Ask an Associate working in Private Equity on Wall Street anything

[Top Boy]

I don't know why.. But I've been crazy motivated lately. Instead of selling myself short I think im actually going to gun for an IB position if capable.

Not sure if you remembered where im at but im in Nebraska.. Do you think it would be possible for me to land a paid internship elsewhere in the country?

Was going to wait until I was in the 3.5+ range, which will be after the second semester of my sophomore year (this upcoming spring).

 

[thug]

^ it depends on how many companies actually post internships at your school

No offense but location of your school sucks. If you were in a bigger city, it would be a lot better.

That said, many companies also post on sites like indeed or whatever so it's not impossible but it will be harder.

Also to get in a 3.5+ range you need like at least 3.7+ both semesters because of your previous 3.0 GPA

 

[Top Boy]

^ it depends on how many companies actually post internships at your school

No offense but location of your school sucks. If you were in a bigger city, it would be a lot better.

That said, many companies also post on sites like indeed or whatever so it's not impossible but it will be harder.

Also to get in a 3.5+ range you need like at least 3.7+ both semesters because of your previous 3.0 GPA

Do you think it would be best to just stick with the internships I can get, and just transfer to a different school for my MBA?

 

[andycrazn]

Is Queens College a good school to take up accounting?

queens college professors suck. its a liberal arts school. im an econ major there and i hate it. im staying cause i got 109 credits

 

[Hank Scorpio]

I know you're not involved in trading, but what do you think of the decline of the NYMEX and just the industry in general? I was an intern at one of the bigger firms there back in 07 and that Summer electronic trading was becoming implemented because of pressure by the banks and the economy hadn't crashed yet. Since that happened, many of the firms have gone belly up because the money that used to be made paper trading isn't there anymore and the economy has yet to recover. 1/100 used to make real money and now its 1/1000. All the firms that are remaining at the NYMEX will be moved to the 3rd and 4th floor which is crazy because the entire building used to be occupied save for the 10th floor which was the conference area. People are still losing their jobs at firms outside of the actual building on Water St and more firms will probably be gone by the end of the year.

What do I think about the NYMEX? Or what do I think about mercantile exchange in general? It's not really my thing and I'm not that interested in it, although I have a few positions in commodities such as Gold, Crude Oil, Aluminum and Natural Gas.

You're right about the industry changing though, but it's not just with the NYMEX. It's happening in all different trading platforms as well. The way people trade is different and it will continue to evolve. That doesn't mean the opportunity to make money isn't there. It goes back to what I was saying when I mentioned there being a "new norm".

I don't know why.. But I've been crazy motivated lately. Instead of selling myself short I think im actually going to gun for an IB position if capable.

Not sure if you remembered where im at but im in Nebraska.. Do you think it would be possible for me to land a paid internship elsewhere in the country?

Was going to wait until I was in the 3.5+ range, which will be after the second semester of my sophomore year (this upcoming spring).

You can possibly get an internship where you are in this part of the country, but it'll be tough for you land one in a BB. Most BB's are located in huge metropolitan areas, and you're closer to the rural area. Like I said earlier, look for something a bit more local that deals with finance. Maybe a public office or a mayoral office.

^ it depends on how many companies actually post internships at your school

No offense but location of your school sucks. If you were in a bigger city, it would be a lot better.

That said, many companies also post on sites like indeed or whatever so it's not impossible but it will be harder.

Also to get in a 3.5+ range you need like at least 3.7+ both semesters because of your previous 3.0 GPA

This guy is right. The location you're in is going to make it hard for you to land something BIG. Even if you go to a school that isn't in a big city, it's important to first see before attending how the OCR is in the school. It may not be worth it to go to a school far away from the city if the recruitment process and resources aren't strong.

Do you think it would be best to just stick with the internships I can get, and just transfer to a different school for my MBA?

Yeah, it would be a good idea to stick with the internships you can get now. But I do have to tell you that if you want to get an MBA, especially from a top program--they all look for applicants to have at least 2 years professional work experience before applying. Most school won't even consider your application if you don't have 2 years of professional work experience after undergrad.

My recommendation would be to find a job in a major city, network your *** off and then study hard for the GMATs. You're going to need to focus on the intangibles (Work experience, GMAT score etc )during your application process to even get a consideration.

queens college professors suck. its a liberal arts school. im an econ major there and i hate it. im staying cause i got 109 credits

This is not true. I know plenty of people who went to Queens College and got plenty of job offers after graduation. They have one of the best accounting recruitment processes i've seen in a CUNY. There's a lot of professors that know professionals and the opportunity to network is there. You just need to take advantage of the resources that are available to you and run with them.

