6 What It Really Takes to Get In
Real-world tips for getting a foothold in investment banking
Honest advice about going into investment banking after university is hard to find. Graduate recruiters want to encourage as many applications as possible, so qualities like ‘passion’, ‘hunger’ and ‘dedication’ are all cited as what they want to see in new hires, rather than anything more quantitative. The reality of getting into the super-competitive world of investment banking is rather different, however.
First things first: do the right degree
The best place to start is, of course, with a finance or economics degree. “Economics isn’t actually a degree that helps once you get into the job,” admits one young investment banker, “but people associate it with the profession, so it was very useful having it.” But what if it’s too late and you’re already deep into a banking- inappropriate undergraduate degree? HR teams will tell you it doesn’t necessarily matter. “Your degree subject will always matter from a knowledge and learning perspective, but we provide really robust training programmes for our interns and graduates that enables those who don’t have finance or economics degrees to contribute in a similar way to those who do,” says Faye Woodhead, graduate resourcing manager at Deutsche Bank.
Although investment bankers come from a relatively diverse range of academic disciplines, you’ll have to work twice as hard to get in if your degree subject deviates from the banking norm. “My English degree still raises eyebrows,” says one banker, who got a job at a mid-cap investment bank through a graduate trainee scheme two years ago. “There are certain places that I just wouldn’t have got a job,” he says, referring to bigger investment banks. If you’re doing a classics or history degree, you’d better start interning, joining societies and striving for the very best marks. In the case of our banker with an English degree, he did most of the above, but still says he wouldn’t have got his job if he hadn’t had good maths grades at school.
Start early
Ideally, you should start building up your CV from the minute you get to university, if not before. “The later you leave it, the harder it is to get a foot in the door,” says one 24-year- old, working at a global investment bank. He advises those who haven’t left it too late to look into doing work experience programmes, with a view to being taken onto a summer internship. Spring weeks, as they’re called, provide you with an introduction to the workings of the bank, its various divisions and functions.
People who have done such programmes are much more likely to be shortlisted for interview, he says. “The schemes are competitive to get on to, but not as competitive as the summer internships.” Different banks also run these in different weeks, so really switched-on students could do numerous insight weeks consecutively.
Show an interest in the markets
Whether you are at a top university doing a finance degree or not, you won’t stand much of a chance with the more prestigious banks if your CV doesn’t scream ‘I love markets!’ Another investment banker we spoke to, who is charged with assessing work experience in CVs, says that fakers will be spotted. “It can’t just be something you’ve put on your CV at the last minute, you need to show a track record of being interested.”
FAYE WOODHEAD Graduate
resourcing manager,
Deutsche Bank
Investment banks love to see extra-curricular activity, but it doesn’t all have to be banking and finance-related, says another investment banker: “If there’s nothing at all on there, it does make you look very narrow,” he adds. He was a member of his university’s finance society, but the thing that he says was commented on most frequently at interview was his involvement in the armed forces as an officer cadet.
Embrace nepotism
But, unsurprisingly, all the extra-curricular activity in the world may not prove as useful as
Your degree subject will always matter from a knowledge and learning perspective.
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