You're going to love this! To save you time in applying for jobs, I've collated links that take you directly to the recruitment section of the top 50 investment banks' websites. I list the top 20 then the next 30, each group is in alphabetical order.
​

​Barclays Capital is the investment banking arm of Barclays plc. Headquartered in London, they are a large full-service investment bank with offices in over 29 countries. In 2008, when Lehman collapsed they acquired many of Lehman's US assets thus increasing their presence in North America by a significant margin. 

​BNP Paribas is headquartered in Paris with a second global headquarters in London. You might not have heard of them but in 2010 they were actually ranked as the largest bank by assets according to Bloomberg and Forbes (with $3 trillion in assets).

In 2011, BNP remained the world's biggest bank by total assets as seen in this article by Global Finance. After acquiring a 75% stake in Fortis Bank in 2009, BNP became the largest bank in the eurozone by deposits held.

​Citigroup is one of the world's largest banks with some presence in over 140 countries. The current entity is a product of one of the world's largest mergers that combined Citicorp and Travelers group in 1998. They suffered massively during the 2007-2009 credit crunch but ultimately survived the whirl winds.

For each region where they operate, the Citi website has a descriptive page explaining the programs available in that region. 

​Headquartered in Paris, Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank (CIB) has some presence in 58 countries.

​Headquartered in Zurich (Switzerland), Credit Suisse has a presence in 50 countries.

I do try to remain neutral in these profile but I am positively impressed by the Credit Suisse careers section. It's very well structured, easy to navigate and filled with information.

Select the desired country before exploring the career opportunities.

​Headquartered in Frankfurt (Germany), Deutsche Bank has a presence in over 70 countries.

​According to Euromoney, Deutsche was the top FX dealer in 2009 for the fifth year in a row with a 21% market share. More recent surveys are available but require a subscription to access.

​Headquartered in New York City and initially founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs has a presence in every major financial center in the world. 

Use the links below to get to the recruitment section that you need. 

Having worked as an IBD Analyst at Goldman Sachs for two years myself, I can vouch for them as a great employer. Get your application in right away. In addition to the link below make sure you peruse the site thoroughly because they periodically also offer off-cycle and other 'non-standard' programs.

​Headquartered in London, HSBC has a presence in over 85 countries. HSBC's routes lie in Hong Kong and Shanghai but after its acquisition of UK's Midland Bank in 1991, HSBC has positioned itself as a British bank with a global presence. 

Its Asian roots uniquely positioned HSBC to participate in interesting emerging market transactions during the worst of the 2007-2009 credit crunch immediately diversifying their business away from faltering developed economies.  

With just under five years of experience in HSBC's Derivatives Structuring business I can definitely say that you will enjoy a varied and broad career at HSBC. 

Headquartered in Turin (Italy), Intesa Sanpaolo is the product of a merger between Banca Intesa and Sanpaolo IMI in 2007.

They currently have a corporate and investment banking division in c.39 countries.

​Investment banking revenue forms only about 20% of the group's revenues at the moment. Intesa Sanpaolo is very much a European bank with over 90% of revenues coming from Europe and over three-quarters of that is still from Italian business.

​Headquartered in New York City, JP Morgan is the largest bank in the US by assets and market cap according to Forbes' 2011 list of the 2,000 largest publicly listed companies. HSBC was second on this list. 

The JP Morgan's careers site is filled with information so in addition to using the below link make sure you look around the site for more tips.

​Headquartered in Tokyo, Mizuho is the third largest bank in Japan after Mitsubishi UFG and Sumitomo Mitsui FG. Mizuho is the product of a 2001 merger of three other Japanese banks.

The English version of their careers website is still very basic. If you read Japanese, however, you're in luck, that section seems to be packed with information.

​Headquartered in New York City and initially founded in 1935, Morgan Stanley has a presence in 42 countries. 

​Headquartered in Toronto (Canada) RBC Capital is huge but is regionally concentrated; they operate across 15 countries in North America, Asia, Australia and Europe (including the UK).

​By market cap, RBC is the 10th largest major bank globally on the 2011 Forbes 2000 list. 

​Headquartered in Edinburgh, Scotland RBS is a commercial bank with a significant investment banking division.

In addition to a summer internship program, take note that RBS also offers winter and spring (Easter) programs in London and Europe.

​Headquartered in Paris, SocGen is one of Europe's oldest banks with origins dating back to 1864.  

​It is the second largest French bank after BNP Paribas. SocGen Corporate & Investment Banking is the investment banking arm of SocGen.

