High and dry for the summer: How can I prepare for full-time interviews this fall?

by David CalderSome of you might be feeling dazed by the rush and then quick disappearance of the investment banking summer internship recruiting season. As the dust settles and you realize that your dreams of interning at a bulge bracket investment bank will not materialize, feelings of exhaustion and discouragement may seem overwhelming. It’s normal to feel disappointed and it’s okay, too.

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Investment Bank Profile & Market DataTemplates

Please provide me with feedback regarding if you like these templates, if you find them helpful, and any changes you think would make them better. These are for you, so let me know how you want them!Investment Bank Profile TemplateMarket Data TemplateI have created an Investment Bank Profile Template and a Market Data Template using Google Docs. I have adjusted the formatting on these docs so

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M&A Advice: Is it worth the price?

When first entering any industry, it takes a lot to learn the in and outs. In your informational and formal interviews with bankers, you need to be able to speak in the language and terminology of the industry. One of the biggest areas of investment banking is mergers and acquisitions (M&A). The picture to the left comes from the Deal Book by New York Times. This graphic shows the number of M&A

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Brainteaser Interview Questions

This list of Brainteasers is brought to you by Gabe M., a summer analyst with Bear Stearns. Feel free to post a comment if you know the answer to these questions. I will add more questions to this list in the coming month.There are 100 people in line to board a train. Each person is holding a ticket corresponding to both his place in line and his seat (i.e. Person 1 is supposed to sit in Seat 1,

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Commonly Asked I-Banking Interview Questions

Commonly Asked I-Banking Questions (printable)Tell me about yourself. / Walk me through your resume. (by far the most important question asked)Why investment banking? (the second most important question)How do you get to Free Cash Flow (FCF) from EBIT (or Net Income)?Once you get to FCF, then what?In picking a stock, what do you typically look at?If you have $1 more of depreciation, how does that

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Finance Interview Questions

Finance Interview Questions (printable)Why would two companies merge? What major factors drive mergers and acquisitions?_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Companies merge with other companies to enter new product markets. The will either gain access into new product markets or broaden the spectrum of their product line.

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Investement Bank Contact Info

Tip: Do not fill out the online applications found on each bank's website until you have had a first round interview or are at least scheduled to have one. From my experience, those application submissions are black holes. Don't waste your time! The recruiters will tell you and/or remind you after your first round interview to fill out the application. Do it then! Instead, spend the majority of

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Citigroup Profile

www.citigroup.comCitigroup Annual ReportCitigroup: Vault Employer Profile | View | Upload your ownThis PowerPoint presentation was put together by University of Utah alumnus currently working at Citigroup in investment banking. It's a great presentation to get up to speed on Citigroup, current deals, learn a little more about banking, etc...CEO: Vikram Pandit (2007 - present)Chairman: Sir Win

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JP Morgan Chase Profile

www.jpmorgan.comJPMorgan Chase Annual ReportCEO: Jamie Dimon (2007 - present)Notable Prior CEOs: William B. Harrison, Jr. (2000 - 2006)Stock Symbol: JPM (NYSE)Recent Close: Yahoo! Finance: JPMBusiness Principles: JPMorgan's Business Principles Aspire to be the bestExecute superblyBuild a great team and a winning cultureWhy Our Bank? Undergraduate Opportunities History: Legacy of success, which

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UBS Profile

www.ubs.comUBS Annual ReportDiscover UBS in a few video clipsChairman: Marcel Ospel (2001 - present)CEO: Marcel Rohner (? - present)Stock Symbol: UBS (NYSE)Recent Close: Yahoo! Finance: UBSVision / Strategy:Our VisionWe are determined to be the best global financial services company. We focus on wealth and asset management, and on investment banking and securities businesses. We continually earn

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Merrill Lynch Profile

www.ml.comMerrill Lynch Annual Report John Thain discusses the year (2008) aheadCEO: John Thain (2007 - present)Notable Prior CEOs: Stanley O'Neal (2003 - 2007)Stock Symbol: MER (NYSE)Recent Close: Yahoo! Finance: MERGuiding Principles: Client Focus: The client is the driving force behind what we do.Respect for the individual: We respect the dignity of each individual, whether an employee,