I personally know people who got offers to work full-time at companies from the Big 4 before they graduated. Most of those people all had jobs lined up 6 months before graduation. Those people had good grades, academic involvement, good internships and had great recommendations. When it came time for recruiting season, they all got interviews and got recruited out of school.

As for the professors--I can't speak about that, because I didn't go to Queens College. IDK how they are or what the quality of their lectures are. I can only assume the person who said they weren't great has a bad experience with them and has a very low opinion of them.

 

[secretzofwar]

Asked a similar question earlier, but now I can give you specifics that should help.

Im at the University of Nebraska-Omaha, Finance major, 3.08 GPA, going into sophomore year. I've actually only taken general educations classes. No major specific classes yet.

Gunning for a Financial Analyst position.. Those IB hours per week  

Where do you think would be the best place for me to seek an internship in my city? And is finding a mentor in the field of finance worth the time? Have some pretty legit connects in 100 Black Men and a majority of them are in the six figs. range.

I want to hit the ground running.

You could try stalking Warren Buffett.

 

[andycrazn]

queens college professors suck. its a liberal arts school. im an econ major there and i hate it. im staying cause i got 109 credits

This is not true. I know plenty of people who went to Queens College and got plenty of job offers after graduation. They have one of the best accounting recruitment processes i've seen in a CUNY. There's a lot of professors that know professionals and the opportunity to network is there. You just need to take advantage of the resources that are available to you and run with them.

I personally know people who got offers to work full-time at companies from the Big 4 before they graduated. Most of those people all had jobs lined up 6 months before graduation. Those people had good grades, academic involvement, good internships and had great recommendations. When it came time for recruiting season, they all got interviews and got recruited out of school.

As for the professors--I can't speak about that, because I didn't go to Queens College. IDK how they are or what the quality of their lectures are. I can only assume the person who said they weren't great has a bad experience with them and has a very low opinion of them.[/quote]

the quality of professors in the finance/econ field is horrible. ive realized this college is more of a liberal arts class cause we just had a huge music theatre open up and once in a while we get the big names to perform here on the low. (jerry seinfeld, bill cosby, aziz ansari). from my experience, the best courses with the good professors were english classes.

im really not sure about the accounting field though. i like how they changed the CPA requirements now so even someone with an econ major can qualify to take the tests.

 

[Hank Scorpio]

This is not true. I know plenty of people who went to Queens College and got plenty of job offers after graduation. They have one of the best accounting recruitment processes i've seen in a CUNY. There's a lot of professors that know professionals and the opportunity to network is there. You just need to take advantage of the resources that are available to you and run with them.

I personally know people who got offers to work full-time at companies from the Big 4 before they graduated. Most of those people all had jobs lined up 6 months before graduation. Those people had good grades, academic involvement, good internships and had great recommendations. When it came time for recruiting season, they all got interviews and got recruited out of school.

As for the professors--I can't speak about that, because I didn't go to Queens College. IDK how they are or what the quality of their lectures are. I can only assume the person who said they weren't great has a bad experience with them and has a very low opinion of them.

the quality of professors in the finance/econ field is horrible. ive realized this college is more of a liberal arts class cause we just had a huge music theatre open up and once in a while we get the big names to perform here on the low. (jerry seinfeld, bill cosby, aziz ansari). from my experience, the best courses with the good professors were english classes.

im really not sure about the accounting field though. i like how they changed the CPA requirements now so even someone with an econ major can qualify to take the tests.[/quote]

Jerry Seinfeld went to Queens College and the other acts come because the Student Government is VERY strong in Queens College. They built that Student Union and they always make sure they have a lot of student activities. Student Life really is top-notch there.

 

[thug]

Question about transitioning jobs after graduation: Did you quit your IB job before getting an offer at where you work now or did you get the offer first before quitting? I only ask because in ib you pretty much work all day and there's not really time to sit down for an interview with another company.

Also, did you use a headhunter or just applied on a company site ?

 

[andycrazn]

This is not true. I know plenty of people who went to Queens College and got plenty of job offers after graduation. They have one of the best accounting recruitment processes i've seen in a CUNY. There's a lot of professors that know professionals and the opportunity to network is there. You just need to take advantage of the resources that are available to you and run with them.