The SocGen careers site has generic role description pages. You will need to specify your region and role of interest in the application form. Get your magnifying glass out, however, the font size on the website is tiny!

​Headquartered in Zurich & Basel (Switzerland), UBS was founded in 1854 and has offices in over 50 countries.

​UBS is mostly recognised as an asset management powerhouse but also has a significant investment banking division.

​Headquartered in Rome & Milan (Italy), Unicredit can trace its roots all the way back to 1473. The current entity is a product of many historical mergers.

Unicredit has a significant capital markets division but a relatively smaller corporate finance unit. Investment banking activities are located in London, Milan, Munich, Vienna, Budapest and Warsaw

​Headquartered in San Francisco (USA) and founded in 1852, Wells Fargo is the largest US bank by market cap.

The Wells Fargo careers site for the US is a lot more developed than their international site.

​Headquartered in Düsseldorf (Germany), West LB has some capital markets activity as well as a corporate finance division.

Currently the WestLB careers site is focused on Germany and highly generic so please excuse the paucity of links below.

​Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) is one of the "Big Four" banks in Australia along with Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank (NAB) and Westpac. 

​Founded in 1835, ANZ has its headquarters in Melbourne, Australia. Recruitment is generally focused on Australia and New Zealand.

​I love the rockstar theme of their recruitment pages though, according to ANZ, "When it comes to your career, who you choose for your first gig is everything." Love it.

​Banco Popolare was established in 2007 from the merger of two Italian banks: Banco Popolare di Verona e Novara and Banca Popolare Italiana.

You might find capital markets roles here. That said, unfortunately, the recruitment process is not explained in any detail, the recruitment site goes almost immediately to an application form.

Founded in 1912 and headquartered in Beijing, Bank of China is one of the "Big Four" banks in China.

It is also the oldest bank in China. BOC opened their first overseas branch in London in 1929 and their first New York branch in 1981. 

​They first went public on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in October 2002. 

​Founded in 1972 and headquartered in Munchen (Germany), Bayern LB is one of the ten largest banks in Germany.

To apply to Bayern LB you need to be a fluent German speaker, according to their website. I guess that makes sense because they are trying to serve German speaking customers.

​There doesn't appear to be a corporate finance function at Bayern but you could get good capital markets exposure.

​Formed by a merger between Banco Bilbao Vizcaya and Argentaria in 1999, BBVA is headquartered in Bilbao (Spain).

​The bank can trace its roots all the way back to 1857. After a major expansion overseas BBVA now operates in over 30 countries.

​Formed from the acquisition of Nesbitt Thomas in 1987, BMO Capital Markets is headquartered in Toronto (Ontario, Canada).

BMO is very much an investment bank with both a fully fletched corporate finance department and a full capital markets offering.

Founded in 1954 and headquartered in Beijing, China Construction Bank is one of the "Big Four" banks in China.

CCB only recently started expanding abroad: they opened a London office in 2-Jun-09 and a New York office a few days later on 6-Jun-09. Investment banking functions were added a couple of years later.

​Bank of America bought a 9% stake in CCB in 2005 but in order to raise cash in 2011 they decided to sell a large portion of their shares.

​Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, CIBC was founded in 1867 and is headquartered in Toronto (Ontario, Canada). CIBC is a commercial bank and its investment banking arm is CIBC World Markets.

​CIBC World Markets has grown through a series of acquisitions that have included US-based Oppenheimer & Co. and the Canadian brokerage Woody, Gundy & Co.

Founded in 1995 and headquartered in Beijing, CICC is more investment banking focused than the Big Four (AgBank, BOC, CCB and ICBC).

​CICC was started as a JV between various parties including Morgan Stanley. They sold their stake to a group of private equity investors including GIC, KKR and TPG capital in 2010/11.

Founded in 1999 and headquartered in Shenzhen in the Guangdong district of China, Citic Securities like (CICC) is more investment banking focused than the Big Four (AgBank, BOC, CCB and ICBC). Citic Securities listed on the Shanghai stock exchange in 2003.

​Founded in 1870, Commerzbank is the second largest bank in Germany after Deutsche. Their headquarters is in Frankfurt.

In 2009 they acquired Dresdner Bank which was another large German bank. They have a significant capital markets division, however, corporate finance activities were wound up.

​Commonwealth Bank is one of the "Big Four" banks in Australia along with ANZ, National Australia Bank (NAB) and Westpac. 

Originally established as a state-owned bank in 1911, Commonwealth Bank was publicly listed in 1991. They are headquartered in Sydney, Australia.

