M&A Careers: How to Get into Mergers and Acquisitions

How to get a job in mergers and acquisitions is a common query for those considering a career in investment banking or corporate finance. Mergers and acquisitions specialists guide firms in the purchasing, selling, or merging of businesses to promote key growth. This article simplifies the career journey, responsibilities, qualifications, and skills required to thrive in mergers and acquisitions and provides tips for entering this fascinating industry. 

• Understanding mergers and acquisitions
• Is mergers and acquisitions a good career path?
• What do people who work in M&A do?
• Careers in M&A
• What qualifications do you need for a role in M&A?
• Skills required to pursue a career in M&A
• What qualifications and skills are M&A recruiters looking for?

If you are ready to pursue a career in mergers and acquisitions, we invite you to look at our Executive Education Courses, which include a Mergers and Acquisitions Course. This course enhances theoretical knowledge by providing practical insights into all facets of the mergers and acquisitions process. It is tailored for those wishing to deepen their understanding of mergers and acquisitions.

Understanding mergers and acquisitions

Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) refer to the amalgamation or acquisition of businesses to achieve specific objectives, such as growth or market expansion. For additional information on the types and processes, please refer to our guide on mergers and acquisitions. M&A careers span numerous fields, including investment banking, consulting, and corporate finance, showcasing a multidisciplinary shift in deal-making.

Is mergers and acquisitions a good career path?

With strong industry demand, the earning potential for an M&A position is quite appealing, starting at £40,000-60,000 for analysts and over £150,000 for directors. The field is quite competitive due to the highly sought-after skilled professionals and comes with long hours, generally sitting between 60-80 hours a week. The benefits of this option include a global industry challenge, exposure, and intellectual refinement, while the cons cover increased stress and workload.

·    Pros: M&A as a whole is highly compensated, offers raises and enhanced positions, and the ability to shape enterprise-wide decisions.

·    Cons: lack of control over your schedule, saturated marketplace, taxing occupation.

If you choose to pursue the M&A path, ensure you perform well in high-tempo, analytical positions.

What do people who work in M&A Do?

M&A professionals are employed to facilitate and shape merger and acquisition deals. They are responsible for sourcing deals, which involves target identification, financial analysis (including valuation and modelling), due diligence (as a risk assessment), negotiation (for term structuring), and integration (for post-merger transitions). All these assignments conform to a mergers and acquisitions strategy framework that requires acute analytical precision, strategic insight to realise value and achieve corporate goals.

Careers in M&A

These professionals are employable within investment banks, corporate development units, private equity firms, consulting firms, law offices, and others are in diverse roles spanning the entire deal lifecycle. Each M&A career offers a distinct contribution within the analysis and execution continuum. In the following, we focus on major positions within M&A as part of the industry overview to assist your M&A career goals. 

Roles in the M&A industry

M&A Analyst

In the M&A analyst role, the first stage of the position chain serves as a foundational educational aid with basic creativity required. They conduct preliminary research making basic market assessments, they construct financial models, assess markets, and research target companies through due diligence. As team juniors, M&A analysts compile brief analyses that inform presentations, thereby gaining experience in valuation and deal structuring during the evaluation process. This early stage is essential for development in the M&A domain.

M&A Associate

After serving for 2-3 years as analysts they are promoted to M&A associates who have relatively more responsibilities and perform more complex tasks in managing deal processes, interfacing with clients, and improving financial models. They assist more experienced colleagues in negotiations and due diligence while performing the hybrid role of a client-facing technician. This position is a gateway to more advanced leadership opportunities as a senior associate.

M&A Manager

M&A managers have oversight responsibility for each deal throughout the entire transaction lifecycle and streamline the execution of the deals. They look for and evaluate possible targets, conduct due diligence, and assess the candidate’s strategic and financial worth. They also manage the integration post-acquisition, aiming for a smooth and seamless process. This position requires authoritative command in a combination of a business domain, technical aspects, an acute industry insight, as well as strong project management skills.

M&A Director

M&A directors are responsible for the entire life cycle of the deals, from strategy formulation to implementation. They run the client meetings, negotiate the business terms, and provide necessary guidance to ensure that the deals are within the objectives of the client’s business. Directors are the team leaders who make strategic decisions, manage clients, and therefore require deep knowledge of strategies and best practices for mergers and acquisitions.

What qualifications do you need for a role in M&A?

An applicant for a career in M&A is expected to possess an Undergraduate degree in business, finance, accounting, economics, or a related discipline. M&A positions are fiercely competitive, so elite companies seek applicants with a strong academic background, relevant internships, and work experience. Opportunities are further bolstered by pursuing Master’s degrees in business, management, and finance. The most important courses are:

• Finance and accounting 
• Business strategy 
• Economics 

Moreover, you can further enhance your qualifications by completing WBS’s Mergers and Acquisitions Course, designed to cultivate further expertise in M&A. 

Skills required to pursue a career in M&A

To follow a mergers and acquisitions career path a unique combination of hard and soft skills are essential: 

• Financial modelling and valuation: Developing models to determine a deal’s viability. 
• Analytical thinking: Disentangling complex information into simpler components. 
• Communication and negotiation: Articulating critical information and sealing advantageous deals. 
• Project management: Managing contracts against time, scope, and human resources. 
• Commercial awareness: Following news and events relevant to the industry.

Having these skills enables professionals to manage high-value transactions and apply them across the spectrum, from due diligence to deal structuring. 

What qualifications and skills are M&A recruiters looking for?

M&A recruiters are poised to receive applications from desirable and motivated candidates within the industry, owing to the qualifications and competencies that leading firms expect from prospective employees. M&A businesses expect undergraduates to have at least an internship's worth of experience and a prior role from which value can be derived. Such M&A students are expected to have the following traits/qualities: 

• Auditing accuracy: The precision related to financial calculations of models and due diligence processes.
• Cooperation: Participation of the greater team in either client pursuits or intra-deal team engagements.
• Resilience: Ability to meet heavy workload demands within constrained time limits.
• Affiliate skills: Utility in estimating and analysing. 

Completing the picture, candidates who exhibit these distinct characteristics are more highly valued if they are willing and ready to accept the problem-solving challenges that M&A brings. 

Kickstart your career in M&A with Warwick Business School

Starting a career in M&A necessitates decisive actions as well as a calibrated intent. As with other fields, it entails having the relevant education complete with high-value skills, which in this case, include bid and tender writing, negotiation, and sophisticated financial modelling.

The experience and qualifications needed are obtainable at Warwick Business School through our Mergers and Acquisitions Course. This course provides education through the teaching of internationally recognised experts with real stories from the M&A field so that students understand the strategies, critical success factors, and reasons behind failures. For an executive wishing to fulfil certain career goals, our full range of Executive Education courses is also worth exploring for programs that best cater to their objectives.