I personally know people who got offers to work full-time at companies from the Big 4 before they graduated. Most of those people all had jobs lined up 6 months before graduation. Those people had good grades, academic involvement, good internships and had great recommendations. When it came time for recruiting season, they all got interviews and got recruited out of school.

As for the professors--I can't speak about that, because I didn't go to Queens College. IDK how they are or what the quality of their lectures are. I can only assume the person who said they weren't great has a bad experience with them and has a very low opinion of them.

the quality of professors in the finance/econ field is horrible. ive realized this college is more of a liberal arts class cause we just had a huge music theatre open up and once in a while we get the big names to perform here on the low. (jerry seinfeld, bill cosby, aziz ansari). from my experience, the best courses with the good professors were english classes.

im really not sure about the accounting field though. i like how they changed the CPA requirements now so even someone with an econ major can qualify to take the tests.

Jerry Seinfeld went to Queens College and the other acts come because the Student Government is VERY strong in Queens College. They built that Student Union and they always make sure they have a lot of student activities. Student Life really is top-notch there.[/quote]

yup. im still not sure if fraternities here is serous business or not. one dude asked me to join and all he talked about was how they drink lots of beer and play yugioh cards and poker. mad random but still

 

[Hank Scorpio]

Question about transitioning jobs after graduation: Did you quit your IB job before getting an offer at where you work now or did you get the offer first before quitting? I only ask because in ib you pretty much work all day and there's not really time to sit down for an interview with another company.

Also, did you use a headhunter or just applied on a company site ?

I was recruited right out of IB.

Usually, most PE/HF firms recruit out of the top BB's within the corresponding IBD (Investment Banking Division). I also knew someone who worked for the company as well. They pretty much prepped me for the interview. I had to use some sick days to go to the interviews and the interviewers absolutely knew I was currently still employed with my former company at the time. This is usually the case for the people who transition from IB to PE/HF. Employers understand the demanding schedules in IB and they know things have to moved around for an candidate to make an interview.

yup. im still not sure if fraternities here is serous business or not. one dude asked me to join and all he talked about was how they drink lots of beer and play yugioh cards and poker. mad random but still

Joining a fraternity can help you out, but you need to know which one suits you and if it'll be beneficial for you in the long run. I know some people who were able to get interviews because they had a fraternity brother who already worked in their industry interest. Off the top of my head, I know someone who got an interview at BlackRock, because a VP was an older fraternity brother of his.

Networking strikes again

 

[hugheyfreeman]

Hey, what's up NT. I know there are some people here that want to get into finance/banking/Wall Street etc but don't really know how. There are also some people that have general questions regarding working in finance or what Wall Street is like. If you guys have any questions please feel free to ask.

Before we start, I want to set up some ground-rules:

1. I cannot talk about what company I work for( for obvious reasons).
2. I cannot divulge who I am outside of Niketalk.
3. I cannot talk about current or past deals that I've worked on for my company presently.
4. I cannot release my companies address. All I can say is that it's located in NYC, specifically in Midtown.
5. I cannot get you an interview or a job. I am willing to only give you tips on how to land an interview and network.
6. I cannot talk about my family or divulge my identity.

My Background:
-I'm 25 years old and I started working in Private Equity (referred to as "PE") in the beginning of this Summer.
-Before going into PE, I was in Investment Banking (referred to as "IB") for 2 years at a very well known Investment Bank on Wall Street.
-During my time in IB, I worked specifically in the Mergers and Acquisitions group focusing on valuations and Leverage Buyouts.
-I came from a "Non-target" school here in NYC.
-I'm from NYC, raised in Queens.
-My family were immigrants and didn't have much money when they first came here.
-I graduated Summa and didn't major in Finance.

Ask away

im going to community college, how can i end with a job like yours?

 

[luiscola]

I'm a college grad from one of the target schools. (3.3 GPA, Econ)

I was unsuccessful in obtaining an IB position after making it to 2 different Super Days... 

I have been working outside the financial industry for the past 16 months. 

I am thinking about a second go at IB.

My question... 

Due to the analyst role being largely recruited from target schools' recent grads, would i still be considered in their pool of applicants for an analyst position even though I have been out of school for a while?

Or would going back to school to get my MBA and then pursue a SA/Associate position be better suited for my current situation? 

 

[Hank Scorpio]

im going to community college, how can i end with a job like yours?

