Can you use a Cass MBA to go from a middle office role in a bank to trading in a hedge fund?
When we wrote an article about MBAs this week, we received an enlightening comment from someone purporting to be a former student of Cass Business school.
This (anonymous) person, claimed they used their MBA to transition from a middle office job in a US investment bank to a trading job in a hedge fund.
It wasn't an easy move. "At the end of the day, an MBA - like many other post-grad qualifications - will only be as good as you allow it to be," said the apparent Cass MBA graduate. "If you only go to the standard careers fairs provided by the school and apply for the roles the school provides, the chances of getting what you want will be diminished significantly.
"I must have sent out well over 100 CVs, networked as much as possible and generally did everything I could think of to maximize my chances," he adds.
So should other middle office people with aspirations of hedge fund trading go to Cass?
The school ranked 37th globally in the recent Economist MBA ranking and 34% of its 2009-10 full time MBA graduates (the most recent year for which figures are available) went into finance or banking. Organisations sucking them up included Deutsche, JPMorgan (Asset Management) and the FSA.
Sarah Juillet, head of postgraduate careers at Cass says she thinks she knows the identity of the hedge fund mover.
"He had some trading experience on his CV, which he was able to leverage. He also did an awful lot of networking," she says.
Other people intending to use their MBA as a catalyst for career transformation are advised that multi-dimensional metamorphoses tend to not happen. "If you come expecting a career switch across function, industry and geography you will find it difficult," suggests Juillet. "This person was not changing industry, just function."
On the whole, accounting firms seem more partial to MBA career changers than investment banks. Last year, Juillet says Cass had a quantity surveyor who emerged from the MBA as a strategy consultant at Ernst & Young. By comparison, she says some middle office investment bankers leave the MBA as middle office investment bankers, but in more senior and strategic roles.