​Headquartered in Tokyo and founded in 1902, Daiwa is Japan's second largest brokerage house after Nomura. 

​Headquartered in Frankfurt and founded in the mid-1800s, DZ Bank is one of the five largest banks in Germany.

DZ Bank is a commercial bank with some investment banking activities. They serve a German-speaking client base so you're probably going to need to speak fluent German to work at DZ.

​Headquartered in Frankfurt and Erfurt (Germany), Helaba was formed from a merger between three separate German banks in 1953. Helaba's origins date back to 1940.

Helaba is a commercial bank with some investment banking activities. They serve a German-speaking client base so you're probably going to need to speak fluent German to work at Helaba.

Currently the careers website combines commercial and investment banking roles. 

Founded in 1984 and headquartered in Beijing, ICBC is one of the "Big Four" banks in China. It is the 'youngest' of the Big Four but is the largest bank in the world by market cap; at the time the Forbes 2000 list was constructed its market cap was $239.5bn. HSBC came next with $186.5bn, closely followed by JP Morgan Chase with $182.2bn.

They don't have a dedicated investment banking careers site, it's combined with commercial banking.

​Headquartered in Amsterdam (Netherlands), ING was formed from a merger in 1991 but the bank can trace its roots all the way back to 1743.

ING has a large international presence with offices in over 40 countries.

​Headquartered in Stuttgart (Germany), Helaba was formed from a merger between three separate German banks in 1999 and a fourth bank BW-Bank in 2005. The bank can trace its roots all the way back to 1818.

LBBW is a commercial bank with some investment banking activities. They serve a German-speaking client base so you're going to need to speak fluent German to work at LBBW.

​Mitsubishi UFJ Securities International (MUSI) is the investment banking unit of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG).

MUSI was founded in 2005 through a merger and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. They operate a fully-fletched Debt and Equity Capital Markets Business. They do not currently have a corporate finance unit.

​NAB is one of the "Big Four" banks in Australia along with ANZ, Commonwealth Bank and Westpac. NAB was founded in 1893 and is headquartered in Melbourne, Australia.

​They have operations across 10 countries primarily is Australasia but are also located in London. They have some retail banking in the US.

NAB have a thriving debt capital markets division.

​Founded in 2006, Natixis is headquartered in France. They operate a fully-fletched Debt and Equity Capital Markets Business. They do not currently have a corporate finance unit.

The application form suggests that you can look for opportunities in Paris, New York, Texas, Mexico, Peru and Sao Paulo.

​With foundations dating back to 1925, Nomura is headquartered in Japan. They are the leading securities firm in Japan.

They operate both a debt and equity capital markets business as well as a corporate finance unit.

​Founded in 1970, NORD/LB is headquartered in Hanover, Germany.

NORD/LB perform a variety of investment banking functions and are particularly prominent in bond origination.

They operate both a debt and equity capital markets business as well as a corporate finance unit.

​Founded in 1857, Santander is headquartered in Santander, Spain.

Santander is in the list of the top ten "Major Banks" by market cap on the Forbes 2000 list.

​Founded in 1832, Scotiabank is headquartered in Halifax, Nova Scotia (Canada). It is one of the top 3 banks in Canada by market cap.

​Founded in 1969, Standard Chartered is headquartered in London, UK.

​Standard Chartered is largely a commercial bank with an expanding investment banking unit. It has a presence in about 70 countries.

​Headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SMFG) was founded in 2002 by the Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC).

​With foundations dating back to in 1855, TD Securities is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.

They provide both corporate finance and capital markets activities.

​Westpac is one of the "Big Four" banks in Australia along with ANZ, Commonwealth Bank and National Australia Bank (NAB). Westpac was established in 1982 but can trace its roots all the way back to 1817. They are headquartered in Sydney, Australia.

Westpac's equity and debt capital markets division gets a fair amount of flow.

That's all 50!

​Save this page to your web browser favourites to ease the job-hunting burden. Need help deciding where to apply? See how can help you. 

How were the banks chosen? 

These are the Top 50 deal makers as described in Table 2.3 of To Become an Investment Banker. To make navigation easier, they list is divided into 'Top 20' and 'Next 30' then each list is ordered alphabetically. 'Analyst' programs are designed for recent graduates with no full-time work experience and 'Associate' or 'Ph.D.' programs are designed for those with two years or more of full-time work experience.

by Girl Banker 

Listen to the iTunes podcast instead. 

