First, it depends on how long you were at the FoF internship – if you were only there for a few weeks or less, you can probably leave it off. If you left on poor terms and won’t expect a good recommendation – perhaps they feel you left them high an dry since you committed to stay until XXX and left early, then you should leave it off your resume as well (this is assuming you weren’t there for like 3-4+ months). If, however, you were there for at least 2+ months and there were no hard feelings when you left, you could probably put it down on your resume with bullet points encompassing whatever it is that you did while there. You don’t need to mention leaving or leaving early for another gig, etc – your reason for leaving doesn’t need to be on your resume, only your experiences and responsibilities.

Next, regarding your new internship, you will want to put the basics down – in other words, firm name, date you started, position and location. Regarding specific bullet points, you should not put down what you expect to do, you should only put down what you’ve done. Wait as long as possible to submit for the SA at Citi – until deadline, and by then, ideally, you’ve done at least a few things of interest that you can put on your resume – even if embellished a bit. When it comes to a standard resume drop, applying at the deadline as opposed to a week or so early shouldn’t make much of a difference.

Remember, it’s one thing to add a bit of flavor to your resume, it’s another thing to put down tasks that you haven’t performed and may not perform. If I were you, I would hold off until the deadline and then fill in the position with a few bullet points on what you’ve already done and really try to sell it. If you throw too much on there, it will be obvious that something is a bit off since you’ve only been there a week or a few weeks. If you get to the interview, you can absolutely update them on what you’ve done since the drop, which will only make selling your candidacy easier.

So I got a 1st round BB interview, but when I applied, I wrote down on my cover letter that I was competing in an academic competition. Between coursework and a job, however, my preparation took a back seat and I dropped out. Can this really hurt my interview chances or am I overreacting?

This really isn’t a big deal. Granted, it is an oversight and no longer true, but: 1) cover letters are read briefly and often as a “check-the-box”, 2) even if you are asked about it, just be honest and mention that between drop and now, your courses became too demanding, etc and you decided to withdraw rather than deliver something of sub par quality, and 3) while it is an interesting point, even if the reviewer read it and liked it, it isn’t something that is a banker-killer – it’s not something terribly relevant nor entirely necessary – more just a fun talking point, which, as the description implies, might be fun, but if not there, you are still worthy of that same interview and opportunity (assuming all else is true, of course).

What would be the BBs? Would UBS, fixed income be a good BB to have summer internship? Also, is S&T internship less prestigious etc than IBD? Or, are both S&T and IBD together get referred to as IBD or is it only IBD (M&A) that gets called IBD? Of the two which is preferable? Or is this question dumb in some way? Thanks.

As a rule of thumb there are no “dumb questions” – although I’ve seen some contenders. The “BBs” are essentially the bulge bracket banks – the big banks and players in the IB space – including: Goldman, MS, JPM, DB, Citi, CS, UBS, Wells/Wachovia, Barclays, and probably a few others I am forgetting (strictly talking BBs and not elite boutiques and such).

Getting beyond that, although UBS is a weaker name among the BBs right now (due more to internal issues than IB problems), it is still a strong name in the space and carries some weight – especially in terms of SA opportunities to prepare for a FT push. Fixed Income can refer to S&T and/or IB and/or Credit depending on the position within the space. I am assuming it is either S&T or IB – either way, it should be a solid opportunity.

Finally, to your last question, IB and S&T are both true front office roles and carry, more or less, equal prestige – but they are quite different from each other. It is not a matter of which is better or preferable, but more a matter of which you prefer – if you are interested in IB, then S&T won’t help as much – if, however, you are interested in S&T, then an S&T SA with UBS will absolutely be helpful.

IB refers to more than just M&A – although M&A is nowadays synonymous with IB in many circles. IB includes all industry groups (consumer and retail, technology, media, energy and power, etc) and all product groups (M&A, leveraged finance, high grade, etc) within the IB.

The bottom line is that it all depends on what you are most interested in. Additionally, even if you are interested in IB, accepting an SA position in S&T with UBS will still definitely help as they both carry high levels of prestige and often rely on similar skill sets (even though a SA position in IB would be preferable in this case). The biggest thing in that case will just be in defending your interest in IB, when interviewing for IB FT offers.

It’s getting late in the season and I’ve been rejected for a few SA opportunities. Over the years I’ve built an extensive list of contacts through alumni and linkedin. Should I just send out a mass email to all of them this week? It would definitely save time, but is it worth it?

I would definitely reach out to your contacts, but I would not go with a mass email as a mass email is very impersonal and makes your contacts feel like they are nothing more than resume droppers especially since many of them don’t know you very well if at all. Instead, I would send the emails out 1 at a time, and take your time. Don’t wait 3 months to do it, but it’s perfectly fine to tailor a few emails to your best or most engaged 10, 20, 50 contacts, and then see what types of response you get over the next week or so. Then send another batch if you need to dig deeper. You never want to call on everyone all at once if you only need a few at a time to get the ball rolling. Save your pull and keep them in reserve and interested for another day. For now, look to your most interested contacts and start there.

One of my interviewers (SA) was a VP in M&A. I received the offer, but I definitely want to get into his group. The sell day is later, but is there a way I can reach out to him to really indicate my interest and get the ball rolling? How should I go about saying that I am talking to other firms but would come to his firm if I got into his M&A group?

To the last part of your questions first, there really isn’t much of a way to get hired directly into a group during a standard SA (it is for the IB position and then the sell day follows where group selection is made) – only if you are a direct hire into the group will you have a guaranteed spot in the group. That said, there are ways to definitely increase your chances.

First, you should definitely reach out to the VP and ask him a few more questions, express your interest in the team, and ask him if it would be alright one day to even potentially come in and meet a few of the guys, etc – see how the team flows, works, etc – briefly of course, perhaps before an early lunch. All of this will show both your enthusiasm and interest in not just the opportunity, but also the group. Once you begin speaking with him a bit more and develop a bit of a better relationship, you can then talk to him about SA opps in his group, your interest in specifically working with his team, his thoughts and so forth.

From there, you might have an avenue to speak to HR to lock in a spot with the group, or potentially persuade the VP to push hard for you (which will definitely help your cause). The first step, above all else, is to work on developing the relationship with the banker and even some of his team – get the email going, ask some questions, express an interest, and then offer to meet for a drink (coffee) or a quick lunch – really try to learn about the group and fit into the team’s dynamic.

With a decent SAT score, should I take the GMAT and try to ace it as a freshman or sophomore in order to take the focus off of the SAT and if so, will it help me to land internships?