I'm not going to lie, It's going to take a LOT of hard work. You're fighting against some pretty tough odds and there will be a lot of things/people that will work against you. It's not impossible to get to IB from where you're at, but it's going to be a tough road. A lot of determination, perseverance and hard work will get you to where you need to go. I'm not saying you have to work hard to get into IB, because you're coming from a CC, but you're going to have to work especially hard because you have to prove yourself.

The common thought people have of students who attend CC's is that they didn't do what they had to do in HS and didn't have the grades to get into a 4-year school. i.e. they think kids from CC's are lazy, stupid, or don't have the necessary skills needed to succeed in IB.

Get your Associates or do 2 years at the CC and make sure your GPA NEVER gets below a 3.8. Get involved in a lot of different activities and make sure you're heavily involved in school organizations and clubs. Then apply to a 4-year school that's reputable or has a strong presence of alumni that's in finance/IB industry. Then make sure you network your *** off when you're in the 4-year school and be as active and involved as possible. Keep going for those internships and never have gaps of inactivity. EVER.

Study those interview guides, find a mentor and immerse yourself in IB and Finance in general. You need to live, breathe, eat and **** out finance. Commitment is key here.

You can get into IB from where you are, but you're going to HAVE to do everything I just said above. Because of where you're starting--No one is going to give you a hand out or look out for you. Interviewers will think you're intellectually incompetent and sometimes, they'll ridicule you. Finance/IB is a tough industry to break into and it can get ugly sometimes. You need to just work harder than the next guy so you can prove that you belong.

Good luck

I'm a college grad from one of the target schools. (3.3 GPA, Econ)


I was unsuccessful in obtaining an IB position after making it to 2 different Super Days... 

I have been working outside the financial industry for the past 16 months. 
I am thinking about a second go at IB.

My question... 

Due to the analyst role being largely recruited from target schools' recent grads, would i still be considered in their pool of applicants for an analyst position even though I have been out of school for a while?

Or would going back to school to get my MBA and then pursue a SA/Associate position be better suited for my current situation? 

You will no longer qualify for an analyst class unfortunately. You're already removed from undergrad for more than 6 months. All the BB's hire candidates strictly out of school, because they want fresh blood

Your only options now would be to network with alumni from your school and see if you can get an interview for Associate positions. Most likely you wont get consideration, because you don't have any similar experience with IB. You can try to get a CFA as well, but if you can get into a top MBA program--then I suggest you go that route and try to get into a Summer Associate position.

I gotta be frank with you though. If got 2 super day invites and struck out--what do you think is wrong? My first thought would be that your GPA was too low. My second reaction is that there may be a fit problem with you. The interviewers probably feel that you don't fit the group or culture of the company. You should do some mock interviews and get some feedback.

Did you think about doing IB when you started college or was it something that you thought of after going to a career fair or something? Showing passion really does make a difference whether or not you get an offer.

 

[hugheyfreeman]

Do you most of the people you know truly enjoy/are passionate about IB/PE? It seems like everyone in my business school wants to do some form of banking cause they see the lifestyle instead of the nature of what the work is instead.

Honestly in just trying to get rich, bit I know it dont come easy like that. Im willing to work hard because I know its not gonna come like that. I do have interest in the financial field and would like to know more about it. But you're right about that, I am in it for the lifestyle, because why not try and get rich before you die know what I mean brah?

 

[hugheyfreeman]

If you're just trying to get rich, why not look at other options? The thing I'm confused is everyone seems to think that banking and it's variants are the secret "go hard for a few years and get filthy rich", someone correct me if I'm wrong but from all the hours per week and stress levels, is the actual salary that high in comparison to how much work you put in?

I think on one of the banking sites (either mergers and inquisitions or poets and quants), they compared an investment banker's salary to a McDonald's worker's.

Im talking about more than just banking, im thinking about investments that I could make that come from all knowledge I know about. I wanna see how the system works and try and capitalize off it. Get me?

 

[luiscola]

You will no longer qualify for an analyst class unfortunately. You're already removed from undergrad for more than 6 months. All the BB's hire candidates strictly out of school, because they want fresh blood

Your only options now would be to network with alumni from your school and see if you can get an interview for Associate positions. Most likely you wont get consideration, because you don't have any similar experience with IB. You can try to get a CFA as well, but if you can get into a top MBA program--then I suggest you go that route and try to get into a Summer Associate position.

I gotta be frank with you though. If got 2 super day invites and struck out--what do you think is wrong? My first thought would be that your GPA was too low. My second reaction is that there may be a fit problem with you. The interviewers probably feel that you don't fit the group or culture of the company. You should do some mock interviews and get some feedback.

