FSA Exams

The following article describes the story of one of the members of Nicube.com, an online community of students and junior professionals interested in Investment Banking, Consulting, Accounting, Law and other professions. Note: FSA exams are the exams you need to take in the UK to deal with securities and investments; the equivalent in the USA are Series 7 and Series 63K.

Life was f*cking good in August. I'd just got a Distinction in my Masters to complement by 1st Class Bachelors degree, and due to shortly start at a top investment bank with an estimated £60,000 salary and bonus in my first year. Thinking I’d never have to sit another exam for the rest of my life, finally ready to enter the real world at 22, things honestly couldn’t have been any better.

By October I wanted to die. In fact on numerous occasions the only thing stopping me leaping from the top of the five-story flat where I live was the chance that I wouldn’t manage to kill myself. You see, whilst others on my grad scheme had happily completed training, and were up-and-running working full-time for a desk, I’d just been fired two months into my first job, without even getting a chance to enter the trading floor, for failing my FSA exams twice.

Don’t be fooled into thinking that you don’t have any exams if you go into investment banking - whether that’s M&A, trading, sales or research. After a couple of months of internal training, often backed up with exams every week or two, you have to take the FSA exams. Most banks operate a “two strikes and you’re out” policy for these exams. Unfortunately for me, I failed one of them twice and was gone in a flash. Banks tend to have this harsh policy as an excuse to unceremoniously can graduates if they realise they’ve taken too many on, and as our FSA exams trainer told us every day, “Why should they keep someone on who fails exams when there’s 100 people out there who could instantly fill your shoes?”. The worst thing is that these really aren’t difficult exams, and it’s perfectly possible to get them all over with in just a week, but the wrong strategy results in on average 15% of 1st year analysts (and around 35% of all candidates) failing something at least once.

Getting fired was maybe a blessing in disguise - as of March, I had my own trading book at a Mayfair hedge fund, making twice as much as I would have on the grad scheme. But most ain’t so lucky. “Fired after 2 months for failing FSAs twice” doesn’t exactly look great at the top of a CV, at a time when many grad schemes for the year after are swiftly filling up. But enough about me, here’s my step-by-step strategy to ensure you pass your exams, the first time.

The Format

When people refer to “FSA exams” and whether or not you “passed your FSAs”, they are actually referring to exams set by the Securities & Investments Institute (www.sii.org.uk) which you must pass in order for the Financial Services Authority (FSA, www.fsa.gov.uk), a universal British finance regulator, to approve you to be an investment banker, essentially.

You need to pass the Regulations exam to speak to clients, and the Securities and Derivatives exams to deal in securities and derivatives respectively (you can take these two exams either together or separately - typically at your bank’s choice rather than your own), and there’s also certificates in Investment Management and Corporate Finance if you’re going down that route.

Most London investment banks will use either 7city (www.7city.com) or BPP (www.bppfinancialservices.com) to give you the reading material and classroom courses to pass the exams. Whilst the exams are like a DVLA driving theory test in that they’re computer-based multiple choice from a massive question bank, the difference is that the Securities & Investments Institute for some stupid reason refuse to issue any sample questions or proper teaching content. Instead, 7city and BPP trainers go into exams, memorise as many questions as they can, come out and spew them out.

If you think that’s stupid then wait till you see some of the typical questions you get in FSA exams. A main reason that intelligent people with Oxbridge / Ivy League PhDs et al fail these is because they struggle with the sheer (b)anality of the content. Typical questions, I kid you not (these are q34 and q35 of 7city's Financial Derivatives Mock 3):

34. Products available on the CBOE include equity index options on the S&P 100 and the S&P 500. Which of the following is true with respect to the exercise style of these options?
a) S&P 100 index options - American and European style, S&P 500 options - European style only
b) S&P 100 index options - American and European style, S&P 500 options - American style only
c) S&P 100 index options - American style only, S&P 500 options - European style only
d) S&P 100 index options - European style only, S&P 500 options - European style only

35. Which of the following is true with respect to exercise deadlines for Euronext.Liffe's traded options?
a) The last date and time for exercise is the third Friday in the delivery month up to 6:00pm. However, these options may be exercised up to 4.30pm on any other business day during the life of an option
b) The last date and time for exercise is the third Friday in the delivery month up to 6:00pm. However, these options may be exercised up to 5.30pm on any other business day during the life of an option
c) The last date and time for exercise is the third Friday in the delivery month up to 6:00pm. However, these options may be exercised up to 5.20pm on any other business day during the life of an option
d) The last date and time for exercise is the third Friday in the delivery month up to 5:20pm. However, these options may be exercised up to 4.30pm on any other business day during the life of an option

