What skills from a consulting background are most valuable when pursuing a career in investment banking?

Question

Hello, I’m currently in consulting and am considering a move into investment banking. I know that both fields require strong analytical skills, but I’m curious about which specific skills from my consulting background will be most beneficial in investment banking. How can I highlight these skills effectively in my applications and interviews? Any advice from those who have made a similar shift would be very helpful.

Answer 1

Great question! Consulting has a few super valuable translatable skillsets:

Networking: Consultants are good at building relationships with clients and management teams. This can be applied to networking. Before the investment banking interview even starts, make sure that you've reached out to and talked with as many people as possible at the firm. Learn about what they care about and what they're learning for in a candidate. Build advocates.
Behaviorals: Consultants are good about speaking about themselves and "qualitative" topics. So, once you've networked your way into an interview, get started on your behavioral prep. Work on your behaviorals "trifecta"--tell me about yourself, why banking, why this bank, and then create a stories-based approach for other behavioral questions.
Technicals: Finally, consultants are often pretty technical. Although it's not 100% transferable, Excel skills and quantitative thinking will help you in IB technical interviews. Once you get past the first round (usually behavioral) it's time to really hone in on technicals. Start with the 400 Question Guide and then it gets more advanced from there.

There are 10,000 other things we need to discuss on each of these pieces--please reach out for a free intro session and let's talk about how to get you into the industry!

Answer 2

Dear candidate,

Of course you can easily transfer your consulting experience

A) In particular leadership experience, top performance experience and strong consulting foundation like client leadership and developing creative solutions as an experienced hires eg mention the consulting initiatives you started at the firm are really great to mention are great for growing.

B) Additionally your passion for finance can show gladly and you can go through many examples at consulting for most questions asked during the interviews. Eg project leadership questions, how you led a workstream etc. How you performed best compared to everyone else.

C) Also gladly network directly with the consultants already for Ibanking, so many have a Finance background and you can find ex investment bankers there etc it is very helpful. Also consider joining more finance related projects to see first because the job roles are nevertheless very different and consulting might be really fun already eg be sure the switch is what you want first. For example jeep your door open at the firm that you can return any time.

Have a super day.

Answer 3

Hey there!

Based on the feedback I received during interviews, these were the top skills that interviewers considered valuable for my new role in investment banking:

Strong problem-solving and analytical abilities
Experience in client management and communication
Financial modeling (a lot of my projects were finance focused, so that helped of course. Not sure, if every consultant can highlight strong financial modeling skills) and understanding of business strategy
Ability to work under pressure and manage tight deadlines
Presentation skills, especially creating clear and concise materials

I hope that helps.