I wanted to let you all know how my meeting with the VP from the BB went, and may be my experiences will help other people.
Key things:
1. When I started talking of my love for Front Office roles, I added that I also like some aspects of Middle office and she stopped me there. "Don't ever call it Middle office in an Interview" she said, "People who work in MO will be offended if they heard you call it MO" She said I should refer to it as the Broader aspects of the Bank and then mention the specific position such as Operations/Regulatory.
2. She said my CV fits the role of an (Middle Office) position, she also changed it up and added some goodies (Key words and stuff) Which was nice of her.
3. Asked me to talk about recent publications I've read, I started talking about M&A deals and she stopped me; she said She doesn't think I would fit in the (MO) role because apparently I have no passion there.. she suggests I chase my passion which is in M&A by doing a Masters in a Finance related course.
4. I told her I already planned on doing a masters, she also told me that when it comes to FO roles, BB's only take from Havard, Oxford, Cambridge, LSE, Imperial.. Im sure she mentioned a couple more but I can't remember now. But she said the Masters degree has to be at one of these target schools or else I'll be wasting my time trying to get into FO- She said once you get into the masters start applying for grad schemes and Internships.. you will get easier Interviews.. It's up to you and your confidence to land the role she said. So the whole 'Brand name myth' is real, BB's are more likely to pick you for an FO role if you have any of the above names on your CV
5. Told her about my BBD Alevels, she laughed.. she said she knows managing partners who don't even have a degree.. Banks do not really care about Alevels, they just use it to sort the thousands of applications they receive. Once you do your Msc at a Target No one will care about your Alevels, and if they bring it up its because they want to know how you went from under performing on Alevels to getting an Msc at a top school.
6. I need to work on my Story on why I want to go into IBD.
7. Do not burn bridges in banking. never burn bridges she said whilst staring through me like she was remembering something.
8. Do something remotely finance related between now and when you start your MSc, the ball starts rolling once you're in the Target school.
That's about it, sorry it's late at night and I'm quite sleepy so I may have forgotten some things.. Oh yeah, she also said - Never show or tell your weakness in IBD, it's a dog eat dog world there and they will walk over you if you show any weakness. . She also said keep working on your Vba skills, valuation skills e.t.c whilst you're at home. Will look good if you walked into an Interview and you know your theory well.. All in all she said if you're not in a target school, its easier to get into (MO) than FO. I'll start applying to MO roles from now on.
Oh yeah I put (MO) in brackets because although she was referring to middle office roles, she actually wasn't calling it MO, I can't remember the exact term she used.
Hope this helps someone somewhere.. the meeting lasted circa 35mins. Oh yeah she mentioned a friend of hers who trains graduates for 2years in derivatives for example and then he lends the graduates to the Banks for a fee. Don't know if anyone has heard of people like that??
She said she will send him my CV but he may not be willing to take me because he needs someone to stay committed for 2 years and I plan on doing my masters next year; I told her I was willing to push my masters back to get on this guy's programme but she told me to go for the Msc as its more valuable to me and I should not compromise my plans.