I can’t believe I just typed all that out instead of doing a copy & paste jobby. Anyway, now you have some idea what you’re letting yourselves in for. An extensive study confirms that the average investment banker will need to know approximately 0.63% of content from these exams in their day-to-day work. Nonetheless, there’s no point having such a cynical mindset - the bottom line is you have to pass these exams to actually be able to do your job, there’s no way around it if you want to do front-office IB work.

My advice

Step 1 - Skim the Big Books
You’ll be given big A4 textbooks for Regulations (Regs), Securities and Derivatives before your 7city or BPP five-day training course. In the fortnight prior to starting the course, read them. Every word. Just the once through though, and don’t attempt to actively start memorising stuff. The aim is to make yourself fully familiar with all the content so it’s not all completely alien when you begin your course. Don’t waste too much time reading through it all though - make sure your mind doesn’t drift off and you’ll comfortably do it in some evenings and the weekend/s prior to training. Don’t bother with anything else like trying mock questions, leave that until your course begins...

Step 2 - Training: immense discipline required
Your five-day course with 7city or BPP will have 9-5 hours in the classroom, but with the work you need to do outside the classroom 5(am)-9(pm) is more realistic. The first time I failed it was because I fell asleep a couple of evenings after training, which completely messed up the whole revision schedule, putting me way behind. To guarantee a first time pass, you’ll need probably more discipline, efficient time management and consistent concentration than you had when taking your final degree exams.

You’ll all have started daydreaming at some point in the lecture hall before - here you can’t afford to. Jot down and highlight important points made and actively start trying to absorb stuff during the training. If you’re with 7city, leave the big books behind now and just cram everything you need to know into the slide packs. In the evenings and/or mornings, go through the slidepacks now in detail, actively memorising content, whether this requires you to stare at the pages repeatedly, say stuff out loud or whatever. At the end of each chapter, go through the end-of-chapter questions (Review Exercises with BPP) during the evenings. If there’s anything you’re stuck on, re-read the content from the big textbook, or look over the videos or hot topic tutorials on 7city/BPP Online Learning.

The typical structure is to spend a day doing Regulations, two days on Securities and two days on Derivatives. Regulations is the most boring, the one people seem to worry about, but the easiest to pass, with not that much to learn and a lot more common sense required, based around legislations. Securities is maybe the toughest one (it has the highest failure rate), with the greatest volume of anal, pointless content to learn, whilst Derivatives is the one people with financial backgrounds find the most straightforward.

Step 3 - DO THE F*CKING MOCKS!!
Typically you’ll have your Regs, Securities and Derivatives exams to do over Monday to Thursday of the week after your training course. This potentially leaves plenty of time if you’ve managed to be uber-efficient and go through all the reading material and chapter questions over the weekday evenings.

It’s most likely you’ll be a tad behind however so may need to cut into your weekend clearing stuff up. But thereafter, by a long way the most important part of your revision is to do the Practice Examinations. With 7city, the End-of-Chapter questions are a bit rubbish and not that representative of what you get in the real thing, BPP’s Question Bank is a lot better, but the closest thing you’ll get to the paper is the Practice papers.

Go through them all at least twice, remember the questions you got wrong (and the ones you were hazy on but got right), and you should be sailing - a good third and up to half of the questions in the real exam you should already be completely familiar with. With a 70% pass rate, getting others right by knowing the content but not seeing a question before, along with educated guesses, should be fine.

It sounds simple but has to be re-iterated - DO THE F*CKING MOCKS! Don’t waste all your time doing the textbook and chapter questions, just to find that you then don’t have the time to go through the mocks before the exam. And particularly good on the Online Learning site is additional/recent questions - these are the sort of things that have been out in the last few weeks, and a considerable chunk of them will be in your exam.

Step 4 - Go for it
It’s a computer based exam in the same style of a UK driving theory test - therefore it’s better to do practice questions online rather than using your book to get a feel for it. Avoid doing an all-nighter cramfest, you need a few hours sleep, otherwise your brain honestly does turn to mush. You’ll have time to go over all the questions again but don’t change loads of answers you’re unsure on at a second look - for whatever reason, your first guess is always more likely to be correct than your second.