Did you think about doing IB when you started college or was it something that you thought of after going to a career fair or something? Showing passion really does make a difference whether or not you get an offer.

first off... thanks for the response and information. 

i figured i didn't qualify for the analyst position anymore. I thought about going into IB when I started college; my passion increased after informational interviewsi had to do for a class. I joined our on campus clubs (though it was hard to be a regular during season) and societies. Unfortunately, I did not read the WSJ everyday... very sporadic at most. 

To address some of your points... my GPA was a question picked on thoroughly throughout my interviewing process compared to the 3.7s, 3.8s, 3.9s i competed against. I know the norm for BB is at least a 3.5+ but i think my story was able to get me past that. But, sitting in the conference room for Super Day and comparing resumes with each other... my first reaction was damn!

Some further background information on me...  I was a former D1 college athlete; my time in college was split between academics, travel, training and my respected sport.   I know that playing a sport doesn't exactly exemplify financial expertise but my plan going into Super Day was to sell them on my quantifiable skills, leadership abilities, and work ethic that were evident throughout my athletic career. It was quite difficult trying to obtain an internship that fit my schedule as both summer and fall were out of the question. 

However, my resume lacked industry experiences and internships that many of my peers had (i found out after the interview.. some interviewers wondered if i wanted to be in financial services because my resume did not reflect that). My resume was sports heavy and only reflected 1 professional internship (I held during my senior year after the season ended). It was quite hard to pitch them my passion, to be a banker, when i did not have any relevant experiences to back it up. 

You may be right about fit; even though I thought i would be a great fit. The firm definitely has a better sense of what they are looking for in an analyst than i do. I thought I performed very well in the interviewing process; I confidently answered everything they asked and still held side bar discussions, when applicable, when they weren't testing my resume and basic finance problems. Hopefully, the time i asked for an extended bathroom break... had the bubble guts from the lunch... didn't completely throw my opportunity in the trash. 

Do BB target MBA programs besides the Harvards, Sterns, Whartons, Kellogs, Haas, Sloans?

I am just trying to be proactive and want to start creating my plan now. 

 

[nocomment6]

Where do you look for information and news?
Is it mostly internal dailys and newsletters? Or the usual FT, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Bloomberg, Marketwatch etc.? Or other?

How's you learn about the profession before getting into it, other than school and personal mentors? Any recommended blogs, websites, forums?

 

[Hank Scorpio]

Do you most of the people you know truly enjoy/are passionate about IB/PE? It seems like everyone in my business school wants to do some form of banking cause they see the lifestyle instead of the nature of what the work is instead.

The people I know who are at the line-level don't really love what they do, only a handful of people you see who are analyst will truly love the job. Although, the people who are higher up seems to really like what they do. They still have the same passion for their work. It's actually nice to see that.

Of course, you're going to see people who hate their jobs across the board, it's bound to happen. But the people who have been doing it for awhile, seem to love it. Again, there are exceptions to this as well. I know some VP's who hate their jobs, and the only reason why they're still doing it in because they all have families and lifestyles they need to maintain.

Honestly in just trying to get rich, bit I know it dont come easy like that. Im willing to work hard because I know its not gonna come like that. I do have interest in the financial field and would like to know more about it. But you're right about that, I am in it for the lifestyle, because why not try and get rich before you die know what I mean brah?

You can get rich doing other things that doesn't require as much effort and time needed in IB. Honestly, IB is a dying field and the money isn't as lucrative as it once was many years ago. In a sense, IB is becoming obsolete. There once was a time when you had the ability to really make a difference in IB and things were fun and creativity really held no bounds. People worked together all for the greater good and cared about their job. It's no longer like that in IB anymore. People are only out for themselves and they're consumed by their own greed and personal agendas. Everything became bureaucratized and now politics become the underlining factor in regards to judging who you are as a worker instead of looking at the quality of your work and what morals you hold. This was one of the reasons why it was so easy for me to leave IB.

If you don't mind me asking, maybe you can PM me the answers--What were your grades like in HS? What classes did you register for this semester? What kind of clubs/organizations were you involved in while attending HS? Did you do any volunteer work or held any kind of leadership role amongst your peers? Why are you enrolled in a CC instead of a 4-year college?

