How do you lateral into investment banking?

Q: Is there a recruiting process for lateral hires in investment banking?

Not in the way undergrad and MBA recruiting have one, and lateraling in is not easy. The typical path for a lateral is an MBA, which has an actual process and calendar. If you go direct there is no window to apply into and no on-campus round, only networking: touching base with people and building up connectivity to the banks over time. That puts the burden on you to start it, and it means your story has to be built before the first call.

Q: How do you build a lateral story if your job has not given you finance work?

Build it where someone can see it. Courses and workshops, models you build yourself, and projects closer to the work if you have any say in what you get staffed on. One consultant who made the move had done a little deal due diligence at work, then took a class and hand-built models. The proof showed up in his modeling test and in how he talked about the work, not on a certificate.

Q: When should you start reaching out to lateral into banking?

Whenever you are ready, since lateral hiring is always on. Be aware that from roughly September to February teams are busy with on-cycle recruiting and have less attention to spare, but past that it depends on the individual bank and what it needs, so do not weight the calendar too heavily. Once you are actually in a process it can move faster than you expect.

The typical path for a lateral is an MBA. Going direct means no cycle to apply into, just networking and a story built from finance, deals, or client service work.

Michael Neal·5 min read·updated July 2026

There Is No Process

Lateraling in is not easy, and the typical path for a lateral is an MBA. Direct moves do happen. Management consultants have made them, and so have people from further out. It is not impossible. It is just not the common route, and knowing that before you start is what makes the plan realistic.

The rest of this assumes you are going direct.

Undergrad and MBA recruiting run on a calendar. Lateral does not. There is no window to apply into, no on-campus round, no superday circuit you can put in a diary.

What exists is networking. You start touching base with people, and you build up connectivity to the banks over time. That is the whole thing.

So the work happens before the first call. Nothing in the process is going to build your story for you, which means it has to already be built when you start reaching out.

What Transfers

Anything relating to finance, deals, or client service.

That is a wider net than most people assume, and the skill is not the job title you currently hold. It is understanding banking well enough to find the parts of your own history that connect to it, then pulling those parts out.

People do make this move. Management consultants have lateraled in, and so have others from further out. It is not impossible. It does require that you have something to show for it.

Building Something To Show

One consultant who made it had done a little deal due diligence through work. Not much. He also took a class, hand-built models, and put real hours into Excel.

What sold it was not the class. When he sat modeling tests, and when he simply talked about the work, it was obvious he knew what he was doing. That is the bar: fluency someone can hear.

If your job has not handed you any of that, build it somewhere it can be seen.

Courses and workshops. Discernible things. Someone else should be able to look and see that you did them.
Models you built yourself. His proof showed up in a modeling test, not on a certificate.
Related projects. If you have any say in what you get staffed on, steer toward work that touches deals, finance, or clients.

The Typical Path

For most laterals the route is an MBA.

It is the standard path and it is closer to guaranteed. There is an actual process, a calendar, and a pipeline built for people switching in. The networking route has none of that.

Weigh the two honestly. If you go direct anyway, go in knowing you picked the harder one.

Who To Contact

This is one candidate rather than a rule, but the shape of it is instructive.

He reached out to hiring managers, and to associate-level people at the banks he wanted, since associate is the seat he would be coming into.

Two things got his calls returned. He was at a big-three MBB and had gone to a good school, so the names on the page did some of the work. He also went through friends of friends, which turned cold outreach into warm introductions.

The second of those is available to anyone. The first is not. If your resume does not open doors by itself, the warm introductions carry more of the load.

Timing

Always on. There is no season to wait for.

Stay aware of the cycle running around you. Roughly September to February, teams are busy with on-cycle recruiting and have less attention to spare. Past that it comes down to the individual bank and what it needs at the time, so do not weight the calendar too heavily. Go when you are ready.

Then be ready for speed. Once you are actually in the process it can move faster than you expect. He started reaching out and the timeline accelerated before he saw it coming.

The Seat

You come in as an associate.

Which means the fit questions arrive at associate level, and they are the same three everyone else gets: why investment banking, why this firm, and why this group. Build the narrative before you start making calls, because the calls are where it gets used.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Is there a recruiting process for lateral hires in investment banking?

What experience actually transfers when you lateral into banking?

How do you build a lateral story if your job has not given you finance work?

When should you start reaching out to lateral into banking?