Step 5 - If worst comes to worst
A fail. Not the end of the world, you join a pretty big club. Fail again though and at many places you’re going to be in a spot of bother. However, there’s a loophole around this - take the exam yourself, in your own time, without your employer knowing.

It may sound sneaky but it’s actually very commonplace. You can go to www.sii.org.ukandbook an exam yourself, fill in the QRF form stating that you don’t want your employer to know your result - it costs around £100-150 per paper. This may sound like a lot but its truly f*ck all compared to potentially losing your job. And that six-figure salary three years down the line. The small catch is that if you fail 3 times, SII ban you from resitting for 6 weeks, which may be tough to hide from your bank.

If you took Unit 4 (Securities & Financial Derivatives) and struggled then it’s definitely worth splitting them up - you can take Unit 2 (Securities) alone and take the Financial Derivatives module later on to get you the same qualification.

So there we go. I would strongly, strongly recommend people who have a few weeks off before starting a job in banking, or have a free holiday near the end of university, to take the FSA exams early - a few hundred quid will avoid the potential to have a very miserable first few months in the City.

--

Nicube.com helps young people across the world make their career ambitions happen, as well as helping them to make the right choices in the first place. We provide them with a network of advisors and an extensive community-driven knowledge base.

Broken Links in Resources

Apologies - the guides that I have put up lead to broken links or encrypted files. I am making every effort to fix this.

[PLEASE NOTE: FROM NOW ON - EMAIL ME AND I WILL MAIL BACK THE IB/CONSULTING GUIDES]

Reason is that many sites will not let me host thes files with them for obvious reasons! ogaden@hotmail.co.uk

Work Fitness into your Busy Routine

There are only 24 hours in a day, and we spend at least five or six of those sleeping. For the high-powered workaholic types, most of their waking hours are spent at the office hunched over a desk or a computer screen. An increase in work is almost always accompanied by an increase in stress, especially in the environment that surrounds an investment banker or anyone else who works at other fast-paced jobs. These professionals hardly take the time to eat properly, let alone exercise. Fueled by unhealthy caffeine and soggy takeout food once in a while, they find themselves fighting a losing battle with stress and tension and their associated ills. It’s not long before other ailments like diabetes, cardiac diseases and strokes catch up with them as punishment for the unhealthy lifestyle they lead.

It’s never too late for those who seriously want to bring about a positive change in their lives though. Your position at the office can be filled if you are not around, but you are irreplaceable. Remember that and turn your life around today, by making just a few changes.

· No matter how early you go in to work, eat a healthy breakfast before you start your day.

· Walk to work if you live just a few blocks away. Use the stairs instead of the elevator.

· Use your lunch hour to hit the office gym if there is one. If not, take a walk outside or in the corridors of your office.

· Take a brown bag from home to the office with a healthy lunch, and make it a point to eat it.

· Bring your own health drink or fruit juice to replace the numerous cups of coffee you drink at the office.

· Don’t sit at your desk all day; get up and walk around every half hour, either to talk to a colleague or use the restroom.

· When you feel stress coming on, use a minute or two to close your eyes and take deep breaths. Practice meditation for a few minutes or so.

· Massage your forehead and neck with your fingertips when you feel stiff.

· Maintain the right posture; don’t hunch over your computer or slouch in your chair.

· Keep both feet on the ground instead of crossing one over the other.

· Make sure your desk is positioned so that you don’t have to keep turning when someone enters your office.

· When you’re standing for long periods of time, balance your weight equally on both feet and keep your hands at your sides.

· Give up cigarettes if you’re a regular smoker.

Remember, fit or fat, the choice is yours.

This article is contributed by Sarah Scrafford, who regularly writes on the subject of Geriatric Care degree online. She invites your questions and comments at her email address: sarah.scrafford25@gmail.com.

My First Ever Rant!

My first ever post where I will be ranting/grumbling/declaiming/raving (put it any way you like) all the way through this post.

Its been a month or so since I have been working for an invesment bank and I haven't made any posts since the day I started working, too tired and hardly any time to catch up with sleep! The commute is also killer. For me, its three hours a day. One and half to and from!

One thing that always suprised was the amount of money (salary) those that work for investment banks get. Not anymore. I beleive the amount of hours that those that work at investment banks put in is what gets them those high salaries.

