Hong Kong Investment Banking Salaries Overtake London

Average base pay for investment banking and hedge fund staff in Hong Kong has shot up by 15 per cent this year overtaking salary hikes in London

Such generous rises highlight the two-speed global economy in 2011 as Asia powered ahead while Europe and the US teetered close to recession.

Analysts in Hong Kong have seen 20 per cent base pay increases while those at “managing director” level have seen raises averaging 25 per cent. Average base pay for investment banking and fund management staff now stands at HK$890,000 (about £74,000).

Equivalent staff in London saw rises of 12 per cent.

Mark O’Reilly, managing director of recruitment firm Astbury Marsden which carried out the research, said: “Investment banking teams operating in Hong Kong have performed more strongly than their counterparts in London and New York in 2011. Generally banks are keener to invest in their teams in Asia than in Europe and the US and that has meant a bigger boost for Hong Kong bankers’ base pay.”

But next year is expected to be tougher as Western banks caught up in the eurozone debt crisis take a more cautious approach to their Asian expansion.

Mr O’Reilly added: “Most of these pay rises will have been agreed earlier this year, when confidence in the banking recovery was strongest, and banks were eager to retain and recruit staff in order to be best-positioned for the expected growth. More recently pay increases have been rarer and more modest.”

Last month John McCormick, RBS chairman for Asia-Pacific, warned that bonuses for investment bankers may be in danger of being clawed bank if the unit performs poorly.

Some banks are actually paring back their Asian headcounts, despite strong growth in the region. HSBC is wielding the biggest axe – cutting 3,000 staff over the next three years in Hong Kong.

Findings from Hong Kong-based headhunters Morgan McKinley show that 35 per cent of financial services firms plan to reduce their headcount within the next six to 12 months.

Another group that has prospered this year are compliance staff. As Hong Kong has expanded its range of financial products the need for greater compliance to monitor these new products has also grown.

Staff working in compliance teams reported pay rises averaging 21 per cent of their salaries. This was more generous than the average 11 per cent pay rises enjoyed by their counterparts in London over the same period.

Article source: The Telegraph, 21 December 2011

Investment Banking Salary 

2011 Top Ten Financial Markets

Want to work in one of the world's top ten financial markets? You may want to check out this news in yesterday's China Daily: HK most developed market

Hong Kong overtakes US, UK and Singapore to take top spot.

Hong Kong has overtaken the US, the UK and Singapore to top the world's most developed financial markets, the first time an Asian financial center has achieved this rank, according to the latest study of the World Economic Forum.

The city has been the world's hottest IPO market for the past two years, with funds raised amounting to HK$449 billion in 2010. And Hong Kong ranked second after the New York Stock Exchange for IPO fundraising in the first half of this year, with HK$182.2 billion raised during the period.

Want to meet challenges, execute your financial skills and of course make big money, consider working in Hong Kong.

Click here to view the full article.

Investment Banking Resumes - Hong Kong most developed market

Not Your Average Hedge Fund Resume

The unfortunate truth is there are more people looking for hedge fund jobs than there are jobs available, so hedge funds have their pick of the litter. This article is intended to show you how the search process works, and what the average hedge fund resume looks like. If you want to stand out from the crowd, take notes and do something different, or risk getting lost in the crowd.

It is very rare for a hedge fund to hire someone right out of school, so the typical hedge fund applicant will have at least 2 years of experience, usually in investment banking. Hedge fund managers just want to know how much money you can make them, so they don’t want to spend time teaching the basics like accounting, modeling, or basic corporate finance. Hedge funds will also consider consultants, ex- military, and accountants.

A hedge fund manager is willing to train a person that can bring a unique skill to the table. Consultants often have deep industry contacts; military personnel are very disciplined and will work many hours without questioning the chain of command; and accountants, especially forensic accountants, can identify questionable accounting practices that public companies may use.

A typical applicant will likely have education from a top tier school. That doesn’t mean you have to have a degree in business or economics. In fact, many famous hedge fund managers are students of philosophy. Certain hedge funds require an MBA or CFA. Many people get both, but getting both is really a waste of time. If you already have an MBA, it is a much better use of time to spend the same countless hours researching good investment ideas than trying to pass a memorization test like the CFA.

