3 coffee chats per week. This was enough to cover at least 2 people from each of the banks that were on my list.

7. Cold outreach (recruiters) — August 2023, 1 month

Though most lateral opportunities will likely come directly from VP’s and MD’s, it’s important to also be on the recruiter’s radar because they will be the first to know about vacancies in multiple offices (e.g. if an intern hasn’t accepted their return offer). I prioritized coffee chats with bankers first so I could name drop them in emails to the recruiters.

The recruiter messaging involved:

Role / office / time frame I’m interested in (e.g. Tech Banking in SF starting summer of 2024)
People I’ve spoken to at the bank already (to show that you’ve already done your due diligence)
Asking for first dibs when there’s an opportunity for lateral hiring
Opportunity for in-person meeting (face time shows your dedication)
Resume

Just one email per recruiter per bank is enough to be on their radar. There is no need to have an ongoing discussion with them. They’ll let you know when something is available. Feel free to use the format below.

8. Follow-ups — August ~ September 2023

If you had a coffee chat, check in at least one more time at the one month mark.

At this point, I had had at least 30 coffee chats, but no interviews. I knew that summer internships were wrapping up and that some interns would not accept their return offers. I wanted to take advantage of the potential vacancies.

The follow-up messaging involved:

Ask about finalized headcount / lateral hires
Reiterate interest
Opportunity for in-person meeting (face time shows your dedication)

9. Interview prep — July 2023 ~ September 2023

Interviews can happen any time. If a bank needs someone, they can choose to interview the same day. They can also offer to interview after the end of an internship cycle if all vacant positions cannot be filled with returning interns. Due to the unpredictability, interview prep must be done simultaneously with all other steps, starting day 1 of your decision to recruit for IB.

I approached interview prep in four ways.

Behavioral prep: these questions are predictable. The banks will ask about your background, you interest in banking, whether you want to go big or small (BB or boutique), and an industry you’re interested in. The most important thing to focus on is your “why banking” story (guaranteed to be asked). This should take ~30–45 seconds and will set the tone for your interview.
Deal prep: often, banks will ask about a recent deal that you’re interested in. I chose a deal in an industry I was comfortable with / interested in (tech).
Technical prep: these questions can be predictable. I found that if you have a solid base, you can modify your knowledge to answer any question. There are standard guides you can follow to master the basics.
Mock interviews: DO NOT HOLD MOCKS OFF UNTIL LAST MINUTE. This was the biggest mistake I made. I ended up cramming 20 mock interviews in the span of 2 weeks, which was exhausting. Even though you feel like you’ve mastered the material, you will feel like a fool during the first few mocks. Practice, fail, and get better. Reviewing the material will not guarantee success. Get at least 10 reps of mocks in before your first interview.

I can’t get into all the details in this article, but you can start familiarizing yourself with the interview format here. If you’re currently in a MBA program or know others who have navigated traditional recruiting, they can send all prep materials. These guides are standardized, meaning that the questions banks will ask will likely be standardized too. If you don’t have access to a MBA / network, please comment; I’ll help you out.

10. Staying up to date, ongoing

Especially if you’re recruiting for a specific industry, it’s important to stay up to date with the newest trends both in the finance / banking industry and your industry of focus.

Two of my interviews asked me to give an overview of the tech market.

I used the resources below to stay up to date. I made it a habit to wake up and listen / read for at least 15 minutes before starting the day. I still do.

11. Interview and offer! — September~October 2023, 4 weeks

In September, I received 3 interview invites, including one from my top choice. As a data point, 2/3 interviews were from follow-ups (networking in) and 1/3 interview was from an application from a job posting.

For the firm I signed with, I went through 3 rounds of interviews, along with a “Super Day” in person (I happened to be in SF during my interview process, and they invited me into the office).

This process took 4 weeks and I received my offer in October 2023.

My path to successfully recruiting laterally into IB took 5 months. It’s not an easy process — the hardest thing to navigate is the uncertainty. I could have very easily walked away from the process with no interviews or offers if firms had no need to hire. I found my network and MBA peers to be gracious and generous throughout the process, so I would encourage you to ask for help. The journey is lonely, but you don’t have to be alone.

If you’re interested in 1:1 coaching or any of the resources in this article, please comment below. Let’s connect!