We all know the ridiculous hours that are worked. I think this and the stress is where all the money comes from and not the type of work. Some of you may have heard of the jokes about the "micky mouse" jobs that exist, like "doodling" with excel and powerpoint.

The above is just me ranting, but the conclusion I want you to take from this is that I love working for an investment bank! Slightly different from what I was saying above but I love the fact that you get to spend time with people that share similar interests.

A friend of mine is on an Industrial Placement at an investment bank I will get him/her to write something about their experience. Feel free to also share your experience by posting a comment.

I would actually love to hear what those at consultancies have to say since I would like dedicate a summer internship to a consultancy just to broaden my experience.

Can I move from a Back Office role to a Front Office role?

There have been so many rumours that seem to suggest that it’s next to impossible moving from a back office (BO) role to a front office (FO) role. If you don’t know the difference between these two check this out wiki (scroll down to the middle).

To demystify this so called difficulty that it is almost impossible to move from a BO role to a FO role, I thought I would ask the banks themselves. I sent an email to several banks and surprisingly a few replied!

This was the email I sent: Email By me. The following are the replies.

This is JP Morgan’s email reply.

This is Morgan Stanley’s email reply.

This is Barclay's Capital email reply.

This UBS’s first email, they didn’t seem to get the question! I asked the same question in a different way here and then still couldn’t give me a straight reply! Oh well, they must be suffering from the thousands of job cuts!

Please Note: All contact details and names have been removed; only the main body of the email has been used.

As you can see it is not impossible, in fact it is “do-able” and it’s nothing unheard of. All the investment banks will accept applicants that have different backgrounds and because you have worked in a BO role or any other job it isn’t a disadvantage.

Any job experience is worth having, you will only learn something from it. I guess the real test will be the way you put this across during interviews.

You may also be wondering could I move from one division to another within the same back? Again, I think it's possible but this is dependent on the bank. Your comments are always welome as usual.

WikiJob

I thought I would make a post about a site I've known about for a while that some of you may find useful. From now on, I will try to write reviews on good quality online resources that are relevant to those that wish to pursue a career in investment banking and consulting.

WikiJob is an online community where users can create, edit and publish articles. It is basically the wikipedia of investment banking, accounting, consulting and law. I think most of you here will be interested in the investment banking section! What I like about it is the simple and clean look of the site and the relevant content that is on there. I mean each sentence is worth reading, in other words no small talk, it gets to the point unlike many other sites.

A quick summary below to help you find things. I will go through the sections that you are likely to need.

Interview questions - detailed accounts of the application process. From online applications to offers with all aspects of interviews and assessment days covered. You can find Goldman Sachs Interview questions and JP Morgan Interview questions! I am sure most of you wonder what you will be asked on your interview day!

Industry pages - This is my favourite section because there are clear and simple explanations about different things even the most basic things such the different tiers that investment banks have. A very simple concept that many seem to ask! This is very useful for those that would like a starting point to learn about investment banks.

Application Technique - A selection of useful articles on application technique, including competency based interviews and competency based questions. Gold mine!

To top it off they have a forum, a community of job seekers and graduate trainees at firms who give advice and answer to each others questions on all aspects of job search/interview process.

If there are other sites that you are aware of please comment and post them so that others may benefit from it.

I found this amusing - where i found this, it said it was a training video!!

Summer Internship: Make an Impression

You have secured your summer internship and you are about to start. No time to relax, although you have done the majority of the work. There is a little matter of impressing the HR team. Well how do you do this? And how do you make the most of your summer internship?

Before I continue, I would like to make something clear. Although your objective is to do well in this summer internship so that you are offered a graduate job or that you are fast tracked on to a graduate scheme, you have to remember this summer internship is also your chance to learn as much as you can about this investment bank and the role you are currently in. It is important to do this since you later may find out this is not the investment bank or role you want.

Ok, so how you get the most out of your summer internship and how do you impress? Brown nosing isn’t an option here!

To make this easy for you to use later on, each paragraph is a nugget of information!

First impressions are extremely important – this goes without saying, but be smart in appearance, make sure you dress for success.

Prepare for the internship – learn about the company and industry that you will spend the summer in. You should be eager for a challenge and set goals for yourself to complete by the end of your internship.