A high GMAT is definitely a positive mark on your resume, but as a freshman, soph, or even junior, the SAT is the standardized test of choice and merit, not the GMAT. Showing the GMAT on your resume and not your SAT score will also raise flags as to how poorly you must have done on your SAT given your choice to highlight the GMAT, a B school exam. Additionally, since the GMAT is only good for 5 years, if you decide to attend B school, it is highly likely that you will have to retake the exam, study all over again, etc. Finally, the GMAT is not going to really help since, as I previously mentioned, at your age, the SAT and GPA are the pivotal academic points of interest – as long as you have a solid SAT, just focus on maintaining or earning a high GPA, start networking, and keep your eyes open for opportunities. Save the GMAT for senior year, or later.

Stay tuned for future posts on what an analyst really does, staying ahead of potential layoffs and more!

Number to Ask

Many people have asked me at what point should I stop asking questions and how many questions crosses the line between interested candidate and blindly annoying rambler. Unfortunately there is no magic number of questions you should automatically ask and no sudden bell that goes off when you’re at the interviewer’s recommended limit. That said, there are some general guidelines to follow when it comes to how many questions to ask. Generally speaking, 2-3 (I try to stick closer to 2 unless one of the interviewer’s answers was really short and left an opening for a follow-up question or such) solid questions are enough to leave a pleasant closing impression and appear genuinely interested without annoying the interviewer.

There are of course exceptions to this rule such as casual conversation. If the dialogue between the interviewer and you has become a bit more casual/comfortable, then you can allow it to play out for a few minutes. In this case, however, it is no longer the number of questions, but rather the time that should guide your moves. As the dialogue appears to wind down and you’ve covered a few topics in the closing questions, if the interviewer asks for if you have any other questions or leaves an opening, use that opportunity to close the interview for yourself to avoid the risk of taking your interviewer’s courtesy and turning it into his/her mistake.

Another exception to the rule runs closer to the extremes in terms of available time. If you are in the middle of a superday interview, for example, and there are other applicants in the middle of the process, you need to be aware of the time constraints on the interviews. In other words, if the interview comes to an end with just a few minutes before the time expires, do not try to squeeze 2 or 3 questions in – instead, ask 1 solid question and then excuse yourself and thank them for their time citing the time and the other interviewees – being aware of your situation and courteous of the interviewer’s time and process will definitely help you more than squeezing in 1 more rushed question. On the other side of the coin, if there is a lot of time left over, rather than speeding out of the interview, you can use this time to ask an extra question – ideally something that can stir up some sort of conversation and create more of a casual atmosphere – perhaps something hobby-related, or group activity related – this is not an opportunity to leave the interview and rest, but rather an opportunity to show your fit with team.

Topics to Cover and Not Cover

Just as you should not as 30 questions of your interviewer, you should also keep in mind that this is still an interview, and, as such, there are certain topics that you can and should cover and certain topics that you generally should try to avoid (unless of course, the interviewer brings them up in conversation).

When asking your interviewer questions, some of the best questions come from topics including his/her background – such as how and why he/she got into banking, how he/she chose that particular industry or product, etc. Besides background, ask questions on his/her team such as team dynamic, group activities, etc and the popular “what-if” questions meaning those questions that put the interviewer in a particular scenario or ask him/her to recount on events of his/her past and if he/she would do anything differently. For example, you can ask the interviewer what the one thing that he/she wishes he/she knew before getting into the business and whether that point would have changed his/her mind on entering the business. Beyond those questions, you can also ask about his/her most enjoyable moments/deals were in banking, what the most important qualities are for analysts, what mistakes he/she has seen analysts make, etc.

Of course for all of the interview topics that are acceptable and recommended, there is also a list of topics/ideas that it is generally better to stay away from. The most popular questions that I have heard from topics that you should try to avoid involve making the closing questions sound like a news reporter from CNBC interviewing him/her by grilling the interviewer on specifics on deals and market analysis (where do you see the market going in the next year or so, for example). Additionally, stay away from topics that can easily be found through a simple google search such as bank specifics, general questions on investment banking, etc (and of course questions on religion and politics – this should be assumed, but I figure it is better to mention it than leave it out and have someone walk down that path). Stay away from league table questions and street reputation questioning as this can both be found online and can be a bit offensive. Finally, stay away from exit opps questions such as “what P/E firms have you sent your analysts to” before actually landing the job and checking out the sellday – some of you might be laughing at this, but trust me, I have heard it before.

Pitfalls

I’ve went through a few things that you should be doing and covered a bit of material on what you should not be doing, but there are also some common pitfalls to avoid that relate to the past points and enter some new territory as well. First and foremost, avoid asking too many questions – yes, I mentioned it in a roundabout way before, but it needs to be mentioned again as it is the most common pitfall that I encounter. Remember, some interviewers will end the interview for you, while others will keep asking if you have any other questions even after time has expired – it is up to you to know the situation and be prepared to bring the interview to a close. Along the same lines as the previous point, try not to ask multiple part questions. In other words, it is one thing to ask a 2-part question, but I have heard candidates ask 3,4, or even 5-part questions that run about a paragraph long. Frankly, by the time you get to the end of the question I can barely remember where you started. Keep the questions interesting, but also simple. Don’t assume that asking two questions means you ask 1 question and then a giant 4-part question requiring a 20-minute response – the closing questions should leave a relaxed and enjoyable impression, not a tense and stressed feeling.

Beyond that, do not ignore the answers the interviewer provides to your questions and avoid spacing out during his/her responses. I have heard candidates ask a good question, then after a few moments the interviewer answers the question only to have the candidate ask a follow-up that the interviewer literally just answered in his/her previous response. I’ve also seen candidates space out, lose eye contact, yawn, fumble around with keys, etc, during an interview – this is just silly and something that you should have no problem avoiding.

The last pitfall that you need to avoid is subtle, but definitely real – cutting the interviewer off mid-response. I have had candidates ask me a question and then halfway through my response they (I assume) think of a follow-up question and just cut me off to ask it. Sometimes they apologize for cutting me off and sometimes they don’t – either way, don’t do it. If you think of a follow-up question just store it in your head for a few seconds and then when the interviewer has finished his/her response, ask it (this does not, however, mean that you should tune out the rest of the interviewer’s response when you’ve thought of the follow-up question – stay in the conversation!). Cutting off an interviewer is rude, creates a bit of that interrogation-room feel and is, simply put, not the impression that you want to leave just before closing the interview.

Knowing When to Close

This is a short point, but an important one – know when to close the interview. Whether it is because you have asked 2-3 questions, the interviewer is clearly becoming ready to end (by gauging his/her body language, he/she is checking the clock, he/she is closing answers quickly), or even just because you’re out of good questions (I know it sounds funny, but some people will try to force questions when they don’t have anything left to say to avoid ending the interview). In any case, you need to be prepared to end the interview. Simply decline to ask any further questions, thank the interviewer for his/her time, ask for a card or email address if he/she hasn’t already given you one, shake ends, and make your way out. Don’t be afraid to end the interview – it will hurt you more to ramble on and on or show a complete disregard for the interviewer’s time than to simply end the interview on a high note – a bit of showmanship (thank you George Costanza for those Seinfeld fans – ending on a high note).

