Owner: Mergers & Inquisitions URL:http://www.mergersandinquisitions.com/ Join Date: Sat, 15 Dec 2007 15:20:33 -0600 Rating:0 Site Description: Get a job in investment banking. Resume, interview and job search tips for the finance industry. Learn how to get a job in the industry and then maintain your sanity once you do. Site statistics:Click here
Staying Healthy While Staring At A Computer 18 Hours A Day 2007-12-13 16:30:25 “I live in the American Gardens Building on W. 81st Street on the 11th floor. My name is Patrick Bateman. I’m 27 years old. I believe in taking care of myself and a balanced diet and rigorous exercise routine. In the morning if my face is a little puffy I’ll put on an ice pack while doing stomach crunches. I can do 1000 now.”
-Patrick Bateman, “American Psycho” (2000)
Back in the day, it was easy for investment bankers to stay fit. If you’re anything like Patrick Bateman here, can you too use a combination of diet, rigorous exercise, stomach crunches and facial cream to stay fit and look young?
Probably not. Banking is a massive change from your student lifestyle (and Bateman is a fictional character). Those convenient breaks in between classes when you went running or went to the gym no longer exist. Now you have coffee breaks where you go to Starbucks and get 200 calorie lattes. And you have those $30/night dinners where you almost feel Read more:Hours
, Computer
, Staring
Breaking And Entering Into Finance, Part II: The Lawyer 2007-12-10 09:00:47 “The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.”
-William Shakespeare, Henry VI Part 2, Act IV
Decided to kill your career in law and switch into banking? Want to be paid by the results instead of by the hour (and hopefully make a lot more money)?
The good news is that it’s fairly common for lawyers to switch into finance and investment banking specifically. There are a few paths you can take from law into finance:
Get an investment banking job immediately out of law school.
Work as an Associate at a law firm for several years and then lateral to an Associate position at a bank.
Go to business school after practicing for a few years and interview for banking jobs as you finish your MBA.
Method #1 sounds appealing but is difficult to pull off. Most banks would not recruit someone immediately out of law school because the candidate would be stuck somewhere between Analyst and Associate - more experience than someone fresh out of undergrad, but not as much Read more:Lawyer
, Breaking
24 Hours In The Life Of An Investment Banking Analyst 2007-12-06 09:00:40 “6:30 Sycophant drops by on his way out. Client meeting next Friday but wants complete turn of a pitch for first thing tomorrow morning (tomorrow morning = when he finally gets around to looking at it at some point next week). A quick calculation; there’s no way I’m getting out of here before four in the morning.”
-The Bitter Investment Banker Email
Ah, the life of an investment banking analyst. What will your hours be? How much work do you actually do? Is it true you play Solitaire most of the day and then only work at night? Do you really have Sycophants dropping off work that they will never look at and telling you to have it done by tomorrow morning? Will you be jammin’ at Goldman Sachs?
Some days you’ll be so busy that you have to discreetly use a bottle under your desk if you need to go to the bathroom because you just don’t have time to go. Other days you’ll have so little to do that you can take 3-hour lunch breaks and downl Read more:Analyst
, Hours
Breaking And Entering Into Finance, Part I: The Engineer 2007-12-03 19:00:17 “It’s something very personal, a very important thing. Hell! It’s a family motto. Are you ready Jerry? I wanna make sure you’re ready, brother. Here it is: Show me the money. SHOW! ME! THE! MONEY! Jerry, it is such a pleasure to say that! Say it with me one time, Jerry.”
-Rod Tidwell, “Jerry Maguire” (1996)
If you’re anything like Rod here, you’ve come to the right place. Welcome to Part I of “Breaking
And Entering Into Finance”, a series on how to get into finance from a non-finance background. I find myself answering this question a lot, possibly because I’m from a non-finance background myself. Or maybe just because everyone wants to get into finance.
Today I’m going to focus on the engineer. How you can leverage your technical background to land the job of your dreams as a monkey in the jungle of finance? As a technical person right out of school, you have two ways of breaking in:
Get an investment
What Investment Bankers Actually Do 2007-11-28 09:00:20 I’ve seen lots of explanations of what investment bankers actually do, but none have seemed particularly good or satisfactory. I think I can sum up what we actually do in 2 words (ok, and 1 picture):
Ari Gold.
If you haven’t seen Entourage (shame on you, but I guess that’s possible), an alternate explanation will be offered at the end of this post.
Investment bankers are agents, just like Ari. We don’t create anything and we don’t buy anything; we just sell things that aren’t ours to begin with. And we make a lot of money doing that, thank you very much. If the business world were like Entourage, bankers would be the agents, private equity firms and large companies would be the studios, and companies would be the actors and movies. Private equity firms buy and sell companies. Studios buy and sell actors and movies. Bankers
make introductions and try to sell things. Agents make introductions and sell their clients.