Totally swamped? Don’t know how to cope with your current work load never mind making investment bank internship applications? Well, as important as getting top grades is, getting a job is just as important. In fact, I recently had a similar work load problem. I signed up to do an online course on building informational apps and I simply couldn’t fit it in.

The solution? An hour a day!

As busy as I am, I decided that I could dedicate an hour every day to the cause as it was important enough. By sticking to that commitment I have managed to finish the course within two weeks. You can do the same for your job applications.

You don’t have to do everything in one go. 

Split the investment banking application process into one-hour batches and spread it over the next three or four weeks. I personally wouldn’t wait until the Christmas holidays to make applications because some banks are reading applications as they come through and not only inviting people for interviews but making internship offers. This means the pool of internships available is shrinking every week. Here is how you can organise yourself:

1.      The first application is the most crucial, it sets the trend for the rest. I wouldn’t submit an application for the first week to ten days. Week one is ‘research week’. You need to figure out:

• How the investment bank recruitment process works
• What your primary qualities are and how your experiences validate these qualities
• How to answer questions in such a way that you get job interviews
• Importantly, which banks to apply to (you can start at girlbanker.com/banks)

At this point, I am of course going to do like any self-respecting author and plug my book, To Become an Investment Banker (spare yourself the reading and get the audiobook). It contains all the above and much more! The audio book is just over 9 hours long.

2.      Research done, it’s time to log onto investment bank sites and draft your first answers. In order to get access to the questions, you’ll need to enter some personal details into an online application form.

Enter whatever details you need to give to gain access to the application form, then copy and paste the questions into a word processor. Do this for two or three banks.

3.      Draft some answers. Read through your answers. Ensure all claims are validated with a relevant example.

4.      Get an independent opinion on your application form. If you can’t afford professional help get a friend to do it. If your friend’s feedback is very brief or overly complimentary get another friend to check your answers.

Keep in mind that friends can find it hard to give constructive feedback. I had one guy send me one if his friend’s cover letters and ask what I thought of it. I thought it was rubbish, he did too but he didn’t know how to tell his friend so he just left it at that!

5.      When you are happy with one application, send it off. Getting happy with the first application will probably take 5 to 6 one-hour slots.

6.      Move on to application two. This will take 3 to 4 one-hour slots. Once you have the hang of it and there is sufficient overlap between questions you will get it done even faster.

An hour a day is all you need to get all your applications done in 3 to 4 weeks. Get on with it!

​by Girl Banker

At junior levels all banks want just one thing: someone with the right attitude. They will train you to ensure you have the technical skills but underlying all that they want a go-getter, someone who is hungry to excel. That is the fundamental requirement.

Investment banks vet their applicants with extreme care. The majority of their hiring needs are satisfied through their annual recruitment of new graduates.

The vast majority of new hires are recruited after completing an eight to twelve week internship the year before they embark on full time employment. Many universities don’t emphasize this point hard enough: if you want to become an investment banker, do an internship a year before you graduate. 

That said, a résumé/CV looks more interesting if you have a variety of different experiences: one solid banking internship plus two or three other out-of-the-box experiences (charity work, other industry or business experience) will do much more for you than three banking internships. ​

​by Girl Banker

This is a very popular question amongst students who want to become investment bankers. The process is very similar across different investment banks and works as follows:

1. An internship application is submitted, usually using a standardized online form (rather than your own stylized résumé/CV).

2. Once your application has been accepted, the interview(s) you are invited to will normally entail all of the following:

• An aptitude test online or on paper
• A case study and/or brainteasers
• A competency based interview
• A technical interview

3. Accepted to intern in the summer.

4. After the summer internship, you receive a hire letter or a letter stating that you will not be offered a full-time position.

The proportion of interns offered full-time contracts varies from year to year and from bank to bank; it is never 100%. Usually banks will recruit a few more people from outside the summer program but at the moment many are not doing this; banks are selecting the best summer interns and that's it, so getting an internship is critical to becoming an investment banker. 

If you’ve interned but have not secured a full-time job, you will have a better chance of securing an alternative entry-level position than if you hadn’t interned at all, so do not despair. Some banks may not have filled all of their positions from the internship program and will look to fill in those roles with people like you. 

​by Girl Banker

If you are trying to become an investment banker, there are two routes you should look at if you are still in university and three routes if you are already a couple or years or more into your career.

1. Use your university’s careers service. 

Investment banks may visit your university specifically to recruit the best scholars. If you are at a top-end university they may even have a unique recruitment program/process for your institution that you can use.