Don’t Forget the Follow-Up Email

The last point that I will leave you with is regarding the follow-up email. I’m not going to give you guidelines or a sample follow-up/thank you email (maybe another time), but rather just remind you that you do indeed have a thank you email to utilize – so utilize it. In other words, use the thank you email to not just thank the interviewer and continue to express your interest in the opportunity, but also to ask another quick question if you have one and happened to run out of time during your interview or just to keep a dialogue between the 2 of you going. Remember, you’ve always got the follow-up thank you email to toss out another question – don’t hesitate to use it if for no other reason than to avoid running on during the interview.

That about covers it – stay tuned for more articles coming soon! As always, comment go below, and emails can be sent HERE.

Make the most out of a resume

Without a strong support network and a lot of closer friends on the inside, without a well-designed and well-articulated resume, you will have a very difficult time getting to the second stage of the process, the interviews, where, yes, the importance of the resume will diminish. As a SA candidate you are not expected to have a wealth of internship experience, nor are you expected to have banking experience – if you do, you will clearly stand above the rest and have an initial advantage over the competition (I say initial since, as I mentioned before, the resume diminishes in importance once you begin the interview process – here your experience will still absolutely help, but you’ll need the interview skills as well to keep your edge).

If you happen to have some highly relevant experience, if not actual banking experience, then the job of putting together your resume becomes more a matter of expressing your internship responsibilities well, highlighting select other aspects of your candidacy (such as involvement in a club or two) and making sure there are no obvious/grammatical errors throughout. This is not a problem that most SA candidates face – most SA candidates face the opposite problem – not having the clearly relevant or actual banking internship experience and need to overcome that issue.

As I mentioned before, you don’t need to have clearly relevant experience to get into a SA program – it helps, but you can do it without it as well. With some work experience, your best bet will be to first and foremost sell your school’s brand, your GPA, relevant coursework – essentially some relevant and impressive factors from your educational background. From there, you will want to craft your limited work experience bullet points to be as relevant to banking as you can – working in operations/accounting can sound relevant if you focus on some analysis and even number crunching, even non-profit work or tutoring can sound relevant. If you have little-to-no work experience (and for those with some work experience after they’ve highlighted said work experience) after highlighting your school, GPA, coursework and so forth, you will absolutely need to sell your undergraduate club/organization involvement as both interesting and relevant to recruiters. Holding officer positions in clubs and having a visible impact on the organization can be a selling point as strong as most work experience, especially when it comes to SA recruiting. The key with selling club involvement on your resume is in selling the relevance of your work as it pertains to banking, while demonstrating how you’ve stepped up as a leader, whether of the club, a sub committee or just of the tasks your office is responsible for. Leadership, coupled with a relevant experience base is definitely going to impress recruiters, especially when lacking directly relevant work experience.

Working the interview

Everything is looking up and after all of the networking, resume editing, applying and hoping (if you’ve done any of this), you’ve made it – you’ve received the first round interview invitation. Walking into that first round interview is a welcome sight for many since the interview is now the focal point of the application (not the resume, background, etc – although they all still matter) and fate, in a matter of speaking, is once again in your hands – for a little while. Once you get past the excitement of getting the interview call/email, it’s time to start your preparation. While the SA and FT interviews are similar, especially for those SA candidates that have past internship experience or are finance/accounting majors, there are still some differences that need to be touched on.

Exceptions aside, the SA interview will often rely heavily on fit given the lack of a technical background in the applicant pool – meaning a lack of strong internship experience (that requires a comparable skill set to IB, if not IB) and/or a lack of technical coursework in Finance and Accounting. For many candidates, this internship would be their first “real” finance/technical internship – they may have had club involvement or other unrelated internships, but nothing of this caliber – not the worst internship to lead off with – that’s for sure.

SA candidates need to be prepared for all of the behavioral questions (check out my interview guide for more on the types of the questions and, of course, explanations) from background to goals, from strengths to failures and everything in between. Although the manner in which you respond to these questions will generally be similar to FT applicants, SA candidates need to be especially prepared for them since interviewers are going to rely heavily on these responses when assessing your candidacy.

One fit question in particular that a SA candidate should pay attention to is the goals question – whether phrased in the form of intermediate (3-5 year) goals, next step (post SA goals), or something else entirely. For FT candidates this question is usually not as dangerous since FT analysts need only to express an interest in IB and can then have various longer/intermediate-term goals – whether move to a boutique, buy side, etc. FT associate candidates on the other hand need to show an interest in growing with the firm (or at least they should since the associate position is essentially used to shape the next VPs). SA candidates need to think of the goals question more as associates do than analysts. Specifically, going for a SA position, you should know that next year you plan to accept a FT position with the bank and in the next few years you will be working towards completing the FT analyst program. Remember, the SA program is a grooming and interview tool used by banks to gauge who they want to become a part of their next incoming FT analyst class and if that’s not what you at least say you want, you’ll definitely be in a bit of trouble – no bank wants to hear that you are going to use them for their SA program to land at a better bank – or that you are only accepting this SA position because the better bank you applied to dinged you.

Getting beyond the fit questions, some applicants will be faced with technical questions. Some candidates will be faced with the highest level questions such as “what are the 3 financial statements,” while others will be asked more complex questions on transaction impact on the statements, discounted cash flow, and so on – depending, of course, on your level of aptitude in these fields. Additionally, due to a common gap in technical knowledge, brain teasers can often become a headline of the SA interview (especially for more quant-inclined candidates such as math, stat, econ, etc majors). Brain teasers come in 2 main types – those questions that have a specific answer (degrees between the two hands on a clock at time X) and those questions that do not have a definitive answer (bowling bowls in a large building). In either case, the more important aspect of your response is in how you arrive at your answer, not the answer itself. In other words, candidates need to be comfortable enough to walk the interview through their thought process even if they arrive at the wrong answer – showing an articulate and lucid thought process will carry much more weight than just sitting quietly, or with your head buried in a piece of paper and delivering an answer (whether correct or incorrect). It’s fine to take a few moments and think, or write down some steps, but just remember to keep the interviewer engaged and aware of your thought process and the way in which you are working out your problem – these questions are to test how you think and solve problems (as well as your confidence and ability to communicate) – use these questions to sell your candidacy, not shoot it in the foot.

Forward-Looking Thoughts

Well thank heavens! You earned the interviews, nailed them and managed to land yourself a SA position – congratulations! Instead of being excited, however, you’re wondering if you should hold out for another opportunity and look for something better (such as a better name brand bank or if you are hired into 1 group but wanted another) – maybe push a few other contacts, keep networking, prep for a few more interviews, etc. The answer is: unless you are really close to landing another position and will find out before this deadline passes, absolutely not!