Vince Chase would be Faceboo Read more:Actually
Welcome To Mergers & Inquisitions 2007-11-26 15:00:09 Welcome to Mergers & Inquisitions. Want to get into the finance industry? You’ve come to the right place. Curious about what it is investment bankers actually do (well, besides make a lot of money)? Welcome. Trying to figure out if investment banking is really for you? Bingo.
Whether you’re still in school and trying to break in or you’re out in the real world already and trying to transition in, you’ve come to the right place. Mergers & Inquisitions provides frank, easy to understand advice that can’t be found elsewhere. Unlike existing resources, we provide how-to guides with real examples of what to do and what not to do. And since we’re not sponsored by corporations, we’re free to tell the truth.
You’ll definitely be entertained by what you read here, but we’re not trying to be a comedy site. Instead, we’re providing practical information that won’t make you want to fall asleep out of boredom.
To ki Read more:Welcome
Contact 2007-11-25 17:12:36 Since the author would like to keep his job (at least for now), he will have to remain anonymous. Feel free to email him.
About 2007-11-25 17:07:06 Mergers & Inquisitions was launched after the author realized the web lacked good, free resources on investment banking, finance jobs and career advice in general for college students and recent graduates.
Most existing guides such as the Vault Guide To Finance Interviews or the Wet Feet guide are dry and don’t have much in the way of frank, practical advice with concrete examples. They’re also so boring that you may want to poke out your eyes after reading them (just kidding :). There are some high-quality finance-related sites and blogs out there, like Leveraged Sellout, Wall Street Oasis, and several others, but these have a different focus from what we’re doing here.
Since the author would like to keep his job (at least for now), he will have to remain anonymous. Feel free to email him.
How To Get An Investment Banking Job 2007-11-25 14:58:48 Ah, yes, so after deep and thoughtful consideration you’ve decided you want to spend the next few years of your life as an investment banker. Although in some countries I might be legally obligated to stop you, I won’t. In fact I’ll show you how, in three simple steps:
Get the attention of recruiters and get your foot in the door.
Make a resume that stands out and get an interview.
Nail your interviews and land the offer.
Your Foot In The Door
“I opened the doors for you… showed you how the system works… the value of information… how to *get it*! Fulham oil, Brant resources, geodynamics and this is how you pay me back you COCKROACH!”
-Gordon Gekko, “Wall Street” (1987)
If only everyone applying for finance jobs had Gordon Gekko to open the doors for them. But most of us don’t, which is why we need a strategy for getting a foot in the door ourselves.
The strategy you use depends greatly on your background. And there
Q&A On Investment Banking Topics 2007-12-21 18:31:53 Continuing this week’s theme of other people generating content, today I’ll post a few of the questions I’ve received so far from readers. Hopefully these will be applicable to many of you out there looking for answers on investment banking, getting into finance, or changing careers. More original content next week when I (hopefully) don’t have to work 120 hours… that would be a pretty bad Christmas.
Interview Questions For Prospective Senior Hires
“Do you know what types of questions are asked of Senior Associates or Vice Presidents when they are interviewing for lateral positions? I am quite certain that the bulk of questions are focused on deal experience, however, what do you think the most commonly asked questions are? I ask because I am wondering how much I need to focus on the details of my previous deals and if I should review all the documents or look over the Definitive Agreements… I want to be well-prepared but don’t want
How To Pick Your Team At An Investment Bank 2007-12-19 21:00:00 Today: A Guest Post by Proud Ex-Analyst.
“The key elements to a successful sled team are a steady driver, and three strong runners to push the sled down the ice.”
-Sanka Coffie, “Cool Runnings” (1993)
The most common question people ask me is how to get a job in investment banking. It’s a fair question. You need to pay the bills, after all, and a prestigious and high-paying job will do more than pay the bills: it will be prestigious and high-paying.
The next most common question I get is what group to join once you have a banking job. Prospective i-banking monkeys are focused on which group will give them the best exit opportunities so they can land that hedge fund job and make $1 billion in cash each year.
But you shouldn’t pick your banking team based solely on exit opportunities. It’s true that some groups (such as M&A or Financial Sponsors) place more analysts into private equity or specific buyside jobs, but if you’re smart
Vacation Time In The World Of Finance 2007-12-24 10:37:09 “Vacation
time? People come and work at this firm for one reason: to become filthy rich. That’s it. We’re not here to make friends. We’re not savin’ the bleepin’ manatees here, guys. You want vacation time? Go teach third grade, public school.”
