Break into Finance
- Moving from consulting to Private Equity - interview with a PE professional
How to move from consulting to private equity, interviewInvestment Banking - Career Advice - Investment Banking Modelling Test
Investment banks will often require top-notch excel modelling skills when they hire analysts or associates from other investment banks or from other professionals in the finance sector. Take the Investment Banking Modelling Test.Investment Banking - Interview Preparation - Deutsche Bank M&A; analyst, Hong Kong
Interview with a Deutsche Bank M&A; analyst is Hong KongInvestment Banking - Interviews with M&A; Bankers - Interview with an M&A; partner, South East Asia
Interview with an M&A; banker in South East Asia ThailandInvestment Banking - Interviews with M&A; Bankers - Private Equity Interview Preparation
Private Equity InterviewsPrivate Equity - Interview Preparation - Goldman Sachs recommended reading list
The recommended Goldman Sachs reading list that we have compiled below (this is the list they hand out to incoming investment banking employees) is one of the most comprehensive finance reading list that probably exists.Investment Banking - Books & Reference Materials - Infrastructure and Utilities, M&A; Analyst, London
Macquarie Capital: Interview with an Infrastructure and Utilities M&A analystInvestment Banking - Interviews with M&A; Bankers - Top Interview Questions for VC
Venture capital interviews are much more informal than the type you would expect encounter in investment banks or private equity firms. The questions are less technical, and much more motivation and fit-oriented: interviews are simply a chat between two people...but that doesn't mean they're easier.Venture Capital - Interview Preparation - Private Equity Interview Questions
Private Equity interviews are notoriously difficult and will contain a mix of fit questions, technical questions, mini cases and investment pitches and brainteasers.Private Equity - Interview Preparation - Top Ten Questions to Ask Entrepreneurs
During an interview with a Venture Capital firm, you may be asked "Imagine you are a VC investor. What kind of questions would you ask an entrepreneur that has come to present his business to you?". Or again, if you have started a business yourself, what kind of questions should you expect from a VC investor.Venture Capital - Interview Preparation - Why you should start your career in M&A
Jobs in M&A are among the most contested and competitive in investment banking. But beyond the potentially large bonuses, what are the advantages of working in M&A and does it make sense to start in M&A if you do not want to be banker for life?Investment Banking - Investment Banking Lifestyle - Common mistakes in banking CVs
Common mistakes in investment banking CVsInvestment Banking - CV and Cover Letter - The Investment Banking MBA Associate
Every year, thousands of fresh MBA graduates join the ranks of the Investment Banks across the world. Some of them used to be investment banking analysts and decided to come back to the industry after their MBA. However, the large majority of MBA associates do not have any prior investment banking or even finance experience.Investment Banking - Career Advice - Investment Banking Headhunters List
List of Investment Banking Headhunters in LondonInvestment Banking - Interview Preparation - Headhunters for Private Equity
Private Equity Headhunters LondonPrivate Equity - Interview Preparation - List of Competency Interview Questions
Investment Banking Interviews typically start with a battery of questions about yourselfInvestment Banking - Interview Preparation - Investment Banking Analyst
Life as an investment banking analystInvestment Banking - Interview Preparation - Investment Banking Brainteasers
A question that we often hear about brainteasers is "how important is the ability to make quick calculations and solve brain teasers in investment banking interviews, relative to other portions of the interview?", or, simply said "How important are brainteasers?" Brainteasers are not a major part of the interview process compared to your performancInvestment Banking - Interview Preparation - What does a trader at a Hedge Fund do?
What does a trader at a Hedge Fund do?Hedge Fund & Trading - Interview Preparation - Role Descriptions in Venture Capital (VC)
People working in Venture Capital firms are called "venture capitalists".Venture Capital - Interview Preparation - List of Venture Capital firms in London
list of venture capital firms in londonVenture Capital - Interview Preparation - Private Equity LBO Modelling Test
Most Private Equity firms will give you modelling tests to complete real-time at their offices from scratch. Without practice, this can be challenging even for seasoned investment bankers.Private Equity - Interview Preparation - Walk me through an LBO model
An common question you get during private equity interviews is "can you please walk me through an LBO? feel free to make your own assumptions". While this may sound a bit daunting at first, the trick here is to keep things simple. The theory behind an LBO is actually fairly simple. In what level of detail should you go?Private Equity - Interview Preparation - List of London Hedge Funds
View a List of London Hedge FundsPrivate Equity - Interview Preparation - London Investment Banking CV Template
London Investment Banker Resume templateInvestment Banking - CV and Cover Letter - Hedge Fund interview questions
hedge fund interview questionsHedge Fund & Trading - Interview Preparation - Hedge Fund strategies explained
Description and explanation of hedge fund strategiesHedge Fund & Trading - Interview Preparation - Working hours in Investment Banking
One of the key question students and future bankers ask themselves is "how bad are the hours in investment banking"? It is quite often difficult to get a real answer to this question. If you ask banker friends, they tend to exagerate their working hours (this is what we call the "superhero factor") to show how tough they are.Investment Banking - Investment Banking Lifestyle - How useful is the CFA for bankers?