Judging by the answers you give me to those questions--I can gauge what kind of work ethic you have and if you really have the necessary skills to excel in banking. I'm not saying you can't get into banking, but if that is something you want pursue solely for the money, then you have another thing coming. You're going to get hit so hard by reality so fast that you're going to be turned off immediately. I've interviewed so many kids in the last year and went to schools to recruit and I can say I've met every type of student you can imagine: Overachievers, Underachievers, procrastinators, geniuses, trust fund kids, the average student, Black, White, Asian, Indian, Hispanic, Native American. You name it, I've seen it. I've seen all of those those types get offers for IB, but they all had one thing in common--They had an underlining work ethic and drive to succeed in banking. Hell, even some kids who walked into a career fair and saw our table got offers, because they worked hard and knew what they had to do to get into banking.

Just letting you know what to expect and to also remind you--you can make more money doing other things. If you have that kind of attitude and ideology with you when it comes time for an interview, the interviewer will sniff that a mile away and you're going to have the worst hour of your life.

If you're just trying to get rich, why not look at other options? The thing I'm confused is everyone seems to think that banking and it's variants are the secret "go hard for a few years and get filthy rich", someone correct me if I'm wrong but from all the hours per week and stress levels, is the actual salary that high in comparison to how much work you put in?

I think on one of the banking sites (either mergers and inquisitions or poets and quants), they compared an investment banker's salary to a McDonald's worker's.

If you look at IB's payoff in comparison to the stress level and amount of work hours you put in--it's not worth it. The only time it pays off is if you get a decent sized bonus. Without the bonus, it's all overwork.

The McDonald's wage comparison is actually very true, but it's comparing a bankers base-salary without bonus to an average McDonald's worker. Again, once you account for the bonus, a banker makes way more than an McDonald's employee.

Im talking about more than just banking, im thinking about investments that I could make that come from all knowledge I know about. I wanna see how the system works and try and capitalize off it. Get me?

How? Banking is purely working off an institutional level. How will you be able to implement the institutional strategies you've learned in banking and apply that to an individual investment? There's separate rules for that kind of investing. I think you have it mixed up and you need to get a better understanding of what an investment banker actually does.

I think what you're thinking is more in line with a financial adviser or trader. I mean, I'm getting the feeling that you saw the average wages of a bankers and now want to do it because it pays. That's not going to get you in, my dude

You may be right about fit; even though I thought i would be a great fit. The firm definitely has a better sense of what they are looking for in an analyst than i do. I thought I performed very well in the interviewing process; I confidently answered everything they asked and still held side bar discussions, when applicable, when they weren't testing my resume and basic finance problems. Hopefully, the time i asked for an extended bathroom break... had the bubble guts from the lunch... didn't completely throw my opportunity in the trash. 

Do BB target MBA programs besides the Harvards, Sterns, Whartons, Kellogs, Haas, Sloans?
I am just trying to be proactive and want to start creating my plan now. 

You're right, the interviewers and company have a better idea of who they want to bring in. Maybe they just didn't see you as a perfect fit for the group. But I commend you for the time and effort you put in.

I'm going to say what hurt you the most was the lack of financial experience on your resume. Interviewers love hiring athletes, especially the ones who are busy and juggle multiple tasks at once. You showed great time management skills and drive and dedication for what you're in involved in. You were able to swing the low GPA very well and that brought up some consideration, but it's extremely pressing to bring someone in with little to no financial experience and expect them to do well in that kind of environment. Unless you were the nephew of the managing director--you weren't going to get an offer.

Some BB's do hire out of the M7 business schools you mentioned, but they're only looking into highly reputable programs. Michigan, G-town, Duke, UCLA, Chicago, Baruch, Fordham, UT, UW etc etc

Where do you look for information and news?
Is it mostly internal dailys and newsletters? Or the usual FT, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Bloomberg, Marketwatch etc.? Or other?

How's you learn about the profession before getting into it, other than school and personal mentors? Any recommended blogs, websites, forums?

Every morning I look through the typical WSJ, FT, Barrons, Bloomberg and Marketwatch. After I do that, i'll look through Google Finance and read what their top news is. Then I will go to The NY Times and read what's happening around the world. It's very important to keep up with current events whether they are social or financial.

At the end of my day, everyday I try to ask myself 3 things: What's the most important thing that happened domestically? What's the most important thing that happened globally? What's the most important thing that happened financially?

If you can answer those 3 questions, then you'll have a good understanding of what's going on around you.