If you have to “settle” for your second or third choice of bank for IB, that’s not a problem at all. Remember, the SA program is nothing more than an opportunity to build experience/your resume for a few months and then earn a FT offer and/or leverage that experience into an offer with a better bank. Utilize your expanded list of contacts for the FT employment search in a few months with a much stronger resume. Additionally, you might find that you really like the bank you interned with over the summer and want to stay – in this case, if you’ve earned the FT return offer, you can relax during your senior year and not go through all of the stress of recruiting, interviewing, planning and praying all over again. Finally, keep in mind that landing a SA position with this bank, does not mean you will have the same fortune with a better bank, or even a lower-ranked bank – this bank liked you, you might not interview as well, a different reviewer might not like your resume as well, etc – you never know – for a 3-month program, take the experience and then worry about your next move – you do not want to end up accepting an offer with a lesser company, let alone in a lesser or even unrelated group because you held out for a better IB SA internship – IB SA is better than Operations SA (and most things in between) when it comes to FT IB recruiting.

On a similar note, if you have to “settle” for a group outside of your main group(s) of interest, that is alright as well. Again, it is only a summer position, and at the end of the program, if you are offered FT employment, you can then discuss other group opportunities. Throughout your SA internship, you will also want to network with as many bankers as you can in your favorite groups – this will certainly give you an upper hand when it comes time to request the move for FT. Connect with the bankers in your favorite groups, find out about FT opportunities, etc – they will be your best allies when it comes to your pitch to make the move. Remember, it is much easier to change groups once you are in, have a capable reputation and have networked with some of the group, than if you are applying blind, with no connections from another bank, school, etc.

Stay tuned for future posts, products and much more! If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, drop them below or send me an email HERE!

If this were during school, I would say leave it off – since, however, you have already graduated, I would include this in your resume and showcase your leadership skills and responsibilities that you developed as a result of this position, rather than have an unexplained big post-graduation employment gap. Furthermore, I would use the cover letter to draft a quick sentence explaining (briefly) why you had to take that position rather than hold out and pursue IB at that time.

State college to the US Army to a top-tier MBA – can I get into IB taking this path and if so, what is the best way to go about making it happen?

From the IB point of view, this is definitely an acceptable path to get into an associate-level IB position. While you lack industry experience, your MBA (from a target school, I am assuming) will provide you with a strong network as well as the hard skills in accounting and finance necessary to succeed on an analytical level. Furthermore, while you lack that industry experience, you have what many other candidates don’t – a proven leadership skill set through leadership experience. Associates are the junior bankers groomed for senior banker roles and leadership presence and the ability to communicate are definitely important to the position. If you utilize your network and take the proper coursework, you should be able to leverage your background into an IB opportunity for sure.

After networking with alumni connections and friends, etc when looking for employment opportunities I managed to get a finance job. It’s been several months now since I last reached out to most of them and I am just wondering whether I should reach back out and, if so, how to go about doing it. Some of these contacts I never even met and only found them through friends of friends and other disconnected avenues. I’m not looking for a job, but maybe a year or two down the line, so I probably should stay in touch with them. Is there a way to rebuild these one-time connections into something more? How have people maintained connections they’ve made? How often should you send update emails, and such?

You should definitely reach out to these contacts and touch base with them. While it’s been several months, you’ve got some genuine news to share and should reach back out to extend your appreciation. Essentially I would craft the email to include: 1) a thank you again for all of their help and insight, 2) let them know of your news and that you got an analyst/associate position with bank X or boutique Y, 3) provide them with updated contact information and finally, 4) ask them a question about group culture or something relevant to your situation as a new analyst – maybe something on fitting in with the team or some such thing. Point 4 provides the channel for more than a simple “congratulations and good luck” email, while at the same time catching up with an alum/former contact and keeping the connection going.

Remember, this business is built on networking and maintaining contacts – just as you are an analyst now and in a few years you might want to call on them – they might be an analyst or associate now (for example), but in a few years they might be calling on their contacts for potential opportunities, one contact of which could be you. It’s all a two-way street and just as you might want to leverage your network, so too might your contacts down the line. There is definitely incentive for them to send a quick email to you just as you did for them now that you’ve landed a comparable position – make the first move, send out the email, and keep it going. From this point on, try not to let the connection completely fall apart and send occasional emails every few months just to touch base.

I’m graduating in May and I know that FT analyst recruiting has already pretty much finished. I have some strong connections to a few senior bankers and I’m wondering whether there are any opportunities left, or is everything set in stone and completed already?

FT recruiting has ended for BB banks, but there are still a number, or at least a few slots available to be filled in random groups from incoming analysts who backed out of offers at the last minute, or because those groups were just allotted an additional analyst seat or 2. While these positions are far fewer than the traditional FT recruiting opportunities, they are also not nearly as widely publicized. The banks will first try to fill these slots either through applicants on file or through current banker recommendations. The latter is where you come in. You need to really work your network here (don’t expect any miracles) and just have your contacts keep their ears open. Opportunities could present themselves and you need to be on people’s minds when they do.

Beyond that, boutiques often do not follow the same structured hiring procedures as BBs, especially smaller boutiques. These firms can be a great opportunity for you to develop a skill set, acquire some valuable experience and then, if interested, move on. Don’t overlook these opportunities if you are really interested in banking and not just working for the top BB because you heard it is good and an easy way to make big $$.

Finally, keep your options open – not in terms of careers, but in terms of perhaps delaying graduation by a semester to give you a fresh round of FT to go for, as well as a shot as SA positions. Additionally, a Master’s could work as well if this were an avenue you were interested in.

Keep your eyes open and call on your contacts – it won’t be easy, but you’ve got some opportunity – I know of a few analysts that came in after FT recruiting for their respective incoming years – it happens, just be patient and stick with it.

I interviewed for with a bank nearly 2 weeks ago in their global markets program for a FT position. Shortly after the interview, I was put me on hold since they wanted to interview more people in the days ahead. Unfortunately, I still haven’t heard back from them. What should I do?

You should definitely reach back out. Assuming they interviewed other people over a week ago as they said, reaching back out in the next several days would be more than acceptable. If I were you, I would send an email sometime towards the start of the week and in the email don’t do anything stupid like demand a decision, but just check in to see if there is any further news regarding the opportunity. Thank them again for their time and reaffirm your interest in the position. This will show your interest in the position without annoying them since the email is courteous as well as well-timed in that you waited about a week since they interviewed other applicants as well as just over a week since they interviewed and last spoke to you – about the time frame it should take to get all of their pieces together and come to decisions.

What’s better for IB, a JD or a Masters, and what position would I be applying for?

If you are interested in investment banking, then you don’t need a JD or a typical Masters degree. The only finishing degree that would be of value to you in terms of IB is an MBA. A JD is great to have if you want to be a lawyer, but if you have no interest in law, there is no reason to get a JD. The exception to this is if you have a genuine interest in law, but want to pursue IB. In this case I would still not recommend a JD, I would recommend a JD/MBA combo.

