Bank on Banking

I am often asked to list the most important aspects of getting that first round interview for the SA or FT position, and while all aspects of your resume are important, there is definitely a hierarchy in terms of importance and banker-appeal as it pertains to your candidacy. While this hierarchy is not set in stone and can become more or less concrete depending on the shop to which you are applying, this notion does exist and does differ from the SA to the FT recruiting processes. Obviously networking is incredibly important and beneficial to your candidacy (Check this out for tips) for both the SA and FT opportunities, but besides networking, there are 5 main aspects of your resume and out of the 5 categories of GPA, School Brand, Coursework and knowledge base, Work Experience and, finally, Leadership/Extracurricular Experience, which matters most?

Getting that SA 1st Round Interview

For the SA position, since applicants will generally have a far lighter resume in terms of work experience given their age and the natural path of these opportunities (junior year is usually the first year of strong opportunity), work experience does not often matter all that much. Tackling this list in order, school brand would be most important, followed by an applicant’s GPA, followed by leadership and extracurricular experience and then, on the same level as EC experience, would be one’s work experience.

School brand, first and foremost, is absolutely a key to earning the SA interview for two reasons: 1) given the lack of work experience and the banker’s love of the school pedigree, applicants generally don’t have the tools to offset the lack of that pedigree, and 2) target school students will have a far more effective and better-represented alumni base, which they can and should utilize to build their network and candidacy support. At the end of the day, bankers love to see that target school name on your resume, and while it doesn’t get you the job or the interview by itself (no single factor will), it definitely keeps you on their radar and opens their eyes to the rest of the resume. Furthermore, while attending a target does not guarantee you an interview, attending a non-target will definitely make at least a few of the resume reviewers either immediately drop your resume, or move dangerously close to that action (this, of course, does not take into account the networking avenue).

Next on the list is GPA and before anyone asks, you do not need a 3.95 or even a 3.75 to work in banking. Sure, a high GPA definitely helps and supports the strength of your candidacy, but a GPA of 3.94 is not by any means vastly superior to a GPA of 3.54, and that GPA of 3.94 will not carry your candidacy and guarantee you an interview despite a poor overall resume. That said, the GPA is definitely an important aspect of your resume, and I see it as second most important behind school brand for landing the SA 1st round interview. First, the GPA is often used to create a hard cutoff to weed out candidates right off the bat before considering the appeal of any other aspect of one’s candidacy including school brand – that hard cut off is usually between a 3.0 and a 3.3. Next, in addition to the hard cut off, bankers use the GPA to 1) compare the performance of target students who are often not majoring in a business discipline as a further measure of whether they can handle the IB position, and 2) separate stronger non- and semi-target students, who are often held to higher GPA standards, from those students that fall more towards the middle of the spectrum – think “good, not great.” Without a strong GPA, you will definitely be fighting more of an uphill battle, and if you are attending a non-target, you will definitely be faced with a difficult path ahead (again, this ignores the advantages gained by networking if utilized effectively).

Beyond the school brand and the GPA we get to your experiences, both extracurricular/leadership and work experiences. Since as a summer analyst it is almost expected for students to not have impressive work experience, the previous two categories are generally weighted much heavier. That said, there are exceptions to every rule and since the expectation is for very little in this case, having some solid work experience or strong leadership experience will definitely strengthen your candidacy and significantly improve your chances of that 1st round interview. Generally speaking, however, applicants usually have decent work experience including non-IB related busy-work, small firm ops, administrative or university/campus experience, which will not have a big impact on the reviewers. Extracurricular and leadership experience is definitely helpful as well, but again, to a lesser degree than the previous two categories. Having a collegiate sports background, especially in a leadership position (captain, for example) for example, will help to provide that fit and interest aspect of your profile that is truly so important to bankers. Holding a leadership position in a professional club such as a Wall St. club will help you on two fronts: 1) you will be seen by bankers as someone with a bit more knowledge and passion for the job and 2) the network you can build in that position through the club’s reach will definitely help your candidacy. Bankers want leaders, and bankers want to see that you are more than a 3.83 econ major – get out there and make an impact.

Regarding the 5th topic of relevant coursework and knowledge base, this varies from shop to shop, but generally, BBs won’t care much about this at all, while small boutiques, especially small no-name shops, might put at least a fair share of emphasis on this category since, given their lack of a formal training program, they will prefer interns that are able to hit the ground running, meaning those that don’t need to be taught the basics of finance and accounting, and ideally know more than simply the basics. Regarding relevant coursework, there is no need to list strictly introductory courses – such as microeconomics and intro to probability. Although colleges have different names for introductory accounting and finance courses, listing those on your resume is usually acceptable since financial accounting courses, for example, will be extremely beneficial to banking even on an introductory level. Finally, do not list courses that are not important to banking – advanced math and econ courses are acceptable, and finance and accounting courses are always welcome – beyond that, there isn’t much of a need.