What is the CFA? The CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) designation is a professional certification granted by the CFA Institute, which tests and focuses on portfolio management, financial analysis, and generalist aspects of some other areas of finance. To become accredited, the candidate needs to: 1.Investment Banking - Career Advice - Ideal Backgrounds for Private Equity
There is no standard way of entering the Private Equity industry, but this article aims at illuminate the typical characteristics that private equity firms are looking for in a candidate. What age or level of experience do private equity firms want?Private Equity - Interview Preparation - How do I make it to Goldman Sachs?
How do I get a job at Goldman SachsInvestment Banking - Interview Preparation - Moving from back office to front office?
Every year, a lot of young professionals decide to start their careers in investment banks' back offices.Investment Banking - Career Advice - London Boutique Investment Banks
List of London Boutique Investment BanksInvestment Banking - Interview Preparation - How to answer Why investment banking?
How to answer why investment bankingInvestment Banking - Interview Preparation - M&A; Analyst, Goldman Sachs Hong Kong (moved from London)
Interview with an M&A; analyst, Goldman Sachs Hong KongInvestment Banking - Interviews with M&A; Bankers - What does a trader do?
What does a trader at an investment bank do?Hedge Fund & Trading - Interview Preparation - Private Equity Compensation Structure
The whole private equity business model is based on "profit sharing" i.e. sharing the profits that are made from the investments. Therefore, compensation is quite different from what you would encounter in a typical corporate of in investment banking. How do Private Equity firms get paid?Private Equity - Interview Preparation - Investment Banking Interview Dress Code
First impressions do matter for any interview, for they matter even more for investment banking interviews. This is because investment banking is a client-facing business, and clients are often very senior professionals.Investment Banking - Interview Preparation - Investment Banking: London vs. New York
Investment banking London versus New YorkInvestment Banking - Investment Banking Lifestyle - Paper LBO model example
paper lbo model, private equity interviewPrivate Equity - Interview Preparation - Typical Days in the Life of an Investment Banking Analyst
investment banking, typical day, analystInvestment Banking - Investment Banking Lifestyle - A job in banking with a 2.2 degree?
Will banks look at my application if I have a 2.2? How to handle poor academic record for investment banksInvestment Banking - Interview Preparation - Exit Opportunities for Investment Bankers
Exit opportunties for investment bankersInvestment Banking - Career Advice - Questions to ask a startup during your interviews
startup, interview, venture capitalVenture Capital - Interview Preparation - Will an MBA get me into I-banking?
Investment Banking is attractive not only to fresh graduates, but also to a lot of professionals in other fields that would like to make the switch into the industry.Investment Banking - Interview Preparation - Do Investment Bankers have social lives?
Do Investment Bankers have social lives?Investment Banking - Investment Banking Lifestyle - List of investment banking boutiques in Hong Kong
investment banking boutiques in Hong KongInvestment Banking - Books & Reference Materials - What makes a good private equity investment?
What makes a good private equity investment? LBO targetPrivate Equity - Interview Preparation - How to prepare for numerical tests
How to prepare for numerical tests in investment banking interviewsInvestment Banking - Interview Preparation - How to make it to MD in investment banking
career tips, career advice, investment banking, how to make it to MDInvestment Banking - Career Advice - Private Equity Case Studies
If you get invited to private equity interviews, you will almost always encounter private equity case studies. Private equity case studies can be notoriously difficult, and require a great deal of preparation.Private Equity - Interview Preparation - The Classification of Investment by Stage
Potential investments are often classified in different "stages": seed stage, early stage, expansion, or "growth", stage and later stage. Venture capital firms also sometimes focus on a very specific stage. For example, you might hear people say "I work on an early stage VC", or "we only do later stage investments".Venture Capital - Interview Preparation - What Do You Love And Hate In VC?
Venture Capital investing sounds like a very glamourous and exciting career path. Like every career however, it has a number of upsides and downsides. Here is our list of what is great and what is bad in venture capital The Good - Helping companies grow into something big is very rewarding, both personally and financially!Venture Capital - Interview Preparation - What is Venture Capital?
What is venture capital?Venture Capital - Interview Preparation - Must Reads For Venture Capitalists and Entrepreneurs
There are a lot of excellent books to read on Venture Capital, and blogs of famous venture capitalists are also a good starting point. Below is a selection of the books we recommend: Smarter Ventures: A Survivor's Guide to Venture Capital Through the New Cycle For anyone wanting to raise money from VCs or for wannabee VCs this is the book to read.Venture Capital - Interview Preparation - What Is a Typical Venture Capital (VC) Investment?