As an MBA graduate, you would start off in IB as an associate, and then have the opportunity to grow into the VP+ roles. As an undergrad, you will come into IB as an analyst, and then after 3 years, you would either receive an offer for promotion or have to move – at which time B school, boutique IB, or buyside opportunities would be of the most interest. To go for your MBA, you will need a few years of solid work experience (not necessarily in IB, by any means, but work experience nevertheless).

There are lawyers who have JDs who break into banking without an MBA, but they typically have a healthy dose of contacts as well as a career (even if just for a year or so) in law and in a law discipline that deals with banking-related issues – such as M&A, restructuring, etc.

Beyond IB, in terms of degree vs. degree, a Masters (assuming you are talking about the degree right after undergrad, such as a Masters in Finance), is really just an extension of an undergrad and often not viewed as a true finishing degree – unlike an MBA or a JD. In fact, graduating with a Masters, you will still go for analyst-level IB positions, not associate.

Stay tuned for many more articles, a new product and more coming soon! Leave your comments below and feel free to send any questions or comments HERE!

If you are one of the analysts who do not receive a 3rd year offer, you usually know it in advance, as you will have been rated poorly in your second year and should have already been looking for other opportunities, whether in banking, P/E, B school, corp fin, buy side, etc.

If you are one of the analysts who do not get an associate offer, you might be caught a little off guard, as you can be ranked fairly well, 3, 3+ or 4 out of 5 (5 being the best), and get an associate offer, or not get one – this often depends on your group’s methods of bringing on associates traditionally, the need to bring on associates in your group, whether you are interested in staying with your group or moving to another and even the condition of the market and level of deal flow. If you are ranked a 5, you should get the promotion, and generally 4s have a strong shot at landing the promotion as well – although this does vary from group to group and bank to bank. Since it is generally the B school entry point, the associate promotion is a trickier matter since some banks rarely promote, while others try to grow from within, and the same goes from group to group within banks.

If you are not promoted or not given a 3rd year offer, you will have to move on – whether that means you find a new home within the bank, move to a boutique, P/E, other buy side, commercial finance, corp finance, etc, you will be termed out upon the expiration of your contract, either at your 2-year mark, or your 3-year mark (depending on your situation). Since it is the end of a contract, you will not be given severance, but you will be given a bonus based on your ranking just as the other analysts are given bonuses based on their rankings. A 3rd year 3+ who doesn’t get promoted, should get the same bonus as a 3rd year 3+ who does get promoted, although the promoted analyst will usually get an associate sign on bonus, raise, and so forth. This, of course, is far different than those analysts who receive buyouts from their banks or are simply fired – in that case there is no necessity to provide a bonus accrued, but rather a severance package or buyout package (depending on your situation – essentially the difference is severance you don’t choose, buyout you “get to choose” although if you don’t take the buyout there is often a much better chance of being laid off).

If you do not earn a 3rd year and you haven’t yet found another opportunity, your marketability will be a bit less than if you are not promoted to associate simply because it is easier to get the 3rd year offer than to get the associate promotion. At the end of the day, however, not getting an offer/promotion is not as important as your experience with the firm over your 2 or 3 years. Deal experience, project responsibility, modeling skills, contacts, etc, will carry you in your pursuit to find a new employer – you may have to look at some smaller shops, boutiques, etc, but you should be able to find a home (generally speaking – market conditions definitely play a factor in the ease, or lack-there-of, of finding new opportunities). Although you might be asked whether you received an offer or not, and if not, why not, you can absolutely craft an answer that doesn’t lead to you shooting yourself in the foot – bank on your experience and sell those experiences. Sometimes the team just doesn’t have the deal flow or is told to let some analysts go – and particularly in this type of market, it is still alright to use an answer like this – as long as the real reason isn’t something awful that your former employer will shout from the rooftops.

Finally, regarding B school, while it is difficult to get into top schools with just 2 years of experience, if you can point to strong experiences over those 2 years, coupled with some leadership activities whether in college, during your professional career, or both, craft some articulate essays and get some solid recs (even though you don’t get a return offer, most bankers will still write a letter supporting your candidacy as long as you tried and were a decent analyst – in other words you weren’t let go because of a terrible attitude, etc), you should definitely have a shot. The application and review process is often a good bit about luck, so give it your best, and if you don’t make it that year, you can pick up a nice non-profit gig, or work in corp fin, etc for 1 or 2 years, build some fresh experiences and then reapply – that is, if B school is something you are seriously interested in. Also, since you are coming from a banking background, you will be expected to do well on the GMAT (although regardless of your background, for top schools, you will be expected to do well on the GMAT – in the 700s) and that is something you will want to prepare for if you haven’t already.

To quickly recap – if you don’t receive the 3rd year or promotion, don’t panic. You should know at least a few months in advance as the process takes place generally around the half-way point of your 2nd or 3rd year (depending on which you are going for, of course). Once you get the word you need to move into action. While you don’t want to completely slack on your work as you never want to burn bridges or screw over your chances of getting needed recommendations, you should absolutely start reaching out to your network and headhunters. Put the feelers out, polish the resume, and work on getting your name back out there. Make sure all of your deals, modeling work, and so forth is articulated clearly and well on your resume before sending it out – you can probably even ask a colleague or two to take a quick look when they have a spare second. Next, be open with your boss – if you need a bit of time to interview on a particular day, just give a bit of notice – they know you’re being let go and you need to move on in, probably, the next several weeks, to a few months – not a hell of a lot of time. Remember to relax and not lose your cool – you can absolutely find something else, even if temporary, you just need to keep your eyes and ears open (and, ideally, have your contacts do the same).

That’s about it – if anyone has any other questions on the topic, or any topic, feel free to send me an email HERE or drop a comment below! Stay tuned for future posts on what a analyst really does, navigating the SA prep and interviews and much more!

Generally speaking, a sell-day is your opportunity to impress the other teams and, ideally, join the team of your choosing. Up to this point you have been fighting for a position within the investment banking unit, but now that you’ve landed the position, both you and the bank itself need to figure out exactly where to place you within the investment bank – in other words product or industry, and more specifically, which product group or which industry group. In order to do this, the bank will throw a sell-day for their incoming analysts – usually more than 1, depending on the size of the class – where the analysts have the opportunity to meet the different teams and, perhaps more importantly, the teams have the opportunity to meet the analysts.

