Candidates starting their career in investment banking or private equity are frequently faced with a choice; do you pursue a Masters or MBA? How much value will it add to your career?
In the U.K, ODM Partners profiled over 4,000 candidates working in Financial Advisory, Investment Banking, Private Equity, Asset Management or Accountancy Firms. Focusing on the Infrastructure, Renewable Energy and Impact Investing sectors, we have provided data-driven insights into the proportion of candidates who have a Masters or MBA.
52% of candidates have a Masters or MBA in the above sectors in the U.K.
Most candidates we speak to aim to move into a Private Equity Fund, Institutional Investor or Principal Investing role. Profiling these areas, we provided insights into how the data changed, based on over 1,800 candidates in the U.K.
As the data shows, candidates seeking to move into an Investing position without any additional qualifications or a Masters Degree/MBA represent only 30% of the talent pool. Candidates with no other language skills drop to 19% of the talent pool. Therefore, the data is clear regarding education; most candidates who move into an Investing position have some form of additional qualification or degree. Those that don’t have additional language skills, with French, German, Spanish and Italian ranking the highest.
For candidates planning to pursue a Masters or MBA, we have ranked the most popular schools in the U.K for candidates who have moved into an Investing role attended.
There is also a high proportion of candidates who attended Universities outside of the U.K, currently based in the U.K. HEC and Bocconi University are proving very popular amongst candidates in the London.
It is important to note, the reason candidates have been successful during the interview process is not solely attributable to their educational background. We are not suggesting that to be successful in your career, you need a Masters or MBA. For some candidates, the time and expense of completing further education is not an option. The purpose of this blog is to demonstrate the backgrounds of the individuals who are in the market and to make candidates consider what option is best for them. A viable alternative could be completing a financial modelling course to help get through the case study rounds at the interview. Over the last 10 years, we have seen some employers strongly state their preference for a candidate with an MBA or Masters from certain schools and others have no preference at all.
If any candidate reading this would like more insights into specific firms and their respective breakdown of candidates with Masters or an MBA, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