Be punctual, open-minded, observant, proactive, show enthusiasm and carry a notebook at all times (mouthful) - Tasks can easily get lost in daily responsibilities. A notebook helps in staying organized and keeping important contact information that may be gained while on the job.

An important Note: You must understand that everyone makes mistakes. Do not let a bad day get you down. Instead, learn from your mistakes. Show your employer that you want to learn.

Be professional - When sending e-mails or other forms of written communication, draft and review the text before sending.

Crucial aspect of the internship experience is networking - The key to networking is finding ways to add value to a conversation. Use these social events to learn more about the firm. These events will give you a chance to meet new and influential people, especially key players like recruiters, alumni and mentors. Find common ground with these key players and give them a reason to remember you.

An important Note: When networking don’t just concentrate on “sucking up” to the recruitment team. Network with the other interns too. A friend of mine managed to set up and internet business with a fellow intern, left he IB industry. Yes, fruitful.

DO NOT pretend to know something when you really don't - asking everyone the same question and talking negatively about your co-workers. While it is good to be inquisitive, you want to ask insightful and thoughtful questions, not generic ones. Also, avoid bringing your personal life into the office and focus all your attention on senior management. While you will be exposed to senior management, the employees you work closely with will help you learn the most. They will provide you with resources and advice.

This has been one of my longest post, I hope you find it useful and remember you only have about 10 weeks to make a good impression!

Games for Investment Banking

You may find this amusing:
---------
Getting ready for the conference call:

Step one:
Prepare a four by four square, randomly filling each cell with one of the below phrases / words.

revisit	synergy	accretive	pitch
double check	bottom line	value-added	impressive growth
margin expansion	scrubbed	aggressive	market
24/7	benchmarking	premium	leverage

Step two:
Tick off each block when one of the phrases is mentioned

Step three:
When you have ticked off four boxes in a row, column or diagonally, stand up, bang your fist on the table and shout "BULLSHIT!"

Investment Banking Cover Letter

Now pay attention, this is what a proper cover letter for an investment bank should be like.

Good? Bad? Problems, flaws? Comment.

All Hail Warren Buffet!

After the mandatory praise, let us move on to some interesting facts about this great or not so great (depends on what you think of him) man. I thought this may be interesting to some of you. I do not think it is wise for you to drop some of these facts in your interviews! But do so if you think its appropriate.

Here are some very interesting aspects of his life:

1. Warren bought his first share at age 11 and he now regrets that he started too late!

2. He bought a small farm at the age 14 with savings from delivering newspapers.

3. He still lives in the same small 3 bedroom house in mid-town Omaha that he bought after he got married 50 years ago.

4. He drives his own car everywhere and does not have a driver or security people around him.

5. He never travels by private jet, although he owns the world's largest private jet company.

6. His company, Berkshire Hathaway, owns 63 companies. He writes only one letter each year to the CEOs of these companies, giving them goals for the year. He never holds meetings or calls them on a regular basis.

7. Warren Buffet has given his CEOs only two rules.

Rule number 1: Do not lose any of your share holder's money.

Rule number 2: Do not forget rule number 1.

8. He does not socialize with the high society crowd. His past time after he gets home is to make himself some pop corn and watch television.

9. Bill Gates, the world's richest man met him for the first time only 5 years ago. Bill Gates did not think he had anything in common with Warren Buffet. So he had scheduled his meeting only for half hour. But when Gates met him, the meeting lasted for ten hours and Bill Gates became a devotee of Warren Buffet.

10. Warren Buffet does not carry a cell phone, nor has a computer on his desk.

11. His advice to young people: Stay away from credit cards and invest in yourself.

This article can be found on so many different sites, just shows his popularity. I boldened number 11 on purpose.

UPDATE: I would watch at least the first 20minutes (you can skip the first 5mins - he is not speaking then!), very intelligent man.

Investment Banking and Consulting: Guides

[PLEASE NOTE: FROM NOW ON - EMAIL ME AND I WILL MAIL BACK THE IB/CONSULTING GUIDES] Reason is that many sites will not let me host thes files with them for obvious reasons! ogaden@hotmail.co.uk

The following will be very useful to many of you when the next recruitment cycle comes along.

I have attached some guides from vault, wetfeeet (remember these names) and other sources in PDF format. They are very useful. I read the Lehman Brothers guide and it really helped me secure an internship since what these guides do is provide you with an insight into the company so when you go for interviews (provided you passed the tests!) you will have more of an understanding of the company culture and how things are done, which consequently will enable you to ask more perceptive questions. At the very least, you’ll be in the loop and not just turn up to an interview!

