career advice

Investment Banking Vice President

How do you become an investment banking vice president?

In the large majority of cases, vice presidents are associates that have been promoted to the next level (usually after three to three and a half years at the associate level). The promotion to vice president is highly competitive, and it is quite common for associates to be fired in their third year if they do not display a strong enough potential. In a minority of cases, senior managers from the industry can enter banking at the vice president level.

Exit Opportunities for Investment Bankers

Exit opportunities at the Analyst level

Exit opportunities at the analyst level are plenty! Investment banking analysts are a very hot commodity (especially at the top investments banks) and you will get calls from headhunters after a couple of weeks in your new job, and they won't stop calling. This is because analysts are young, well trained, ambitious, work very hard and can handle stress. The more deals you have closed and the more prestigious the bank you work for, the more frequent the calls will be.

Should I study a Masters or an MBA?

If you want to break into investment banking or if you simply want to boost your career prospects and build a deeper expertise in finance, you may ask yourself what are the pros and cons of going to study an MBA or a masters. In reality, these degrees are very different, not only in terms of content but also on terms of cost and job opportunities on graduation.

Preparing your CV for Private Equity

If your ambition is to work for a private equity fund, not only must your resume go past the headhunters, which are notoriously picky about who they send for PE interviews, but it needs to get you a foot in the door of PE funds. Tailoiring your CV is a critical part of the application process, because it will be used in the numerous steps that will follow if you are invited for a first round interview. In the UK, Private Equity funds will typically look for the following qualities in your CV :

>> Business Judgement
>> Strategic perspective and understanding
>> Interest for investing

Should I do an MBA? MBAs for dummies

What is an MBA?

An MBA is a Master of Business Administration, typically a two-year degree, but some schools have one-year MBAs (Insead and IMD). You'll learn mostly about management and leadership, although you can specialise with a major in finance, marketing, strategy, etc.

How to answer "why investment banking"

For students and graduates, besides the technical questions,CVs, questions and brainteasers, this is a question you WILL get during asked at interviews: "Why investment banking?"

There is no engineered answer for this, but, based on our experience of interviewing candidates, the best answers are:

1) The learning curve in investment banking is very steep and you want to learn a lot and take on new challenges