.svg){kind=icon}
The presence of so many investment banks in the list of the companies that receive the most applications from recent grads confirms something we already suspected: M&A analyst roles are among the most in-demand of any for college graduates.
With the help of M&A practitioners at M&A Science, we look at the ins and outs of the role of M&A analysts, and what youâll need to find your way to the top of the applications.
An M&A Analyst is the most junior role at an investment bank or the M&A department of an organization involved in mergers and acquisitions.
An M&A Analyst assists more senior investment bankers in the early stages of M&A deals.
The M&A Analyst is usually an all-rounder that takes on a range of roles. Typical tasks include:
Valuations are the bread and butter of M&A Analysts. These days, there is simply no way that someone will gain an M&A Analyst role without at least some capability in company valuations. A good chunk of the M&A Analystâs time is therefore tied up in Excel spreadsheets.
Check out our list of the best M&A valuation courses to help you further your valuation skills.
Investment memorandums tend to be full of information from databases and online sources such as Thomson Reuters Datastream and Capital IQ. The M&A analyst will often be responsible for retrieving and organizing this information for M&A associates.
Analysis is a broad term, but accurately describes much of what the M&A Analyst does. The list is long here but includes an analysis of a companyâs recent quarterly reports, an analysis of a companyâs industry peers, an analysis of industry reports, and an analysis of previous transactions in the client companyâs industry segment.
Although investment memorandums are usually the responsibility of M&A Associates, certain aspects will be delegated to M&A Analysts. The ability to communicate well, both written and orally, is central to the career progress of the M&A Analyst.
Because of the number of applicants that investment banks receive on an ongoing basis, becoming an M&A Analyst can be a considerable challenge, but not an insurmountable one.
In a catch-all answer, the best way to become an M&A Analyst, whether or not youâve completed a relevant degree (more of which later), is to be prepared. That means ensuring you tick all of the hard skills and soft skills boxes mentioned in the previous section.
On a more practical level, becoming an M&A Analyst involves:
The biggest quantity of M&A Analysts are pulled from a handful of college majors - business, economics, finance/accounting, mathematics, and engineering. There are exceptions, however.
For example, investment banks with a specialty in a certain industry will often pluck M&A Analysts from those industries for the valuable insights that they provide. But theyâll need to get to grips with accounting and valuation fast.
If youâre looking to become an M&A Analyst but you havenât graduated from one of these disciplines, your best bet is to complete a professional qualification, whilst honing the skills required to become an M&A Analyst. A good place to start would be a CPA qualification or better still, becoming a CFA holder. This is likely to be a 2-3 year journey, but thereâs nothing to stop you from applying for roles after passing the first level.
Check out the M&A Career Path to see what lies beyond the analyst role.
The typical day of the M&A Analyst will depend to a large extent on how many deals the bank is working on, and what stage each of those deals is currently at (i.e., the beginning of the process, due diligence, close to closing, etc.). A general outline of the M&A Analystâs day might look something like the following, however. Note that weâve included a 12-hour day, as this is close to being an average day for most at this stage of their investment banking careers.
An M&A analyst's salary is one of the highest of any graduate starting their first post-college position. Furthermore, it also leads to extraordinarily well-paid positions further up the investment banking pecking order.
The table below outlines the salary progression that the M&A Analyst can expect:
In a previous article, DealRoom looked at the M&A Analyst interview process in some detail.
This article provides a good primer for anybody looking to prepare for the interview, and what questions they should look out for.
A good place to start is by breaking the components of the interview into four separate sections:
By doing this, you do not give yourself a better chance of seeing in which areas youâre the weakest (for most people, itâs the technical questions), and spending more time on preparing for the questions which could arise in those areas.
Whether youâre already an M&A Analyst or one of the many looking to get on the investment banking ladder, itâs a good idea to complement your college studies with some thought leader material.
M&A Science has a rich trove of materials for the M&A profession, covering everything from deal origination to negotiation tactics, and how to time deals well. This material is provided by experienced industry experts and is updated on a regular basis.
.jpeg)
Resilience is key when looking for a job as an M&A Analyst. This is borne out by the number of rejection letters that even some of the most senior investment bankers received before eventually being accepted.
Not everyone starts at a blue-chip investment bank. And itâs silly to limit yourself to these top-tier banks when there are so many opportunities elsewhere.
In this regard, the best ways to find jobs as an M&A Analyst are:
Use filter criteria for M&A Analyst that sends relevant new jobs to your inbox every day.
Spend time on investment banksâ websites, getting to know their culture, their deals, and where theyâre located. Many accept direct applications, so donât be afraid to apply when you feel youâre ready to interview.
Networking is a powerful tool, but so rarely used by junior applicants. Itâs a difficult balance to strike between coming across as desperate and merely wanting to look keen. Experiment with a few banks youâre not entirely interested in, hone your networking skills with their HR managers, and you may even find yourself in an M&A Analyst role by chance.
Becoming an M&A Analyst is the path to a challenging and rewarding career. The growth of M&A transactions over the past decade suggests that this is a career that continues to provide new opportunities to those looking to enter the industry.
Visit M&A Science, use all of the materials at your disposal, and youâll maximize your chances of capitalizing on those opportunities as they arise.