A note about the dates, most are 2005. Do not worry they are still relevant. In fact, the newer editions are in 2008, it’s the same material but they have a “Just Updated” label on the front cover. Ah yes, marketing, squeeze those extra coins from you.

***DO NOT RIGHT CLICK***
Please do not right click on links as your download won't work.

You may skim through some of the guides/books but do not skim through this!

Vault Career Guide to Investment Banking (Format: PDF Size: 2MB)

Specific Employer Profiles: Investment Banking

Credit Suisse (Format: PDF Size: 486KB)

Goldman Sachs (Format: PDF Size: 357KB)

JP Morgan (Format: PDF Size: 479KB)

Lehman Brothers (Format: PDF Size: 288KB)

Morgan Stanley (Format: PDF Size: 505KB)

Merrill Lynch (Format: PDF Size: 523KB)

Again, don’t skim through this!

Vault Career Guide to Consulting (Format: PDF Size: 1MB)

Specific Employer Profiles: Consulting

Accenture (Format: PDF Size: 477 KB)

Bain and Group (Format: PDF Size: 521KB)

Boston Consulting Group (Format: PDF Size: 518KB)

Deloitte (Format: PDF Size: 454KB)

Mckinsey and Company (Format: PDF Size: 512KB)

Random Book

I haven’t read this, but it has an interesting title! It seems like one of those books that promise you something and then don’t deliver. Let me know if it’s any good.

Pick Stocks like Warren Buffet (Format: PDF Size: 4MB)

Requests/Offers

Anything missing from the above? Anything you would like to add/share with the rest? I am sure there are plenty, especially more employer profiles; let me know which ones you need or would like to offer, they are hard to find. Send your requests or additions to: ogaden@hotmail.co.uk

In future, I don’t want to hear any statements in regards to me not doing anything for you!!! Enjoy.

A "Day in the Life"

I found this great diagram which gives an overview of what sort of exposure to clients, expousre to senior staff, travel, desktime, and hours you would expect to find in different departments such as Corporate finance, sales, trading, Investtment banking, Private wealth management etc. Feel free to save this image it may come in handy in the future when you may have to to make a decision on several offeres!!




Since the recruitment cycle is completely over - i will start putting material up to help prepare for the next recruitment cycle and also some information on "How to make the most of your summer internship". Anything else you would like me to cover just email me, its very difficult to know what people want to read without feedback!

Do The Wall Street Shuffle!

If you turn your sound on you will hear quite an old song called the "wall street shuffle" by 10cc. Its very funny and a decent song. I thought you Investment Bankers etc will appreciate it. Here is a snippet of their lyrics:

"Do the Wall Street shuffle
Hear the money rustle
Watch the greenbacks tumble
Feel the Sterling crumble

You need a yen to make a mark
If you wanna make money
You need the luck to make a buck
If you wanna be Getty, Rothschild
You've gotta be cool on Wall Street

You've gotta be cool on Wall Street
When your index is low
Dow Jones ain't got time for the bums
They wind up on skid row with holes in their pockets
They plead with you, buddy can you spare the dime
But you ain't got the time
Doin' the....
Doin' the....

Oh, Howard Hughes
Did your money make you better?
Are you waiting for the hour
When you can screw me?
'Cos you're big enough

To do the Wall Street Shuffle
Let your money hustle
Bet you'd sell your mother
You can buy another "

As you can see very entertaining! If you would like to use this as a ringtone [I would advice against!] or any other purpose just drop me an email: ogaden@hotmail.co.uk

Accommodation for your Internship

Just wanted to make a small note on this matter as I know many people are struggling with accommodation.

Unless you are of the lucky few that actually have family or friends near where you will be working this summer you are going to need to rent a place. Again, if you’re lucky enough, use your contacts. If not then there are many ways you can find a place. An easy start is the Internet. There are lots of brilliant sites I have come across so I will just name a few.

Gumtree: Simple and easy site to use, find what you want from other people

Nestoria: A comprehensive selection of available properties with a lot of nifty features such as a map, which tells you the nearest train stations, health centres, car parks etc.

For example, if you want to rent a flat in canary wharf - I think some of us may need to rent elsewhere considering those prices!!

