Analti_Calte

1. Interviews vary between person to person and bank to bank, generally you will go through multiple rounds, round 1 will be either over the phone ore in person, they want to know that you know what I-banking is, sounds stupid but some people apply and have no idea what investment bankers do. They want to know that you know the 3 methods of valuation; DCF (discounted cash flow), Precedent Transactions (companies similar to your clients that recently sold) and multiples (P/E, Price/Sales million of other metrics). The questions could be endless, whats WACC? explain the yield curve, anything and everything is fair game. Your CFA should help here, they make us memorize tons of minute equations and concepts related to finance.

2. Explain why i-banking now as opposed to when you graduated? DId you not like ops? why do you want to be a banker? Stress that you are a hard worker EXAMPLES concrete ones, they will push you on this at times. Know your @#$%& about the markets, if you say you keep up, you better be ready to talk about them. Basically ibankers look for lil B***es in analysts, you'll be doing pitch books and spreadsheets, and during this time bonuses aren't that large. You will sacrifice a lot in your personal life for at least a couple of years.

3. If you didn't like it, and want a career change then don't beat yourself up over it. Do not think that operational side at an i-bank and ibanking are the same thing, you are very much a career changer despite being at the same company. Figure out what your end game is, do not go into bankign simply because you think you will be rich, most analysts get fired after 2 years since their stint is up, a few get called back to a 3rd year of torture and even fewer get a straight promotion to associate, having said that most people look to do 2 years and get out.

4. Yes, what sort of details do you want? The markets don't sleep, neither does money. Your managing director cares about his paycheck which is dependent on meeting with clients and promising things at times at ridiculous deadlines and you will constantly find yourself doing work that is either not used or overlooked. Point is if you are an analyst particularly a 1st year, expect to work at least 1 day in the weekend and generally pull in 60-80 hours a week, it can get crazier if a big deal is going on, so be prepared and know that this is something you would be willing to handle, most people kid themselves and are just miserable for no reason.

5. Popular choice is Private Equity and Hedge Funds although I will say these paths are not guaranteed, and joining some no name PE firm wont do as much for your career as you think. Hedge Funds sound glamorous, but even they are running dry these days.

I would suggest you do a lot more research on what it takes to get into investment banking and particularly emphasize the lifestyle change you would endure. Anyone who tells you its a glamorous position is lying to you. Best of Luck.