How'd I learn about banking? I always was into finance. Even when I was a little kid, older people would ask me what I wanted to be when I grew up and I would tell them that I wanted to work with money. I remember when I was in 2nd grade and they taught us about how banks work and I remember being so fascinated by it. I couldn't get enough of how a single bank can hold everyone's money and make it work. Then when I got into HS, I was even more interested in financial because of the boom that was happening. The markets were soaring and so was my interest for finance. I was amazed how so many variables and entities can make money grow or shrink. It was just fascinating. Then, in my junior/senior year--I learned about investment banking and how much it was thriving. It was on the come-up and it had potential to do a lot of good for the country. It gave you the ability to have an impact not only in your life, but the lives of millions of Americans in the country and the billions of people in the world. The work you do in banking truly has a global impact. That was enough for me to decided this is what I wanted to do.

When I got into college, I also wanted to be an engineer. I loved working with my hands and I loved knowing how things worked. I always had a technical side to me, so, I decided to feed that hunger and go into Biomedical Engineering/Economics. I wanted the best of both worlds in finance and engineering. Doing that empowered me to brand myself incredibly well.

As for blogs: You can look into Mergers & Inquisitions and LifeOntheBuySide. Both really good blogs.
As for forums: You can look into Wall Street Oasis. Someone mentioned them earlier, but I do warn anyone that goes there--those guys are ruthless and they are critical of everything. You will get a good handle of how finance is though. They don't hold anything back. Almost everything they speak of in there is the truth.

 

[hugheyfreeman]

The people I know who are at the line-level don't really love what they do, only a handful of people you see who are analyst will truly love the job. Although, the people who are higher up seems to really like what they do. They still have the same passion for their work. It's actually nice to see that.

Of course, you're going to see people who hate their jobs across the board, it's bound to happen. But the people who have been doing it for awhile, seem to love it. Again, there are exceptions to this as well. I know some VP's who hate their jobs, and the only reason why they're still doing it in because they all have families and lifestyles they need to maintain.
You can get rich doing other things that doesn't require as much effort and time needed in IB. Honestly, IB is a dying field and the money isn't as lucrative as it once was many years ago. In a sense, IB is becoming obsolete. There once was a time when you had the ability to really make a difference in IB and things were fun and creativity really held no bounds. People worked together all for the greater good and cared about their job. It's no longer like that in IB anymore. People are only out for themselves and they're consumed by their own greed and personal agendas. Everything became bureaucratized and now politics become the underlining factor in regards to judging who you are as a worker instead of looking at the quality of your work and what morals you hold. This was one of the reasons why it was so easy for me to leave IB.

If you don't mind me asking, maybe you can PM me the answers--What were your grades like in HS? What classes did you register for this semester? What kind of clubs/organizations were you involved in while attending HS? Did you do any volunteer work or held any kind of leadership role amongst your peers? Why are you enrolled in a CC instead of a 4-year college?

Judging by the answers you give me to those questions--I can gauge what kind of work ethic you have and if you really have the necessary skills to excel in banking. I'm not saying you can't get into banking, but if that is something you want pursue solely for the money, then you have another thing coming. You're going to get hit so hard by reality so fast that you're going to be turned off immediately. I've interviewed so many kids in the last year and went to schools to recruit and I can say I've met every type of student you can imagine: Overachievers, Underachievers, procrastinators, geniuses, trust fund kids, the average student, Black, White, Asian, Indian, Hispanic, Native American. You name it, I've seen it. I've seen all of those those types get offers for IB, but they all had one thing in common--They had an underlining work ethic and drive to succeed in banking. Hell, even some kids who walked into a career fair and saw our table got offers, because they worked hard and knew what they had to do to get into banking.

Just letting you know what to expect and to also remind you--you can make more money doing other things. If you have that kind of attitude and ideology with you when it comes time for an interview, the interviewer will sniff that a mile away and you're going to have the worst hour of your life.
If you look at IB's payoff in comparison to the stress level and amount of work hours you put in--it's not worth it. The only time it pays off is if you get a decent sized bonus. Without the bonus, it's all overwork.

The McDonald's wage comparison is actually very true, but it's comparing a bankers base-salary without bonus to an average McDonald's worker. Again, once you account for the bonus, a banker makes way more than an McDonald's employee.
How? Banking is purely working off an institutional level. How will you be able to implement the institutional strategies you've learned in banking and apply that to an individual investment? There's separate rules for that kind of investing. I think you have it mixed up and you need to get a better understanding of what an investment banker actually does.