Even if you graduated ages ago, call up your university to check if they have resources that might help you in your job search. I recently discovered that the university of Cambridge offers lifetime help and support to alumni, I had no idea. I am sure this is not unique to my university.

2. Apply directly via the bank’s website. 

Your university careers service won’t have knowledge on every single investment bank. It is definitely worth exploring the careers section of banks independently and applying more widely to increase your chances of becoming an investment banker. 

3. Call up some headhunters

If you have work experience that investment banks would find valuable above the entry level, you can use headhunters. If you're young and haven't started your career yet, this route is mostly closed to you.

In a recession, headhunters' books will also be thin but the very best ones will still have access to new positions especially at the senior level. Call them up and get your resume/CV in front of them.

Whichever method you use, network proactively. Get to know people connected to the industry and learn as much as you can from each.

​by Girl Banker

Your resume/CV is the first opportunity that you get to market yourself. 

Through your CV the recruiter decides whether or not to interview you and indeed, whether they 'like' you or not. You want everything about your resume/CV to say, I'm the person for this job, hire me! Here are some pointers to help you get noticed:

1. Avoid information overkill
Try to keep it to one page but two pages is okay if there is a lot of white space. All important information should be on the first page; if page one is unimpressive the recruiter will not waste any time by going to page 2.

2. Bold the important facts so that they stand out
Some people only skim read. If you bold your key selling points then they won't miss them.

3. Stick to short bullet points
The maximum length of any bullet point should be two lines, ideally. It stops the reader from getting bored. Don't use a narrative style, write in short punchy sentences.

4. Don't make any grammatical or spelling errors - not even one. Such mistakes say:

• I am lazy
• I have poor attention to detail
• I'm not not client-ready
• I can't work independently
• I'm a poor quality hire

5. Only include facts that make you relevant to the job at hand
A resume / CV is a snapshot of your qualifications for a specific job. You don't need to include:

• Interests or hobbies, unless they directly add to your value as a new hire
• Previous salaries
• Reasons for leaving former jobs

6. Don't mass produce your resume / CV
Unless you are applying for identical roles in different companies, you should not send identical resumes/ CVs out. Customise them according to what you are applying for. 

If you're applying to a TMT Team in IBD mention things that highlight your tech knowledge. Can you build apps and websites? Which web building languages do you use? Although you won't be doing any of this stuff it shows you are plugged in to the psyche of the tech world. If you are applying to a Healthcare team that tech knowledge is going to look misplaced so you'd include less of it.

7. Lacking relevant work experience? Focus on your skills. 
Even if you have never worked before, whatever life experiences you have, there will be some transferable skills. Organisational skills developed as result of being the eldest of five children? Experience dealing with difficult situations as a result of being the Head of House at school? Mental perseverance developed from being a top athlete or musician at school and having to train for crazy hours when most of your friends were chilling and having a laugh.

8. Don't hide anything
Make sure to have dates clearly displayed so it doesn't seem as though you're hiding career gaps.

9. Don't lie or exaggerate achievements 
Investment banks do background checks on all CVs, especially if you are an experienced hire so they will find out anything that is not true.

10. Get a second opinion
Even if you cannot afford professional help a friend will be able to point out typos that you might have missed and other irrelevant detail. Try to ask a friend that has some experience with looking for jobs as they'll know a little more about what employers are looking for. If you can afford it, getting an independent investment banking coach/mentor will help to place you ahead of the competition. 

Here is an example of a good resume / CV, it's the actual CV I used to move from IBD to Derivative Sales without any changes. It's not 100% perfect but I purposefully haven't changed it because I wanted to use a real CV that got a real job.

by Girl Banker
​
Listen to the iTunes podcast instead.
 
These are the eight things that will get you a job in investment banking. I believe having seven out of these eight helped me get into Goldman Sachs as a newbie analyst.

1.      Gain knowledge

Read the news! At first you might feel like it’s a waste of time especially if you’re not interviewing yet but as time passes you’ll realize that some knowledge just sticks.

Without a shadow of doubt, if you spend 20-30 minutes per day on financial press, your overall knowledge and feel for the industry will start to become well-rounded.

2.      Come top of the Class or Course

If you came top in any class or course - highlight it, it means you’re smart; smart = hard working (normally).

In my second year in university, I came 5th in the Econometrics paper – you best believe that I brought that up interviews. Econometrics is hard and to come 5th out of about 150 people in a University of Cambridge class is the sort stuff interviewers are going to remember afterwards.

