Early-Career Pivot: Consulting to IB

Hey There!

With experience in both consulting and finance, I can say that you're in a strong position to pivot into IB, even with a non-traditional background. The key is to reframe your consulting and infrastructure work in investment banking terms—highlighting your experience with capital allocation, risk assessment, financial viability, and commercial outcomes. Rather than focusing on infrastructure, position yourself as someone who has advised on large, complex investments with significant financial implications.

For instance, where you may have developed business cases for public transport projects, highlight how you structured investment recommendations, advised on financial feasibility, or managed procurement processes with significant commercial implications. These are deeply relevant to M&A advisory and capital markets work, even if they came from a public or infrastructure lens.

On the question of whether to pursue Analyst or Associate roles, your five years of experience and MBA place you more naturally in the Associate bracket. Analysts are typically pre-MBA or early-career hires but some firms especially the large bulge brackets can be rigid in their pipelines.

Casting a wide net is smart. Focus on how your consulting skills, client management, problem-solving, and business case development translate to banking. Your upskilling efforts (MBA and financial modelling) show intent, so frame them as part of a deliberate move into IB. Finally, use networking to share your story and find advocates who can see your potential beyond a traditional CV.

You’ve actually got a strong and differentiated story—you just need to frame it for the investment banking world in a way that emphasizes value, not difference. Lots of people break in from non-traditional paths, especially in London, where firms are used to seeing international and lateral candidates with varied backgrounds.

Here’s how you might think about each of your questions:

How to position your experience beyond infrastructure

The key is to talk less about the sector and more about the deal-relevant skills: commercial analysis, stakeholder management, investment recommendations, structuring, etc. Think about times you’ve assessed returns, negotiated frameworks, managed large-scale initiatives—these all map to M&A and financing work.

Also, highlight the fact that you’ve advised clients on big, long-term capital decisions. That’s very relevant to banking, just under a different label. Recast your project controls or procurement work as part of the financial decision-making cycle, not just operations. And strategy consulting? Big plus. Frame that as exposure to C-level problem-solving and market entry, not just infrastructure consulting.

Analyst or Associate level?

Honestly, you’re in that grey zone between experienced analyst and MBA associate. With a New Zealand MBA and a non-IB background, banks may default to Analyst 3 or Associate 1 roles, depending on your pitch and the firm. Some boutiques and mid-markets might be more flexible and even prefer your broader background.

You don’t want to look like you’re reaching for Associate if you haven’t done hard-core modelling, execution, or pitchbook work before. But if you can show strong technical development through the modelling course, and you can speak fluently about deal processes, there’s a case.

Use conversations with people inside firms to get a feel for where you’d slot in. It’ll vary more than you think.

Where to focus: BBs, mid-market, independents?

All of them—but with some nuance. Big banks may be tougher culturally if you don’t have name-brand finance experience, but they also hire more, including for off-cycle roles. Independents and mid-markets might value your maturity, leadership and sector knowledge more, especially in teams that touch infrastructure, energy, or project finance.

A good strategy is to cast the net wide but tailor messaging. For example, if you’re targeting an infra-focused boutique, lean into your domain knowledge. For a generalist M&A team at a BB, emphasize your strategic advisory, financial literacy, and cross-functional experience.

Advice for the pivot

Here’s the honest stuff people sometimes skip:

• The biggest risk in your story is being seen as too sector-specific or not execution-ready. You fight this by showing you’ve done the self-work to get up to speed technically (which you’ve already started) and that you can adapt fast. Tell stories that show versatility and pressure-handling.
• Get fluent in deal language. Read recent transactions, know how to break down a transaction rationale, be able to explain the structure of a typical M&A process, and have a view on market dynamics in sectors beyond infra.
• When networking, don’t just ask for advice—get specific: “Based on my background, how would you see someone like me fitting in at your firm?” That invites people to think actively on your behalf.
• You will likely get rejections or ghosting. That’s normal. It doesn’t mean you’re not a good candidate. It just means the pathway is nonlinear and messy.

Final thought: you’re not selling yourself as someone who’s done it all before—you’re selling yourself as someone who brings experience plus momentum. That you’re not coming in cold. You’ve built relevant skills in the wild, taken steps to round out your technical chops, and are now doubling down in the right market. That narrative is powerful when delivered clearly and confidently.

If you want to workshop a short pitch or cover email for networking, happy to help with that too.

Hi,

You’re approaching this pivot the right way - thoughtfully, with a clear sense of where your strengths lie and where the gaps may be. Your experience in strategy, infrastructure advisory, and commercial analysis is highly transferable to investment banking, particularly in sectors like industrials, energy, infrastructure, and project finance. To avoid coming across as too infrastructure-focused, emphasize deal-related thinking: how you’ve assessed investment cases, structured commercial frameworks, or advised on procurement with financial implications. The goal is to frame your experience as transaction-oriented, even if the context wasn’t a traditional M&A process.

With an MBA and five years of professional experience, you’re more aligned with Associate-level roles than Analyst. That said, some banks may place you at the high end of the Analyst track, depending on how technical your skills are and how flexible their hiring structures are. It’s smart to target a mix: BBs, mid-markets, and boutiques, especially firms with a strong presence in infrastructure or that value broader advisory skill sets. Focus on clearly articulating your story in networking conversations: why the pivot, why banking, and why now. Demonstrate that you’ve taken steps to close your technical gaps and are ready to contribute from day one. Persistence, clarity of purpose, and targeted outreach will matter just as much as your background.