The list goes on, but the key is to start looking as early as possible. I have recently found out the some university halls have already been filled up and some only have places available from July even though internships usually start in June!

No Internship for the Summer?

If you haven’t managed to secure a summer internship this summer then what you should be thinking about now is how you can improve yourself both at an educational and personal level so that you can secure a summer internship next year or a graduate programme which will also be just as competitive at the very least if not more.

So here are a few ideas/examples for things you can do during the summer to improve your chances:

1) Research and educate yourself in the way of the Investment Banks! – Regardless on what you will be doing during your summer, reading regularly about a bank that you are interested in and its industry is something you should be doing. I have met students that actually try to find out about banking news a few days before their interview! To really know a bank and what is actually going on in the markets you are going to need more than yesterdays news.

2) Take relevant courses – there are so many courses that you can take that are highly regarded by investment banks, these extra qualifications means that you will be differentiating yourself from the many students that turn up with standard qualifications: GCSE, A Levels, IBs etc. A respected course provider is:

http://www.bppfinancialservices.com/courses/default.htm

From the above you will see there is a wide range of qualifications to choose from, but make sure you chose one that will help you in the division you will be applying for.

Also as a braod guideline:

CFA: Would suit Asset management and equity research etc - http://www.cfainstitute.org/

CFQ: Would be suited for M&A/Corp Finance etc - http://www.cfqualification.com/

There are also some summer schools run by the LSE which can be very useful. But they are expensive!

3) Work Experience: Part time, Full Time, Temping and Voluntary work – all experience is good experience, but trying to find a job that is relevant to Investment banking is very difficult. However, it goes without saying that this will be a definite plus.

4) Travel! – Spending your summer travelling may be a viable proposition; as long as you combine it with some form of voluntary work, this will mean you will have something worth talking positively about in an interview!

5) Do nothing! – This is an option that has its own valid argument. Since you will be working for the majority of your life why don’t you relax now! However, in the interviews you will turn up as the same person you were last year, no improvement à it’s actually quite funny if you think about!

I hope the above helps. The bottom line is be proactive if you want to succeed.

Reading List - Investment Banking & Consulting

A blog reader has kindly given me a good list of books that are worth reading. They are as follows:

Banking and Finance

General

• “The City: Inside the Great Expectations Machine” – Tony Golding – easy-to-read discussion of life inside the City
• “The Death of Gentlemanly Capitalism” – Philip Auger – history of investment banking and securities broking in London since 1985
• “Goldman Sachs: The Culture of Success” – Lisa Endlich - history of the world’s greatest investment bank

Corporate Finance / M&A

• “Valuation: Measuring and Managing the Value of Companies” – Tom Copeland – classic textbook, quite technical
• “Principles of Corporate Finance – Richard Brearley and Stuart Myers – classic textbook, rather heavy and very technical

• “Big Deal” – Bruce Wasserstein – dauntingly large book, but actually very readable and easy to understand; starts with account of major recent M&A deals, then rteviews the classic M&A / corporate finance services and techniques
• “Barbarians at the Gate” – Bryan Burrough and John Helyar – classic business biography of the take-over of RJR Nabsisco in 1988; a thrilling account of a real deal; reads like a novel
• “Den Of Thieves” – James Stewart – similar in style to ‘Barbarians’, but gives an account of the insider trading in the 1980s that brought down Michael Milken and Drexel Burnham Lambert; again reads like a thriller

Financial Markets

• “An Introduction to Equities” – Reuters – easy to understand textbook
• “An Introduction to Debt Markets” – Reuters – easy to understand textbook
• “An Introduction to Foreign Exchange and Money Markets” – Reuters – easy to understand textbook
• “How the Bond Market Works” – Robert Zipf - – easy to understand textbook
• “Market Wizards – Interviews with Top Traders” – Jack Schwager – strange book – quite involved and is a compilation of interviews with traders about their trading strategies – for wannabe traders
• “Liars Poker” – Michael Lewis – classic real-life account of Michael Lewis’ career as a bond trader at Salomon in London, where he reported to John Merriweather (see When Genius Failed)
• “FIASCO” – Frank Partnoy – similar to Den of Thieves and Liars Poker but slightly more sensationalist
• “The Collapse of Barings” – Stephen Fay – easy to read account of Nick Leeson’s wrongdoing than brought down Barings in 1995
• “When Genius Failed – The Rise and Fall of Long Term Capital Management” – Roger Lowenstein – true-life account of the rise and fall of the largest hedge fund in the world run by John Merriweather – the star character in Michael Lewis’ Liars Poker