3.      Be an Achiever - prizes, awards and scholarships

Even if you’re not top of a class, any major prizes, awards and scholarships must be revealed when the opportunity arises.

This sort of stuff shows that you are an achiever, bankers love to work with and be associated with high performers.

4.      Be a Team Captain

If you are captain of any sporting teams - don't forget to bring it up; out of any other credentials you might have, this shows you are popular and hence personable the most. Especially at the secondary school level, to be awarded the role of captain you need to be liked by the teacher and the people you will be in charge of.

by Girl Banker

Listen to the iTunes podcast instead.

This post is related to, The most effective 10-step strategy for cold calling an investment banker. However, this post is concerned only with the actual phone call not the research and data gathering.

1. Sound upbeat 
A monotonous voice will bore the person you are calling and they'll want to get you off the phone as soon as possible.

2. Work on your high-pitched voice
If you have a high-pitched voice practice talking at a lower tone. High-pitched voices are generally perceived to be irritating.

3. Before you hit the dial button, practice
You can either do this yourself using the voice recorder on your phone or with a friend/family/professional coach. Video isn't necessary because only your voice matters in this case.

4. State your name.

5. State where you got the person's details if possible
If you can say how you came to know of the person, that is very useful for building rapport. I found your details on LinkedIn is not a good line, you'll sound like a stalker. However, if you found details on the company's website, say so. 

by Girl Banker

Listen to the iTunes podcast instead.

If you haven't reached the penultimate year of university, you don't really need the information below. Get a copy of To Become an Investment Banker and follow the path that has been outlined in there. 

If you have graduated, are near graduation or indeed, well into another career, you might need to search more aggressively to get your foot in the door.

1. Decide which investment banks to target

If you don't know which banks you want to focus on, have a look at the top 50 banks. GirlBanker.com/Banks has a lot of links that take you directly to the recruitment pages of the top 50 investment banks. The biggest banks provide a lot of information so any basic queries you might have will be answered on their website.

2. LinkedIn

Lots of people voluntarily put their resumes/CVs onto LinkedIn. Before LinkedIn was publicly listed in 2011, you could get all manner of information; but because they now need to make money for their shareholders, some information is withheld from basic account users. They only show enough to entice you to upgrade to fee-paying status.

If you have some generic questions about jobs at the company search for:
"Investment Bank" + "Human Resources"
"Investment Bank" + "Human Capital Management"
"Investment Bank" + "Recruitment"

Terms like investment banking division (IBD), or capital markets will not get you very far. Any big bank will have a huge IBD or capital markets department so you need to be a lot more specific than this. You should have a pretty clear idea of what teams you are interested in.

Examples of good searches for team members:
"Investment Bank" + "FX Sales"
"Investment Bank" + "Derivative Sales"
"Investment Bank" + "Credit Trading"
"Investment Bank" + "TMT"
"Investment Bank" + "Leveraged Finance"
"Investment Bank" + "Healthcare"

Normally, this only yields a name but not an email address.

That said, read through the person's details and you might find their email included in their job summary. This is especially true for people that are actively trying to fill a role at the firm.

3. Google

You can repeat the above searches on Google. In addition, 

a) Search for phone numbers: you're unlikely to get a direct number so just look for a reception number;

b) Search for emails: it's easy if the person has a basic name. Most investment bank emails follow the format firstname.lastname@bank.com. Some investment banks have abbreviated emails i.e. @gs.com not @goldmansachs.com. Google what you think the email might be then email your contact. If the email you deduce is correct, it won't bounce back.

c) Search the web for any information available on the person: to get a better picture of who the person is. It gives you more to talk about when you call/write.

What do you do once you have a name, department and some basic details?

4. Call or write

You can call via reception. Seriously, if you call the reception at most banks and ask to be connected to "So and So" they will put you straight through!

I would say email is better than a physical letter in this case. Most people in an investment bank are extremely busy. Helping someone get a job doesn't yield anything for them (usually); any mail received will quickly be forgotten about and it will not be actioned. 

A letter followed by an email or a phone call might be more memorable. If you have a very creative idea in terms of how to wow them with a physical letter - do it! ​

by Girl Banker
​
Listen to the iTunes podcast instead.

This is the one question that everyone wants answered. Investment bankers' compensation is made up for two parts - base pay and a bonus. 

• Base pay is usually relatively uniform across the firm for people of that level. 
• The bonus varies according to how hard you work and of course how great an ass licker you are! Some people really know how to work the system. 

Base pay is very transparent so let's start with that: