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On Investment Banking

Top 50 Investment Banks - Which Investment Bank Should You Apply To?

11/8/2016

1 Comment

 
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.
​

TOP 20 INVESTMENT BANKS (in alphabetical order)
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Bank of America Merrill Lynch

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Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAML) is the corporate and investment banking arm of Bank of America. Headquartered in New York City, they are a large full-service investment bank with offices all over the globe.

​Bank of America acquired Merrill Lynch in 2009. Following this acquisition, in 2010, they made the second highest 
revenue of any investment bank in the world and number one in the USA

Get A Job At BAML

​Barclays Capital

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​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. 

Get A Job At Barclays

​BNP Paribas

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​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.

Get A Job At BNP Paribas

Citi Investment Bank

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​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. 

Get A Job At Citi Investment Bank

Crédit Agricole

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

Get A Job At Crédit Agricole

Credit Suisse

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​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.

Get A Job At Credit Suisse

Deutsche Bank

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​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.

Get A Job At Deutsche Bank

Goldman Sachs

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​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.

Get A Job At Goldman Sachs

​HSBC

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​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. 

Get A Job At HSBC

Intesa San Paolo

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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.

Get A Job At Intesa San Paolo

JP Morgan

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​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.

Get A Job At JP Morgan

Mizuho Financial Group

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​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.

Get A Job At Mizuho Financial Group

​Morgan Stanley

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

Get A Job At Morgan Stanley

RBC Capital Markets

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​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. 

Get A Job At RBC Capital Markets

The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS)

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​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.

Get A Job At RBS

Société Générale (SocGen)

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​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!

Get A Job At Société Générale (SocGen)

​UBS

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​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.

Get A Job At UBS

Unicredit

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​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

Get A Job At Unicredit

Wells Fargo

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​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.

Get A Job At Wells Fargo

WestLB

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​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.

Get A Job At WestLB


​NEXT 30 INVESTMENT BANKS

Agricultural Bank of China (in alphabetical order)

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When it comes to commercial banking, Chinese banks are huge. China is growing rapidly and Chinese consumers are growing ever more sophisticated. Some expect that the next spate of large investment banks will be Chinese. I have to agree. Many Chinese banks are already moving up investment banking league tables. 

Founded in 1951 and headquartered in Beijing, Agricultural Bank of China is one of the "Big Four" banks in China. They went public in mid-2010; they were the last of the "Big Four" to do so. Agricultural Bank of China is so called because they were established to serve the large farming population in China.

Get A Job At ABoC

Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ)

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​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.

Get A Job At Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ)

Banco Popolare

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​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.

Get A Job At Banco Popolare

Bank of China

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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. 

Get A Job At Bank of China

Bayern LB

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​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.

Get A Job At Bayern LB

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA)

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​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.

Get A Job At Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA)

BMO Capital Markets

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​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.

Get A Job At BMO Capital Markets

China Construction Bank (CCB)

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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.

Get A Job At China Construction Bank (CCB)

CIBC World Markets

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​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.

Get A Job At CIBC World Markets

China International Capital Corp (CICC)

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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.

Get A Job At China International Capital Corp (CICC)

​Citic Securities International

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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.

Get A Job At Citic Securities International

Commerzbank (Commerz)

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​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.

Get A Job At Commerzbank (Commerz)

Commonwealth Bank (CommBank)

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​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.

Get A Job At Commonwealth Bank (CommBank)

Daiwa Securities

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

Get A Job At Daiwa Securities

DZ Bank

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​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.

Get A Job At DZ Bank

Helaba

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​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. 

Get A Job At Helaba

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC)

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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.

Get A Job At ICBC

​ING

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​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.

Get A Job At ING

LBBW

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​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.

Get A Job At LBBW

Mitsubishi UFJ Securities International (MUSI)

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​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.

Get A Job At MUFG

National Australia Bank (NAB)

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​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.

Get A Job At NAB

Natixis

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​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.

Get A Job At Natixis

Nomura Securities

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​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.

Get A Job At Nomura Securities

NORD/LB

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​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.

Get A Job At NORD/LB

Santander

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​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.

Get A Job At Santander

Scotiabank (Global Banking & Markets)

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

Get A Job At Scotiabank

Standard Chartered

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​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.

Get A Job At Standard Chartered

Sumitomo Mitsui FG (SMFG)

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

Get A Job At SMFG

TD Securities

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

They provide both corporate finance and capital markets activities.

Get A Job At TD Securities

Westpac

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​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.

Get A Job At Westpac
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.
1 Comment

How to make time for investment bank internship applications?

11/10/2012

0 Comments

 
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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!

Who is Girl Banker® and how can she help you?

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0 Comments

What qualities do investment banks look for in new hire?

29/8/2012

2 Comments

 
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​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.

In addition to having the right attitude, they look for:
  • Someone who has some technical knowledge or appears to have the ability to learn quickly
  • Personable people who will work well with others (‘team players’)
  • Charismatic people with a presence especially for advisory or sales roles
  • Self-starters i.e. people with initiative
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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. ​

​Who is Girl Banker® and how can she help you?

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2 Comments

How does the graduate recruitment process work for investment banks?

23/8/2012

0 Comments

 
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​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. 

Who is Girl Banker® and how can she help you?

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0 Comments

Two key routes into an investment bank

21/8/2012

0 Comments

 
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​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.

Who is Girl Banker® and how can she help you?

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0 Comments

10 tips on how to write a CV/resume that will get you the job!

