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.