I think what you're thinking is more in line with a financial adviser or trader. I mean, I'm getting the feeling that you saw the average wages of a bankers and now want to do it because it pays. That's not going to get you in, my dude

You're right, the interviewers and company have a better idea of who they want to bring in. Maybe they just didn't see you as a perfect fit for the group. But I commend you for the time and effort you put in.

I'm going to say what hurt you the most was the lack of financial experience on your resume. Interviewers love hiring athletes, especially the ones who are busy and juggle multiple tasks at once. You showed great time management skills and drive and dedication for what you're in involved in. You were able to swing the low GPA very well and that brought up some consideration, but it's extremely pressing to bring someone in with little to no financial experience and expect them to do well in that kind of environment. Unless you were the nephew of the managing director--you weren't going to get an offer.

Some BB's do hire out of the M7 business schools you mentioned, but they're only looking into highly reputable programs. Michigan, G-town, Duke, UCLA, Chicago, Baruch, Fordham, UT, UW etc etc
Every morning I look through the typical WSJ, FT, Barrons, Bloomberg and Marketwatch. After I do that, i'll look through Google Finance and read what their top news is. Then I will go to The NY Times and read what's happening around the world. It's very important to keep up with current events whether they are social or financial.

At the end of my day, everyday I try to ask myself 3 things: What's the most important thing that happened domestically? What's the most important thing that happened globally? What's the most important thing that happened financially?

If you can answer those 3 questions, then you'll have a good understanding of what's going on around you.

How'd I learn about banking? I always was into finance. Even when I was a little kid, older people would ask me what I wanted to be when I grew up and I would tell them that I wanted to work with money. I remember when I was in 2nd grade and they taught us about how banks work and I remember being so fascinated by it. I couldn't get enough of how a single bank can hold everyone's money and make it work. Then when I got into HS, I was even more interested in financial because of the boom that was happening. The markets were soaring and so was my interest for finance. I was amazed how so many variables and entities can make money grow or shrink. It was just fascinating. Then, in my junior/senior year--I learned about investment banking and how much it was thriving. It was on the come-up and it had potential to do a lot of good for the country. It gave you the ability to have an impact not only in your life, but the lives of millions of Americans in the country and the billions of people in the world. The work you do in banking truly has a global impact. That was enough for me to decided this is what I wanted to do.

When I got into college, I also wanted to be an engineer. I loved working with my hands and I loved knowing how things worked. I always had a technical side to me, so, I decided to feed that hunger and go into Biomedical Engineering/Economics. I wanted the best of both worlds in finance and engineering. Doing that empowered me to brand myself incredibly well.

As for blogs: You can look into Mergers & Inquisitions and LifeOntheBuySide. Both really good blogs.
As for forums: You can look into Wall Street Oasis. Someone mentioned them earlier, but I do warn anyone that goes there--those guys are ruthless and they are critical of everything. You will get a good handle of how finance is though. They don't hold anything back. Almost everything they speak of in there is the truth.

Guess i got another thing coming , i guess im going to have to look into what i wanna do alot more instead of being that same old person in it for the money. but appreciate the response man. IM starting CC next year, and my grades and worth ethic weren't all that great, but im doin some major trial and error to get my self to improve .

 

[nocomment6]

Thanks for that. Just joined wallstreetoasis a couple of days ago.

 

[luiscola]

thanks for the info hank!

 

[rhester]

thanks for that wallstreetoasis site, alot of good info is on there.

 

[bangdak]

Never heard of LifeonTheBuySide. Will take a look at that one.

M&I is a really good site though. Tons of info dropped from Brian.

 

[Hank Scorpio]

Thanks for that. Just joined wallstreetoasis a couple of days ago.

WSO is a great site, filled with a ton of information. I just want to forewarn you and everyone else--If you guys think NT is blunt and harsh, you have another thing coming with WSO. Those guys are brutally honest and they will take any chance they have to rip other people apart and crush their dreams. You have to remember, a lot of the people there are all competing for jobs/internships.

To them, they don't see you as a community member. They see you as their competition. It's a great site, don't get me wrong. It's just too mean sometimes

thanks for that wallstreetoasis site, alot of good info is on there.

Like I said in the post above this one, it's too brutally honest. Everyone should take it for what it's worth. Not everyone in WSO is out to cut everyone's throats, but a large portion of the community is

Never heard of LifeonTheBuySide. Will take a look at that one.

M&I is a really good site though. Tons of info dropped from Brian.

M&I is really the first financial-insider blog. It pioneered the game really. Life on the buy side is very much similar to M&I, the only difference is that it focuses solely on the buy-side of finance.