14/8/2012

0 Comments

 
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​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.

Who is Girl Banker® and how can she help you?

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0 Comments

Top Careers Advice – Investment Banking 

30/7/2012

0 Comments

 
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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.

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5.      High/school or College Start-up

If you have ever started a business, especially if it did well - mention it; starting a business or anything else shows that you have initiative and superior time-management skills.

6.      Be the Linguist

If you can speak several useful languages mention it; it’s impressive and it means you can be presented to a wide variety of clients.

One time a VP of mine went to talk to someone and when he came back it wasn't the project we were working on at the forefront of his mind, he said, “Tiana is amazing, I was at her desk for 30 minutes and in that time four different people came to her desk with problems and she spoke to all of them in different languages”. She was fluent in Spanish, French, Portuguese and English.

7.      Network and Get Contacts

Look for events related to investment banking. If there aren’t any or enough at your own university make friends with people at nearby universities that can invite you to their banking events.

8.      Get some work experience

I have left this until last because many people applying to banking for the first time frequently do not have any work experience; sometimes they feel as though their work experience isn’t relevant. Mention whatever experience you have anyway even if it's a newspaper-round, there are likely some transferable skills e.g. a newspaper-round requires you to get up earlier and be more organised than your friends.

The most crucial work experience is an internship the year before you graduate. Why then? Because if you impress the bank they will offer you a job that starts the moment you graduate. This means you can go back to your last year of university with peace of mind. You’ll be secure in the knowledge that there’s a job waiting for you at the end and you can just focus on your studies.

Hope this helps!
Peace and chicken grease,
Heather

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9 tips for making a phone call that lands you a job!

26/7/2012

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by Girl Banker

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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. 

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6. Mention a mutual contact, it will help to keep them on the phone longer
Check your LinkedIn profile to see if you do have a mutual connection. If so, call the person you know and ask them for permission to mention your name in the phone call.

7. State what you need help with.
If you have done decent research on the person you might have found out interesting things about them, think about how you can spin their experiences to make yourself sound like a knowledgeable person on their industry and their job function and why you would be a good addition to the team or bank.

8. Get a promise.
Before you get off that phone try to get some kind of a promise e.g. permission to call again, a promise that they will forward your CV to someone and, highly unlikely - but an agreement to meet or be interviewed. If you're not getting anywhere say something like: you sound very busy, I am so sorry to have called you at an inconvenient time, can I call you back at a better time? If they say, yes, ask when. Get the person's email if you do not already have it!

9. Follow up. 
If you failed to get anywhere on the first call, see what a second call might unveil. A third call is also okay but if that doesn't prove successful, that's where you need to stop. People in banking know each other and if you're branded a stalker it's not going to bode well for your job hunt. 

Happy job hunting.

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Job Search: How to find relevant contacts at an investment bank

24/7/2012

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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.

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What information can you get on LinkedIn?
  • The full name of 2nd level connections i.e. they know someone you know. 
  • The first name and last initial of 3rd level connections i.e. you know someone who knows someone they know. 
  • After that, it will only say "LinkedIn Member"

What do you do if the name is partly hidden?
If you are completely unconnected to the industry you might find LinkedIn a little useless. Here are two workarounds:

a) Over time, as you attend networking events make sure you add people you meet to your LinkedIn profile. I only joined LinkedIn in 2011 for the sole reason of building up a network and data access. I actively added people I know to my network and that allows me to see more information.  
b) Take whatever information you find to Google.

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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! ​

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How much do investment bankers earn?

19/7/2012

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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:

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Excerpt from To Become an Investment Banker
What about VPs and MDs?
Base pay for VPs and MDs doesn't rise hugely above the levels you see in the above table. Their compensation varies a lot more because of their bonus.

Which banks pay the most?
American banks tend to pay more than UK banks. UK banks tend to pay more than European banks. This is partly because big American banks make more but it's also cultural. The American dream is a capitalist one: make as much money as you can. Making money is synonymous with hard work in America. 

As you move towards the UK strong socialist ideals start coming into play. This is even more true for the rest of Europe. 

So what about the bonus? 
Bonuses are very variable especially during a recession. The bonus is more fixed at junior levels with larger differences between people at more senior levels. Bonuses can range from 0% to several hundred percent of base pay. 

Some websites will try to correlate pay with years in the industry but this is one industry where tenure matters very little. I have seen Associates earning much more than VPs because they are adding more to the bottom line. That's how it works. Whether you're an MD or a department head is of little consequence compared to how much your department or team earned for the bank.

What does the structure of bonuses mean for you? 
  • Don’t spend it until you get it. 

What does the structure of bonuses mean for your bank?
  • In challenging years, they can cut costs significantly by chopping the bonus pool.
  • In profitable years, they can share the success with their most valuable asset: the people.

Who is Girl Banker® and how can she help you?

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    Girl Banker®

    I created my investment banking blog in 2012 as soon as I resigned from i-banking & published my book, To Become An Investment Banker.

    Initially published at girlbanker.com, all posts have now been subsumed into my personal website under katsonga.com/GirlBanker.

    These blog posts make it as straight-forward for you as possible to get into a top tier investment bank. 


    I have 7 years of front office i-banking experience from Goldman Sachs and HSBC, in both classic IBD (corporate finance) and Derivatives (DCM / FICC).

    ​I'm also a CFA survivor having passed all three levels on the first attempt within 18 months - the shortest time possible. 
    ​
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Heather Katsonga-Woodward, a massive personal finance fanatic.
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