Consulting and Corporate

• “The McKinsey Way – Ethan Rasiel – explains the McKinsey approach to solving business problems; more a textbook than a biography of McKinsey
• “Jack – What I’ve Learned Leading a Great Company and Great People” – Jack Welch – the autobiography of the former CEO of General Electric, the largest company in the world
• “Competing for the Future” – Gary Hamel and CK Prahalad – management text on competition and competitive advantage, quite readable
• “The Balanced Scorecard” – Robert Kaplan and David Norton – readable management text on balancing financial and non-financial measurement / control of a company
• “Marketing Management: Analysis, Planning, Implementation and Control” – Philip Kotler – the classic text on marketing
• “Competitive Advantage” – Michael Porter – the classic text on competitive advantage explain Porter’s model of the “Five Forces”; quite heavy
• “Troubleshooter” – John Harvey Jones – from the 1990s TV series, former CEO of ICI consults to six companies
• The Grocers: The Rise and Fall of the Supermarket Chains” – Andrew seth and Geoffrey Randall – review of the UK’s big supermarkets and how they have consolidated their market positions

Also, for some leisure reading that some of you may find amusing is this book:

Golden Handcuffs: The Lowly Life of a High Flyer (Paperback)
by Polly Courtney (Author)

Where are you interning this summer? [2008]

Well the recruitment cycle has ended or coming to an end. I thought I would make a post for you and myself to gloat about the offers we have received and accepted!

This format:
Where you will be interning?
What division?
University you attend?
Course you are studying?

It will be interesting to see if there is a pattern. I will start first:

Lehman Brothers
IBD
University of London - Imperial College
Computing

[To Post your entry please comment below]

Assessment Centres and Group Exercises

What to expect from an Assessment Centre

If you are invited to an Assessment Centre you can be sure that you have done something right and the employer is keen to see what else you are capable of. It can be daunting but is only those who have passed through the preliminary interviews and those that the employer thinks are capable of successfully carrying out the jobs on offer that are asked to attend - so be confident and positive.

Group Exercises

The key to handling group exercises is to have to the right attitude from the start. You must be positive and enthusiastic and unless told otherwise you should assume that your objective is to 'win' against the other members of the group.

Group exercises are set to test the candidates' teamwork ability and to see who come out as the leaders and who the followers are. The tasks may encourage competitiveness or co-operation.

Be actively engaged at all times and be yourself - not who you think the assessors are looking for. Try to introduce humour and be sensitive towards others and have flexibility of thought.

The assessors will be looking for candidates to take control of the situation, draw opinions from the other delegates, keep the group to time, stand their ground (without becoming argumentative) and successfully take the group to its stated goal

Presentation Exercises

Presentation exercises are common as part of test centres. Few people enjoy public speaking but it is a discipline, which should be practised and is very useful. If you can successfully address a room of delegates your confidence cannot fail to impress. It is often useful to make very brief notes, which you can refer to during the talk and you should be provided with sufficient preparation time

How to prepare

Before you attend the assessment centre you should research thoroughly the exact requirements for the job to which you are applying. These key criteria are what the assessment panel will be looking for from you.

Dress as you would for an interview with the organisation and make sure you arrive at the venue in good time. The moment you walk through the door you will be judged, on your appearance, your punctuality and crucially how you present yourself to your fellow candidates.

It could be useful to make a note of the names of all the company representatives you meet, and when in conversation with testers or candidates drop those names into conversation.

When you leave the assessment centre take time to reflect on your own performance. Then after a few days, if you have not heard, contact the employer and politely request some feedback on your performance.

The Assessment Centre is a time for the employer to find out more about you and your capabilities. It is also a time for you to learn more about the job and the company. Relax and enjoy it, just do you best and learn from the experience.

Investment Banking Video

Thanks to youtube and Google they have introduced embeddable videos for blogs and i have put one right at the bottom - with videos related to investment banking videos - immerse yourself in the videos!

I will be attending assessment centres on the 16th and 18th of January at Lehman Brothers and Credit Suisse. I will write up a quick overview on assessment centres after my experience. In other words, i will be the guinea pig that will test the water for you guys!!

Don't forget enjoy the investment banking videos right at the bottom of this blog.