The presence of so many investment banks in the list of the companies that receive the most applications from recent grads confirms something we already suspected: M&A analyst roles are among the most in-demand of any for college graduates.
With the help of M&A practitioners at M&A Science, we look at the ins and outs of the role of M&A analysts, and what youâll need to find your way to the top of the applications.
An M&A Analyst is the most junior role at an investment bank or the M&A department of an organization involved in mergers and acquisitions.
An M&A Analyst assists more senior investment bankers in the early stages of M&A deals.
The M&A Analyst is usually an all-rounder that takes on a range of roles. Typical tasks include:
Valuations are the bread and butter of M&A Analysts. These days, there is simply no way that someone will gain an M&A Analyst role without at least some capability in company valuations. A good chunk of the M&A Analystâs time is therefore tied up in Excel spreadsheets.
Check out our list of the best M&A valuation courses to help you further your valuation skills.
Investment memorandums tend to be full of information from databases and online sources such as Thomson Reuters Datastream and Capital IQ. The M&A analyst will often be responsible for retrieving and organizing this information for M&A associates.
Analysis is a broad term, but accurately describes much of what the M&A Analyst does. The list is long here but includes an analysis of a companyâs recent quarterly reports, an analysis of a companyâs industry peers, an analysis of industry reports, and an analysis of previous transactions in the client companyâs industry segment.
Although investment memorandums are usually the responsibility of M&A Associates, certain aspects will be delegated to M&A Analysts. The ability to communicate well, both written and orally, is central to the career progress of the M&A Analyst.
Because of the number of applicants that investment banks receive on an ongoing basis, becoming an M&A Analyst can be a considerable challenge, but not an insurmountable one.
In a catch-all answer, the best way to become an M&A Analyst, whether or not youâve completed a relevant degree (more of which later), is to be prepared. That means ensuring you tick all of the hard skills and soft skills boxes mentioned in the previous section.
On a more practical level, becoming an M&A Analyst involves:
The biggest quantity of M&A Analysts are pulled from a handful of college majors - business, economics, finance/accounting, mathematics, and engineering. There are exceptions, however.
For example, investment banks with a specialty in a certain industry will often pluck M&A Analysts from those industries for the valuable insights that they provide. But theyâll need to get to grips with accounting and valuation fast.
If youâre looking to become an M&A Analyst but you havenât graduated from one of these disciplines, your best bet is to complete a professional qualification, whilst honing the skills required to become an M&A Analyst. A good place to start would be a CPA qualification or better still, becoming a CFA holder. This is likely to be a 2-3 year journey, but thereâs nothing to stop you from applying for roles after passing the first level.
Check out the M&A Career Path to see what lies beyond the analyst role.
The typical day of the M&A Analyst will depend to a large extent on how many deals the bank is working on, and what stage each of those deals is currently at (i.e., the beginning of the process, due diligence, close to closing, etc.). A general outline of the M&A Analystâs day might look something like the following, however. Note that weâve included a 12-hour day, as this is close to being an average day for most at this stage of their investment banking careers.
An M&A analyst's salary is one of the highest of any graduate starting their first post-college position. Furthermore, it also leads to extraordinarily well-paid positions further up the investment banking pecking order.
The table below outlines the salary progression that the M&A Analyst can expect:
In a previous article, DealRoom looked at the M&A Analyst interview process in some detail.
This article provides a good primer for anybody looking to prepare for the interview, and what questions they should look out for.
A good place to start is by breaking the components of the interview into four separate sections:
By doing this, you do not give yourself a better chance of seeing in which areas youâre the weakest (for most people, itâs the technical questions), and spending more time on preparing for the questions which could arise in those areas.
Whether youâre already an M&A Analyst or one of the many looking to get on the investment banking ladder, itâs a good idea to complement your college studies with some thought leader material.
M&A Science has a rich trove of materials for the M&A profession, covering everything from deal origination to negotiation tactics, and how to time deals well. This material is provided by experienced industry experts and is updated on a regular basis.
Resilience is key when looking for a job as an M&A Analyst. This is borne out by the number of rejection letters that even some of the most senior investment bankers received before eventually being accepted.
Not everyone starts at a blue-chip investment bank. And itâs silly to limit yourself to these top-tier banks when there are so many opportunities elsewhere.
In this regard, the best ways to find jobs as an M&A Analyst are:
Use filter criteria for M&A Analyst that sends relevant new jobs to your inbox every day.
Spend time on investment banksâ websites, getting to know their culture, their deals, and where theyâre located. Many accept direct applications, so donât be afraid to apply when you feel youâre ready to interview.
Networking is a powerful tool, but so rarely used by junior applicants. Itâs a difficult balance to strike between coming across as desperate and merely wanting to look keen. Experiment with a few banks youâre not entirely interested in, hone your networking skills with their HR managers, and you may even find yourself in an M&A Analyst role by chance.
Becoming an M&A Analyst is the path to a challenging and rewarding career. The growth of M&A transactions over the past decade suggests that this is a career that continues to provide new opportunities to those looking to enter the industry.
Visit M&A Science, use all of the materials at your disposal, and youâll maximize your chances of capitalizing on those opportunities as they arise.
.png "Frontrunners Badge"){kind=icon}
.png "Shortlist Badge"){kind=icon}
.png "Category Leaders Badge"){kind=icon}
.svg)
.png)