Venture capital firms concentrate their investments in a handful of industries and are on the lookout for very specific characteritics.Venture Capital - Interview Preparation - Ideal Profiles for Venture Capital (VC)
There is in fact no "perfect profile" for venture capital jobs, because venture capital firms themselves can be very different and have different strategies. So how can you know if you would be attractive to venture capital firms?Venture Capital - Interview Preparation - What is Private Equity?
What is private equityPrivate Equity - Interview Preparation - What Can You Do After Private Equity
Private Equity is often viewed as the "holy grail" for many professionals working in finance, especially for those from investment banking and strategy consulting. However, those who manage to make the switch to Private Equity usually do so at a very young age, either in their mid twenties or early thirties.Private Equity - Interview Preparation - What Is So Good About Private Equity?
why private equity, reasons to work in private equityPrivate Equity - Interview Preparation - What do Private Equity professionals do?
Private Equity is essentially about buying and selling companies. But what do private equity professionals really do on a day-to-day basis?Private Equity - Interview Preparation - Overview of LBO Debt Financing
LBO debt explained, private equity financingPrivate Equity - Interview Preparation - Must-Reads for Private Equity
Private Equity as an Asset Class** An introduction to private equity in five sections: (1) Definition and Structure of industry (2) Buyout funds (3) Venture funds (4) Development/Growth funds (5) Due Diligence and other topics.Private Equity - Interview Preparation - Private Equity Career Track
Getting a job in private equity is often seen as the holy grail of finance. However, once you have made your way into a private equity funds, how is your career going to evolve, and how do you make it to partner? The traditional career progression in private equity is detailed below.Private Equity - Interview Preparation - Investment Banking Case Studies
Investment Banking assessment centers will always include individual and group case studies, which will require some preparation before you can handle those confidently What are Investment Banking Case Studies? A case study will consist of a question or several questions that are asked based on a client’s business.Investment Banking - Interview Preparation - Differences between Investment Banking and Private Equity culture
adjusting to a new job in private equity, how do bankers switch to private equityPrivate Equity - Interview Preparation - Private Equity Case Study Example – Smart Gaming
Example of a private equity case studyPrivate Equity - Interview Preparation - Private Equity Interview Process Explained
private equity, interviews, buyside, career advicePrivate Equity - Interview Preparation - List of London Private Equity Firms
List of London Private Equity firmsPrivate Equity - Interview Preparation - How to Cold Email PE Professionals
The best strategy to find a job in private equity is often to reach to those firms directly, especially if you feel that there would be a good fit between your background and the firm. In addition, headhunters are very selective when sharing job opportunities in private equity so you might miss out on a potential interview.Private Equity - Interview Preparation - PE Interview: How to Differentiate Yourself
Its is not unusual for Private Equity firms to reveive thousands of CVs per year, even more for the major funds. Similarly, investment professional tend to get bombarded of emails and calls requesting information and help to secure an interview. So how to differentiate yourself amongst all those CVs? 1.Private Equity - Interview Preparation - The Value of MBAs For Private Equity
MBAs in Private EquityPrivate Equity - Interview Preparation - Private Equity Psychometric Tests
The first round of private equity interviews will often consists of numerical and personality tests. Those tests are becoming more and more common nowadays, especially at larger firms that seek to weed out candidates before starting the actual face to face interview process.Private Equity - Interview Preparation - Why Private Equity? Why Our Firm?
This is a question that will be invariably asked during any private equity interview, and is one of the most critical. Most bankers that prepare well and have a good deal experience are able to pass all the technical interview questions, but a lot of them fail on providing a compelling answer to "why PE, why our firm".Private Equity - Interview Preparation - Bulge Bracket Industrials M&A Analyst, London
Barclays Capital: Interview with an Industrials M&A AnalystInvestment Banking - Interviews with M&A; Bankers - DOs and DON'T for summer investment banking interns
what to do during your investment banking internship, tips and adviceInvestment Banking - Interview Preparation - Investment Banking Vice President
What does an investment banking Vice President do?Investment Banking - Interview Preparation - Investment Banking Associate
What does an investment banking associate do?Investment Banking - Interview Preparation - Investment Banking Managing Directors
How do you become an investment banking director or Managing Director? Directors are Vice Presidents that have been promoted to the next level, usually after three years at the Vice President level. In the case of Managing Directors, those are Directors that have been promoted to the next level as well.Investment Banking - Interview Preparation - How to Write an MBA Essay for Bankers and Finance Professionals
how to write an MBA essay, Harvard, Wharton, Stanford, London Business School, Insead, IMD, Columbia, Booth, ChicagoInvestment Banking - Career Advice - Networking Tips During Your Internship
How to network effectively during your internshipInvestment Banking - Career Advice - How to Find a Job after Being Fired?