During the sell-day, you will usually sit for several short presentations, by each hiring group, each concluding with a chance to network with each individual group for a few minutes. This last part is the part that you want to pay strict attention to and make the most of – but we’ll come back to that in a minute. Doubling back for just a second, the reason why I mentioned each “hiring” group, as opposed to every, or each group within the investment bank is that as a FT incoming analyst, you will have been hired either as a new candidate or received an offer from the SA position. If the latter is the case, and you were, in fact, a SA who received a FT offer, you will only usually be at a sell-day if you expressed an interest in joining a different group and didn’t find a new home or didn’t want to decide until the sell-day. Those SAs that have accepted positions within their SA groups will fill seats in those respected groups. Therefore, if there were only a handful of seats open in, for example, Technology, and all of the SAs kept their seats, then Technology might very well not be at the sell-day, or on the ranking sheet, since they do not have any openings for new analysts and will therefore not accept any incoming FT analysts. It’s not a big deal by any means, but just wanted to clarify that point as incoming analysts often wonder why a particular group or 2 isn’t available or isn’t on a ranking sheet or didn’t set up a presentation, etc.

Before getting to the final leg of the presentation, the chance to network with the bankers, let’s get into the presentation aspect of the day. Essentially, each group will have several bankers representing the team and set up in a conference room to introduce you to the team in attendance, the group, what the group does, impressive league table stats, deal closing figures, noteworthy deals, interesting aspects and capabilities of the group and anything else that they can think of to pull you in – I’ve even seen bankers pull out charts showcasing their record of getting analysts into top business schools and strong P/E shops 2-3 years down the line. In case you haven’t realized, all of this is done to attract as many incoming analysts as they can to their group so that the group, essentially, has their choice of the best of the incoming analysts. The presentation will certainly resemble that of a capabilities pitch delivered to clients introducing the group because, basically, you are clients and the group is trying to pitch to you their team, and get you to rank them number one. Now remember, just because the presentation is the group’s big opportunity to “sell” you their product/industry, no aspect of this sell-day process is one-sided.

Just as the presentation is the group’s opportunity to pitch you on them, it is also your opportunity to express your first big interest in the field and in joining the team. Use this presentation as a chance to ask some questions based on the group’s discussions and make your presence known ahead of the networking opportunity – this will help you to get on the team’s radar and even make the team a bit more receptive to you when it comes time to network at the end of the presentation. The key here, however, as is the case in every aspect of this day, is to keep the questions and comments relaxed and within the limits of moderation. If you are firing out questions every 30 seconds you will come off as more of a distraction than interested applicant, and you will definitely run the risk of establishing a reputation or displaying personality traits not of interest to rest of the team or that do not fit with the group dynamic. Don’t isolate yourself by getting too eager and don’t show yourself as a suck-up, trying to upstage everyone else. Just relax, ask a few questions when they are asked for and when the questions are relevant and value-additive – don’t ask questions just for the sake of asking them. If you can do this, you’ll definitely be in good shape.

Now, getting back to my previous point – paying strict attention to the short networking opportunity at the end of each presentation – let’s briefly move into why that is the case. Essentially, once you get past the presentation, you will have an opportunity to network with the group – but by network with the group, I really mean that you have an opportunity to connect with some of the group members, make a good impression, roughly figure out if this could be a fit, and evaluate whether this is a group, based on some of the teammates’ personalities, is a good match for you. First and foremost, some students are going to want to work in M&A, financial sponsors, leveraged finance, energy and power, etc, and while they’d be alright with working in an alternative group, they really want to land a seat in their group of choice. So, how do you do this? The answer: by nailing the networking opportunity at the end of that particular group’s presentation. The key here will be to make the time at the end of the session to go up and introduce yourself to the group’s panel participants, especially a group staffer (if present) and senior bankers, as they will ultimately be the decision makers. Additionally, you want to definitely briefly introduce yourself to the rest of the panel as well to further increase your chances.

By introduce yourself to the panel, I don’t mean state your name and conduct an interview, I mean that you should really be yourself. Express your interest in working for the group (but don’t be a suck-up or phony person – nor do I mean drop a few F-bombs and get your slang on – you’re still being judged, or, perhaps for lack of a better work, “interviewed” – do class is still key), be sincere in your interest in getting to know the teammates and ask questions about group dynamic, team activities, access to senior bankers, even questions on deal flow are fine as well – you really just want to show that you have an interest in the team, while maintaining those likable qualities that, presumably, got you hired in the first place. You want to fit in the bankers on the panel and be able to have a brief laugh or two while making your acquaintances – this will definitely help to set you apart from the rest of the candidates and help boost your appeal when it comes time for the teams to rank the analysts that they want. Additionally, make sure to get business cards from as many of the panel members as you can and definitely send follow-up emails later that day – it might not significantly boost your chances, but people have blackberries, and reaching out to keep your name fresh definitely doesn’t hurt. Remember, just as the group wants you to pick them as number 1 so that they have their pick of the analysts, you want the groups to pick you as number 1 so that you can have your pick of the groups, and the best way to do this is by making a great impression on the team.

After you’ve gone through each presentation it’s now time for the final stage of the process – the selection forms. At this point, if you haven’t received it already, you will be asked to take and fill out a selection card with the name of each hiring group listed along with a blank space next to it. You will then rank the groups in order of appeal to you from number 1 to whatever number of groups there are. Once you’ve done this, you drop the card off and there you have it – your selections are in and the fun for HR begins. The groups will essentially go through a similar ranking process, with the end goal being to get the majority of the incoming analysts into one of their top 3 or 4 groups. In other words, if there are 12 groups on the ranking form, the goal is to get you into one of your top 3 or 4 choices as opposed to your bottom 5 through 12.

Good luck on all of your sell-days and as always, if you have any questions, send them HERE and leave your comments below! Stay tuned for future posts on what an analyst really does, missing the 3rd year/associate offer, and much more!

The modeling experience is definitely a sizable part of the attraction to those groups exhibited by P/E firms, and even with slower deal flow, there will still be a good amount of modeling, or at least more so than in most industry groups (outside of those that do all of their own modeling). That said, it isn’t just about the modeling, it is also about the contacts you will make and the perceived value of the group as a skill set in general. P/E shops see Lev Fin and M&A above all else as their feeder groups since that is how they view their job. Sponsors and the industry group that they serve follow, since those groups are still in line with their function/industry beyond just being P/E (for example, a renewable energy focused P/E shop would look to E&P or Project Finance).

While deal flow has definitely slowed down, it has also slowed down for the P/E shops – as Lev Fin comes back, so too will P/E shops, and, possibly, so too will hiring, if this all unfolds accordingly. If you are interested in breaking into P/E – look to M&A, then Lev Fin (although depending on the bank’s rep for the groups, they may be reversed), then Sponsors and then coverage.

As a recent Business school graduate, can/should I include my SAT score on my resume?

I wouldn’t include your SAT unless 1) you couple it on a line with your U Grad GPA and 2) have your GMAT listed with your B school. If you have your SAT listed and not your GMAT score, it will look a bit funny – sort of like you are relying on the distant past as a means of remedying your poor performance in the present.

Technically, if you have your GMAT on there, and it is strong, you don’t need your SAT – if, however, you just want to include it to avoid any potential questions (though I don’t see many arising), and you have a strong SAT (if it’s not strong, then obviously leave it out) feel free to include it as long as you stick with the 2 above conditions.