-Jim Young, “Boiler Room” (2000)
Christmas Eve, and what an appropriate topic. If you’re in your cubicle reading this, my condolences: I was actually in that same position last year as well. But most bankers, believe it or not, are actually on vacation right about now.
Vacation? Yes. It does exist, even in this job. Beyond just the typical “How many hours each week do Investment Bankers work?” questions, this is another common one I hear. Can you actually take a vacation as an Analyst? Do you ever get any time off? Can you go home for the holidays?
The answer is “yes” to all 3. Pretty much every Analyst I know has taken a vacation at some point, but very Read more:World
, Vacation Time
Investment Banking Background Checks 2008-03-10 04:20:17 The general rule of thumb is this: don't lie and especially don't put any lies in writing on your resume or on the background check form.
This sounds simple, but there's a lot of subtlety when you consider "gray areas" - slight GPA inflation, exaggerating previous jobs, omitting jobs, and more.
Why You Shouldn’t Start Your Investment Banking Job Early 2008-03-06 17:40:05 I always recommend starting at the same time as the other Investment Banking Analysts in your "class," and not just so you can spend a few months sitting on the beach and drinking Piña Coladas.
It can actually hurt you financially and in terms of work experience if you go outside the norm and start in January or February before everyone else. Read more:Start
, Early
Investment Banking Exit Opportunities: The Myth Of The Buyside Job 2008-03-03 06:00:39 “Before I became so fervent about Private Equity, I thoroughly considered all my other career options: hedge funds and VC.”
-Hicks Musings, The Leveraged Sellout
One common question I’ve been getting lately goes something like this:
“Inquisitor, I just started as a freshman at Harvard. I am majoring in economics and finance and I’m in the stock market [...] Read more:Opportunities
February 2008: Month In Review 2008-02-29 04:00:33 For new Mergers & Inquisitions readers, I thought it might be helpful to do a recap of February
2008, just as I did for January 2008 and December 2007.
The investment banking internship recruiting season continued in full force in February 2008, and many readers asked questions on how to decide on summer internship offers and [...] Read more:Month
Networking Your Way Into Investment Banking Jobs 2008-02-25 04:00:39 Your best starting point for getting investment banking interviews are your friends and acquaintances already in the industry. If you went to a 4-year University in the US, chances are you know at least a few people in the financial services industry.
Attention To Detail: A True Story 2008-02-22 06:00:48 Attention To Detail
.
Even if you remember nothing else out of the Vault guide and all those other investment banking interview guides out there, you remember attention to detail. The one quality all prospective investment banking analysts really need.
“But wait,” you might say, “If all you do is crank out Excel and Powerpoint all day [...] Read more:True Story
The Investment Banking Superday Interview Guide 2008-02-19 06:00:50 “If your enemy is superior, evade him. If angry, irritate him. If equally matched, fight, and if not split and reevaluate. “
-Sun Tzu
With every investment bank out there well into summer recruiting season, I’ve been getting questions not only on how to judge offers but also on how to prepare for superday interviews and what [...] Read more:Guide
The Worst Time To Be An Investment Banker: Friday At 4 PM 2008-02-15 06:00:55 All the senior bankers do their planning for the next week on Friday
at 4 PM. Suddenly, they'll remember those Monday/Tuesday meetings they had planned the whole week but somehow forgot to tell you about. And the pitch or board presentation on Tuesday that they also conveniently forgot to tell you about. Read more:Banker
What Should I Do With My Bear Stearns Investment Banking Offer? 2008-03-17 03:00:53 So, what should you do? Perhaps start speaking with boutiques and middle-market firms where you know people. Don't even try for other bulge brackets unless you have a killer connection that can get you in at this late stage. Read more:Stearns
, Offer
Bear Stearns Episode 2: The Shareholders Strike Back 2008-03-19 04:48:30 The reality is no one knows what's going on. Neither the CEOs of the companies, the Fed, nor any of the Managing Directors know what's going to happen.
Will people be fired? Yes. But no one knows how many, who, or when, and anyone else saying otherwise is simply spreading false rumors. Read more:Stearns
, Episode
, Shareholders
, Strike Back
The Best Day In The Life Of An Investment Banking Analyst 2008-03-31 06:00:32 So that's a good day as an Analyst
: laughing at other peoples' misfortunes, not having to do any real work, talking to the client on the phone over something they view as important, and leaving early to watch a moderately bad made-for-TV movie.
Private Equity Interviews In 3,000 Words 2008-04-07 07:00:23 Ah, private equity. The promised land. What you slave away for as a banker: the chance to become the next Steve Schwarzman. But unless you have an inside connection with Steve himself, you'll have to go through a few interviews to get to paradise. Read more:Private
, Equity
, Interviews
, Words
, Private Equity
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