How to find a job afer being fired in Investment BankingInvestment Banking - Career Advice - What Work Will You Do As a Summer Intern?
What work will you do as an investment banking intern, and how to score points?Investment Banking - Career Advice - How to be a Star analyst
Investment Banking Analysts and Associates Best PracticesInvestment Banking - Career Advice - Evaluations During Your Internship
Internship tips: How will you get evaluated during your internship in investment bankingInvestment Banking - Career Advice - Appraisals: how are bankers evaluated?
Year-end appraisals, bonuses, salaries, promotions and evaluations of investment bankers.Investment Banking - Career Advice - Key mistakes in Private Equity interviews
top mistakes in private equity interviewsPrivate Equity - Interview Preparation - Surviving office politics: find a mentor
As much as we may dislike it, investment banking is a very political world. This can be overwhelming for junior bankers or new recruits who do not know how to navigate the culture of the firm, and often the best way to understand all the "hidden rules" of investment banking, and maximise your career options, is to have a mentor. What is a mentor?Investment Banking - Career Advice - Investment Banking: Hong Kong
Working in investment banking in Hong KongInvestment Banking - Investment Banking Lifestyle - Best Books for Valuation practice
Best Books for Valuation practiceInvestment Banking - Books & Reference Materials - Must-Read Books for the CFA
Preparation books for CFA examInvestment Banking - Books & Reference Materials - Must-read books for bankers
Recommended reading for investment bankingInvestment Banking - Books & Reference Materials - The Personal Interest CV Section
Many students that we have talked to think that the "personal interests", "other interests" or "hobbies" section is not the most important thing on your CV. Here is a CV tip: while it is true that your academic performance and professional experience matters, this section at the bottom of your CV is often quite important too. Why? 1.Investment Banking - CV and Cover Letter - AskIvy CV Review Service
AskIvy provides CV review services targeted at: Students that want to break into finance, especially investment banking Experienced professionals that want to break into investment banking Investment Bankers and Strategy Consultants that want to break into Private Equity How is AskIvy different from any other review service: For investment bInvestment Banking - CV and Cover Letter - Investment Banking Cover Letters
Virtually all investments banks and boutiques will ask you for a cover letter as part of the application process. But how important are those cover letters and what should you really write in investment banking cover letters? Below is some key advice: What are cover letters?Investment Banking - CV and Cover Letter - Activities to improve your I-banking CV
Besides your degree, grades, internships and other experience, there a several ways to improve your CV to make it more attractive to investment banks. Below are few extracurricular activities that we recommend to improve your CV and standout when applying to investment banks.Investment Banking - CV and Cover Letter - Should you work for a boutique investment bank?
boutique investment bank, M&A;, bulge bracket, mid market shopInvestment Banking - Interview Preparation - Managing your online presence
How to manage your online presence for investment banking, private equity or hedge fund interviewsInvestment Banking - Interview Preparation - Common mistakes in investment banking interviews
the most common mistakes in investment banking interviewsInvestment Banking - Interview Preparation - Rejecting a Job Offer or Internship
How to refuse a job offer or an internship?Investment Banking - Interview Preparation - How important are languages in banking?
Are European languages important for investment banking?Investment Banking - Interview Preparation - Investment Banking Assessment Centres
Investment Banking Assessment centres are simply extended periods of interviews organised by London investment banks and held at specific locations (such as a hotel, or in the bank itself).Investment Banking - Interview Preparation - Banking Phone Interviews Tips
Advice for investment Banking Phone InterviewsInvestment Banking - Interview Preparation - Preparing your CV for Private Equity
CV for private equityPrivate Equity - Interview Preparation - Interview tips for non-native speakers
Investment Banking interview tips for international studentsInvestment Banking - Interview Preparation - Advice for non-finance related degrees
Non-finance related degrees for investment bankingInvestment Banking - Interview Preparation - No banking internship: do I have a chance?
I did not do any banking internship: do I still have chance for a the graduate position?Investment Banking - Interview Preparation - Assessment Centre Aptitude Tests
Aptitude tests are online or written tests given by investment banks that consists of a combination of numerical, verbal and logic questions. You will almost always be asked to do those tests online first once your CV has been shortlisted by banks.Investment Banking - Interview Preparation - Investment Banking Technical Questions
Below is a selection of typical investment banking technical interview questions that you would get in an interview. Those are some of the questions that analysts or junior associates would get in an interview, in addition to brainteasers and fit questions.Investment Banking - Interview Preparation - Answer: Do you have questions for me?
Learn how to ask the important question, Do you have questions for me?Investment Banking - Interview Preparation - Top finance movies to watch
finance movies, movies to watch for investment bankersInvestment Banking - Investment Banking Lifestyle - How to stay fit and healthy in banking
How to stay healthy as an investment bankerInvestment Banking - Investment Banking Lifestyle