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Morgan Stanley Profile

www.morganstanley.comMorgan Stanley's Annual ReportMorgan Stanley: Company PresentationsCEO: John J. Mack (2005 - present)Notable Prior CEOs: Phil Purcell (1997 - 2005) He was CEO of Dean Witter when they merged w/Morgan Stanley in 1997Stock Symbol: MS (NYSE)Recent Close: Yahoo! Finance: MSGuiding Principles: Couldn't find anything on this. If you have more information to add please post a

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Goldman Sachs Profile

www.gs.comGoldman Sachs Annual ReportCEO: Lloyd C. Blankfein (2006 - present)Notable Prior CEOs: Henry Paulson ( - 2006) current US Treasury SecretaryStock Symbol: GS (NYSE)Recent Close: Yahoo! Finance: GSBusiness Principles: Goldman Sachs Business Principles [14]Our clients' interests always come first. Our experience shows that if we serve our clients well, our own success will follow.Our

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Summer Internships

The best opportunity students have to get a full-time job in banking is to get a summer internship! These positions can be extremely difficult to come by, even more so than full-time jobs. This is because they hire less interns than they do full-time analysts while extending summer offers to specific students, which they feel are exceptional candidates that would make it as full-time analysts.

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Investment Banking Explained

What is an investment bank and what do they do? Watch the video below to get a brief overview. This video is very straight forward and does a good job of explaining what investment banking is all about, so if you can't stand listening to this video, maybe this is your way of knowing that investment banking isn't for you.About the Video Below (32 min)Dr Kathy Walsh from the School of Banking and

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The End of the Interview: What Questions Do You Have For Me?

So it's the end of the interview, you've survived the technical questions and the brain teasers, you sliced and diced your way through the DCF, and you realize the interviewer is wrapping things up when they say "So, do you have any questions for me?". Don't think the interview is over, because it is not over yet! This section of the interview carries a lot of importance because it is the

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Investment Banking Books/Resources

This list is brought to you by Brain Waterhouse, a soon to be full-time PE analyst in NYC. If you do not know much about investment banking and are interested in learning more, this is a great list to start with. Many of these books are considered the "classics" in the investment banking world. You will find that the majority of Wall Street has read these books or at least knows what they are

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More Interview Questions

Interview Questions (printable)100% Guaranteed Questions* Walk me through your resume. * Why Investment Banking / Sales & Trading / Private Client Services? * How do you value a company (particular to investment banking)? * Why did you choose Tuck? * What were your fall term grades? What was your GMAT score? Why didn't you do better in ____ class? * What qualities do you

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Cover Letters

Cover Letters. For some reason these are an unknown "animal" to most people. I remember the first time I tried to write a cover letter. I spent hours on the internet trying to track down usable and helpful resources on how to write a powerful cover letter. I spent what seemed like an eternity on Google and came up with a handful of websites and articles that I found helpful, but still didn't know

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Young Finance Professionals: SLC

For everyone located in the Salt Lake area there is a great social networking group to join. One of my good friends Andrew Drage is co-founder of the Young Finance Professionals. Once a month they meet to hear a local finance professional over a free lunch. Oh and did I mention it is free! Come check it out!The speaker this month is Clark B. Hinckley, Senior VP of Investor Relations and

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Life of an Investment Banker

These videos provide two different perspectives on the life of an investment banker. The first one is from a work perspective and the second one [toward the bottom of the page] is on life outside of the office. Additionally, you should visit this link at Merrill Lynch's Careers website. Here you will find a variety of videos explaining different job responsibilities performed by individuals in

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**First Things First: The BIG 5**

There are five main questions that every candidate is sure to get in their interviews. In fact, from my experience, these questions or variations of these questions were the first 5 questions I received in the majority of my interviews. I call these the "Big 5". It is MANDATORY that you have these questions perfected. You don't have to know everything about the different topics or subjects and

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The Resume

In the field of investment banking there are thousands of applicants applying for a limited number of jobs. There are certain standards or benchmarks all candidates must pass in order to make it pass the initial screening. The first of these benchmarks is your resume. The resume needs to be in the "investment banking" resume format, contain strong content, written with consistent formatting,

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Introduction

The investment banking interview process can be stressful and intense! Phone interviews, on-campus interviews, superdays, 4 to 8 back-to-back half hour interviews, all while flying across the country from west to east coast. This process can feel overwhelming considering all that is expected of each candidate.In addition to the time commitments there are so many other factors candidates have to

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