I’ve been placed on hold/on a waitlist for an IB opp, what should I do?

On hold is better than a ding, but you also don’t know how many people are “on hold.” For now, I would focus on finding other opportunities, BB, MM, boutique, and let the chips fall where they may regarding the “on hold” bank. If, however, you get an offer from another bank of the same caliber, or even a strong bank in a slightly lower tier while still “on hold”, you can absolutely contact the bank that put you “on hold” and let them know about your exploding offer – they will in that case either ding you, or make you an offer – either way the wait will be over and you will have gotten your verdict.

Do you know if banks will take back their offer if they are unsatisfied with your transcript, because you have taken too many courses P/NP thereby manipulating your GPA?

I think you are pretty safe. As long as your GPA is in the ballpark of what you claimed it was when you applied, you should be fine. It might look a bit funny to have a number of P/NPs in your transcript, but, honestly, they don’t give a crap. As long as your GPA is where it should be and you are graduating when you are supposed to be (based on what you’ve told them), you shouldn’t have a problem with retaining your offer (whether SA or FT). Banks will verify the transcript, but not scrutinize it – more as a means of checking what I previously mentioned and, honestly, dotting the “i”s and crossing the “t”s.

I was wondering if you offer any review services pro bono, for a discounted rate, etc.

Here’s the thing; first, I believe that my revision fees are fair and if I discounted someone or gave a free full revision to someone, I’d be expected to do the same for virtually everyone. Second, I always offer high level resume reviews (which often turn into more than “high level”) and I am always available to take a look at any of your resumes and give you some general feedback – you are welcome to send it over. I honestly enjoy working with so many of you on improving your resumes, and helping you all to land interviews – unfortunately, the most I can offer on a “free basis” is the high level reviews – whether through email, WSO, or private message.

Do I need my MBA to succeed in banking?

This is a question that I receive way too often (nothing wrong with questions, just that I hope this response helps to set the record straight). When it comes right down to it, you do not need an MBA to succeed in banking, to earn a promotion to associate, to VP, D, etc – you can do all of this with nothing more than your Bachelors. That said, the promotion to associate, and then subsequent promotions, are not automatic by any means and will require hard work, good connections, intellect, and, of course, a bit of luck. It is definitely possible to run the ladder without a finishing degree, but for many, the security or, rather, opportunity that an MBA offers is worth the break in employment. Additionally, if you are not one of the analysts who believe an associate promotion is your destiny (or implied – as in you are amazing and it is all but a given that you will earn one), the MBA is a nice back-up plan, or even go-to plan – then again, P/E, boutiques, buy-side are all good back-up plans as well. When it comes right down to it, an MBA is definitely helpful, but strictly in terms of investment banking necessities, it is not one.

Stay tuned for more articles on Missing the 3rd year offer, what a banker really does – part 2, and much more! Comments go below, and emails, as always, can be sent Here!

Make sure your contacts are updated and saved in your blackberry and an Excel backup

This sounds like a no-brainer, but you’d be surprised by how many people forget to do this, or, worse, forget that their blackberries and corporate laptops actually belong to the corporation, and are taken back upon displacement. If your blackberry is yours, make sure all of the information is up to date, if it is not (either way, really), make sure all of the information is backed up in an excel file and that you’ve got it if you need it. Regarding which information should be saved – think of all of the basics: name, cell and work phone numbers, address (whether office or home), email address (corporate and personal if you have both, but at least corporate), company (especially if it’s a client contact and not a bank contact), position (analyst, VP, etc) and group (Leveraged Finance, M&A, Industrial Growth, etc – if applicable – if it’s a client, it might not be relevant). Additionally, you want to make sure that the spelling of the first and last name and email address is correct as I have spelled names wrong in the past and wonder why the hell the email wasn’t going through. Finally, as one additional point of interest to keep record of, although not by any means essential, for each contact (at least in your Excel file, where you will have more room), you can keep any talking points such as mutual interests, deals you’ve worked on together, and how you know the person (whether through someone, just through deals, etc) just as talking points and points of reconnection for the future.

Slowly get your name back on the street

I stress slowly here for two reason: 1) you don’t know if you are even going to be displaced, and if you are not, you might not be interested in putting out all of the feelers, giving off that impression and then not following through, and, more importantly, 2) you don’t want your current employer to find out that you are looking for other opportunities, leading them to believe that you are interested in leaving, which, needless to say, is a good way to ensure that you are part of the headcount reduction. The best way to slowly get your name out there is to follow a similar procedure as when you are looking to internally Make the Group Switch. Essentially, start slowly and quietly – reach out to contacts at perhaps a few other firms and put out the feelers. However, let your contact know that you are sensing layoffs, so want to get a preliminary interest – in other words, keep it quiet as you don’t want to guarantee a boot in the ass out the door.

Backup your deal-related work on a flash drive

This is sometimes a bit of a touchy topic depending on the bank, and depending on how comfortable you are with this, but if you get the opportunity, I would definitely recommend uploading, if nothing else, the work you’ve done on any of your closed deals. It’s often tough to remember all of the little details of a project, especially 6 months down the line when you are interviewing and asked about cash flows, discount rates, schedules, etc and by backing up your models, pitchbooks, etc on a flash drive you’ve now got the ability to look back on your projects ahead of your interviews to refresh your memory on any important deal-specifics so that you’re not caught off guard if those technical questions come out. I believe in being prepared for any situation and if you don’t have access to the specifics of your closed transactions it will be very hard to articulate exactly what you worked on, how you were able to perform it, and issues that came up and the ultimate resolutions – and all of this is definitely helpful during an interview and will definitely help to set you apart from those candidates that can only provide “high level” summaries of their transactions or less.

Considering this is often an intimidating task for many, there is an alternative. The alternative is to take hard copies of your documents – print out your models, pitchbooks and IMs, if nothing else, and keep them for your records. Of course you don’t need to print everything out at once, but start early, and over time working on printing out your transaction-related relevant docs for your records. Of course, this will require that you can keep the documents together, neatly, and in a safe place so that they aren’t thrown out, ripped up, or mixed up. I’d recommend starting folders at your house, just as you would in your cube, for each transaction. It won’t have the flexibility or convenience of the flash drive, but it is just as good for a quick review at your house ahead of an interview.

Look into filing for unemployment

This is definitely a point that people often ignore either because they assume that they will be able to find another position very quickly, or because they are, well, embarrassed that as an investment banker they would even need to consider unemployment. Put your egos aside and focus on the market and your finances, not your pride. There is nothing wrong with looking into the process, how long it takes to actually kick into action, how much you’d get and how long you’d be entitled to it. All of these issues matter, and if you take the proper steps early on, you will have one less thing to worry about if, in fact, the cut does come. Preparing yourself for the unemployment process can take at least a small measure of the stress off of you if you find yourself out of work and in need of finding a new employer. You may not ever use your new knowledge or need it, but when and if that cut ever comes your way, it is nice to have the knowledge ready to take immediate action and at least get some money into your pockets until you land that next position.