Getting that FT 1st Round Interview

FT recruiting is a bit different than SA recruiting in that bankers know FT recruiting is not a small 2-3 month interview, it is the real deal and, as such, bankers will stress each aspect of the resume to a greater degree. Additionally, FT applicants are often expected to bring relevant experience to the table given the opportunity juniors have to land SA and other internship opportunities. Tackling the ranking list for FT recruiting you’ll notice that a few categories moved, although most is still the same: most important are both work experience and school brand (as opposed to just school brand for SA slots given the lack of available professional experience), followed by GPA, then leadership and extracurricular experience as a standalone, and, finally, relevant coursework rounds out the list.

As mentioned above, for FT recruiting, unlike SA recruiting, bankers would not be surprised by some strong work experience and will look for it when assessing your candidacy. No, work experience will not offset everything else, but it is definitely one of the two most important aspects of your candidacy regarding FT recruitment. The other, just as before, is your school brand. I know; all of the non-target applicants out there are wondering whether they will ever get away from school pedigree and, unfortunately, the short answer is no. Will school brand make a huge difference ten years down the line, no, but remember, conversation and fit will always play a role and a great opening talking point with someone in a business meeting, interview, etc, is always, “hey! I didn’t know that you graduated from Harvard, what class were you?” or something like that – common points of importance and/or interest are always helpful and useful. Anyway, I got sidetracked for a second, so let’s get back to it. For FT recruiting, strong IB work experience can definitely help to offset a poor school brand, a strong school brand can offset lackluster work experience, and, finally, a strong school brand plus IB work experience makes for one hell of a strong candidate. In other words, because the opportunities for SA and internship positions are there for juniors, FT recruiters will look for these aspects on your resume and are ready to give credit where credit is due. In short, FT recruiting really looks for that balanced resume, and those will the balance of work experience and school brand have the best chances (although that should be pretty obvious). The big difference here is that although FT recruiting is still heavily about school brand it is also about work experience, and when something can be weighted about as heavily as school brand for IB, it is worth mentioning and analyzing.

Moving right along, coming in just behind work experience and school brand is, again, the applicant’s cumulative GPA. The same GPA rankings, requirements, and preferences still hold true as for SA positions, and, as always, you should try to keep your GPA as high as possible and finish with a strong GPA – in other words, don’t let it plummet. If you need a bit more on GPA, make your way HERE. Beyond the basics we’ve already covered, GPA is that hard number that bankers look to, just as we’ve discussed for SA positions, when assessing your ability to handle the workload and manage the analytical requirements of the job. A strong GPA can only help you both for FT recruiting and down the line if you plan to transition to buyside, boutique IB, etc, so don’t let it fall apart on you in the final stretch.

Leadership and EC experience, although fairly far down the list of importance to bankers, still makes a difference and should be played up as much as possible on your resume. Leadership experience for FT recruiting is important to bankers since although analysts won’t generally be in any position to “lead,” bankers still see the qualities necessary to command these positions as important to the position – in other words, being able to analyze situations, voice opinions, lead teams, communicate effectively, hold yourself to a high level of expectation, etc. Bankers see themselves as Type A, for the most part, and, as such, want to believe that leaders are good bankers (unfortunately many true leaders would highly disagree). Furthermore, just as with SA recruiting, leadership experience in professional clubs will often open doors in terms of networking events and expanding your contact base. EC experience in general, although not as impressive as leadership experience, can still be helpful as it provides both points of interest to your candidacy (shows that you are more than just a GPA and school), and talking points during your interview – think of the sports example I used from before. Playing collegiate sports, volunteering with an organization you are interested in, etc are all talking points and really help the reviewer, and, eventually, interviewer, find out who you are and whether he/she would be able to and, ideally, want to work with you.

Finally, we come to relevant coursework. Although it is ranked lowest for both SA and FT recruiting efforts in terms of resume importance, I still believe that it is worth mentioning as it can definitely help your candidacy, especially with small boutiques. Just as with the SA recruiting efforts, the FT recruiters will generally not put much importance on relevant coursework and knowledge base. Again, small boutiques, especially small no-name shops, might put much more emphasis on this category, especially on the FT level for the same reasons as listed above, and for the simple reason that an intern in these shops might be given a lot of busy work, while FT analysts will definitely be given real projects and experience (even if mixed with some HR work) Again, for relevant coursework, especially for FT recruiting, don’t bother with any introductory courses, excluding introductory accounting and finance courses. For FT recruiting especially, I would really look towards advanced coursework in all fields including finance and accounting, since it will be expected of you if you list this highlight on your resume.

If you have any questions regarding this article, any others or in general, feel free, as always, to drop me an email HERE. Comments go below – you know the drill.