Polish the resume and cover letter

I’m thinking that this is a no-brainer, but in my experience it is often the “no-brainers” that I need to remind people of the most. By polish the resume and cover letter, I don’t just mean make or edits, or add a line to your current position, I mean fully revise your resume. In other words, look into your past deals, current projects, responsibilities, and so forth, and make sure your new resume fully explains all of these aspects of your current position. Next, look to all of your past experiences and see if anything there can use some rephrasing, some tweaking, or some deleting – if you are adding new experiences, you will probably have to cut some of the old – start with college-related activities and those not directly related to banking that may have helped you get the gig 2-3 years ago, but don’t matter nearly as much as your current projects. A past internship in a different field, college club involvement can be truncated to fit on a single bullet point towards the bottom of your resume (Organization – Dates – Position, such as Finance Club of XXXX – September XXXX to May XXXX – Treasurer) instead of 3-5 lines on your resume in your “Leadership” section where you describe your activities, etc. Remember, after a few years of experience your resume should usually be leading off with a strong work experience section, then move on to your education section (which is not already full, can be the new home of your club involvement as described above) and then whatever is left such as Hobbies, Skills, Interests, Volunteer Work, etc, depending on how much room you have left – but don’t short-change your professional experience to fit an extra Leadership or Hobbies bullet point.

Beyond the resume, your cover letters will have to be redone as well. Essentially, take the same approach here as with your resume. You should have much more strong work experience here than before, so you need to incorporate all of that into the body of your letter to demonstrate your strength as a candidate. Even if your cover letter is not read, at least it’s there and illustrates all of your capabilities as an outstanding analyst/associate, rather than having some outdated or sloppy letter that doesn’t, in all honest, do your candidacy any justice. Take the time while you’ve got it and are still getting paid to put together a strong cover letter – you can always come back and fine-tune it whenever you need it, but you need to clearly articulate your new experiences and skill set.

I know that reworking the resume and cover letter can often be difficult. Sometimes adding new experiences, etc is hard – finding the right phrasing and such, but many times deleting past experiences, etc is harder in that we are all connected to out experiences and can see the merit in them and how they have enhanced and continue to shape who we are. If you’re having difficulty letting go or finding the right way to express something, feel free to drop me an email Here and let me know. No, I’m not pitching my resume revision service by any means, but I can definitely understand the difficulty and have no problem helping you along with cleaning up a few points on your resumes (as I already do, so I guess that it’s really nothing new).

As always, comments go below and emails can be sent right Here. There are many more articles coming so stay tuned and if you have any suggestions for my articles or for the site in general, let me know!

Rather than surprise everyone, I have decided to let everyone know that starting early January, my resume and cover letter services will be taking a small step up in price. I haven’t made a final decision yet on the specifics of the resume, cover letter and combination package, but I know that the price will be going up. When I first released the service, I had mentioned that the price was going to step up at some point in the near future, and have decided that the New Year shall be the start of the new price. It will not be a large jump, as I understand that funds are often tight for students and career switchers (my readers in general), but a small boost is essential. I was initially going to just raise the price, but I have decided to give all of you the heads up and about a week’s notice or so, before setting the new price into motion.

In addition to the price increase for the service, I will also offer a higher cost service that will allow purchasers to have their resumes/cover letters completed in an expedited fashion. In other words, if the normal queue is about 2-3 weekends at that time, the expedited purchaser will have their queue times dropped to about 1 weekend or so. Rather than buy this service, if you are interested, I would recommend that you first shoot me an email to find out what the queue time is for regular and expedited services as there will be down times when standard queue is roughly one weekend, and others when I am backed up with standard queue times at 3+ weekends, or expedited queue times of 2 weekends or so. Hopefully this doesn’t complicate the process much and will allow people that need the service done quicker for a resume drop deadline, to meet their deadline.

Also, bear in mind that the expedited queue time will not push everyone on the standard queue back. The times that I quote generally provide me with sufficient time to complete your resumes, so an expedited resume would be moved up, but not in front of someone who is already approaching their due date – in other words, I will not tell someone that their resume will be ready by next week and then back them up 3 weeks for an expedited purchaser – I probably don’t have to say it, but I don’t want anyone to worry that purchasing the regular service will yield a lesser product or be continuously delayed – my quoted times will still hold true and the quality will absolutely not diminish.

Now, getting beyond all of the product junk, let’s get into the meat of the article, a few quick notes for holiday readers:

1. Don’t reach out to your new contacts, make cold calls or inquire into potential opportunities during these two weeks (meaning before the week of Monday January 4th). Yes, it is definitely exciting to have opportunities, email addresses, etc, ready to go, but let them burn a hole in your pocket for a few more days. There are two reasons for this: 1) most people that are important to the decision making/interview processes are out of the office, and 2) those that are stuck in the office are definitely busy and are probably not in the best mood to deal with new people, cold calling, etc. If there is one thing worse than being forced to work over the holidays, it is getting networking or cold calls when all you are trying to do is finish up and get home. Wait for the New Year and, in my opinion, wait until about Tuesday or so of that week back to give your new contacts a bit of time to get back into the swing of things.

2. Although not the best time to reach out to new contacts, now is a great time to reach out to your current contacts and wish them a happy and safe holiday (as well as catch them up on a few quick things in your life). Even if you are afraid that the contact has gone a bit cold, this is the perfect avenue to reach back out and warm it up again. If you don’t get a response, who cares, you weren’t going to get one anyway. If you do, then even better, now the contact is back and fresh, and if you need anything in the near future, you can begin to massage it again. A quick happy holiday email is a great way to talk about your updates briefly, wish them a happy holiday, and then ask a few questions to keep the email going (not necessarily internship or opportunity questions, but rather questions on how things are going with them, the group, etc).

3. And finally, save the presents for your friends and family. I have been asked, quite a few times, whether it is acceptable to send high up bankers, senior professionals, etc small presents or the like (such as coffee mugs, a holiday basket or other trinkets) along with a resume and cover letter. Although this might sound like a good idea, I would keep this one on the shelf. You are much better off sending the holiday email, perhaps sending a personal hand-written card (if you really want to send something concrete to the office), or just waiting until after the holidays to try and get the networking phone call. Sending gifts often sends the wrong message and leaves a bad impression, if it even reaches the person you are trying to send it to in the first place. Stick to the phone calls and emails – leave the coffee mugs for your distant cousins.

That about covers it for this installment; stay tuned for upcoming articles on what to do when sensing layoffs, a day in the life, more reader questions and much more! I hope everyone has a very happy New Year and, of course, keep reading!

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.