So if you didn’t go to a top tier school, you didn’t work for an investment bank, and you aren’t an accountant, consultant or ex -soldier, you need to think of something really creative to beef up your hedge fund resume because the sad truth is there are plenty of unemployed people who have the right background and still can’t get in. You might be surprised to learn what hidden skills you have acquired over the years are just the ticket.

How to Write Your Average Hedge Fund Resume
Ever wonder what large hedge funds and recruiters are looking for in a resume? Looking for hedge fund jobs with no luck? The hedge fund advisors from Street of Walls can help.

New York based StreetofWalls.com was founded by a team of former industry veterans who can tell you exactly what is needed to stand out on a hedge fund resume.

Street of Walls experts will take your old resume and completely rebuild it. They will beef up your education and work experience to make it more appealing to recruiters. You’ll be working one-on-one with real life Wall Street analyst until you are 100% satisfied. The ultimate goal is to get your resume in perfect shape to get you the interviews you’re working so hard to get.

To help you land your dream job, they also offer interview preparation and training materials through behavioral and technical interview guides, excel case study situations and free library of articles.

 
10% Discount for My Blog Readers

I have a little good news for you as I’ve teamed up with Street of Walls to help write your hedge fund resume. For a limited time, you can enjoy 10% off any resume writing services. Click this link and use promo code AnnaMaria to enjoy the discount.

 
Related Article
How To Get A Hedge Fund Job

Investment Banking Resumes - Hedge Fund Resume

Current Recruiting Trends and Tips

I had a chance recently to speak with the hiring experts at Street of Walls to get a feel for current market conditions and tips on how to improve your Investment Banking Resume.

Can you discuss current hiring trends?

Hiring has been slowing at most of the large banks over the last 6 months. In fact, firings have become more of the norm. Typically during an economic expansion, investment banks increase the number of analysts as the number of deals increase. Conversely, as the economy slows, those teams shrink, which is what we are seeing today. Due to the current economic conditions such as lower trading volume and slower deal flow, large investment banks have been cutting the size of their investment banking divisions.

Recently we have been seeing massive layoffs at almost every investment bank including Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Credit Suisse, Morgan Stanley and others.  Banks are experiencing large operating pressures from poor market conditions weighing on M&A, lower trading volumes (analysts estimating volumes down 20% this quarter), and big write-downs in investing and lending. Our sources within the banks are telling us hiring is expected to be down between 10%-20% this year, which isn’t as bad as we feared.

Will an MBA help you get a job in this environment?

We have recently seen a shift in hiring trends where investment banks are hiring equivalent talent at lower compensation levels. This has put excess pressure on recent MBA graduates. So in a sense, yes, an MBA may help you get a job but at a more junior level. Think about all of the talent that is now out there on the street. If you can hire a 3^rd year associate for the same price as a newly minted MBA, why wouldn’t you? That’s the problem. Now, MBA grads are being forced to take jobs equivalent to a 2^nd year analyst.

Along those lines, we are seeing mid-tier investment banks hire 1^st year associates that were recently laid off from bulge bracket banks rather than an MBA candidate. These laid off banker are just glad to have a job, worrying less about overall pay as they survive the current recessionary times.

What would attract the hiring managers' attention most when reading a resume?

We break this down into 3 parts:

1. Pedigree: School/GPA, top tier work experience
2. Wow factor: Have you done something incredibly impressive
3. Diversification and Differentiation: Women, international, ethnicity

Pedigree:

The number one thing that will attract a hiring manager to a resume is pedigree. Think about how a hiring manager gets judged by their boss - you don't get fired for hiring a person who interned at Goldman Sachs, but you could get fired if the guy from the state school turns out to be a dud. If the person was good enough for Goldman, they are probably good enough for you. Of course if you have gone to a top-tier school, you should highlight that on your resume, but it probably won't help as much as solid work experience.

Wow Factor:

Do something to really impress the recruiters and this can supersede a less than top-notch pedigree. A “wow factor” can be something like starting and growing a company with multiple employees selling products or services in multiple states. This example shows a person who can manage personalities by dealing with employees, and a person who is an extreme multitasker.

Diversification and Differentiation:

Be different, don't be a boiler plate. Highlight anything that will make someone remember you.  For example, not many people take the time to give back to the community. If you started/ran a charity or are a frequent volunteer make it known that you are significant contributor. I have interviewed over 1,000 people in the past 3 years and I still remember one candidate who put on his resume that he played golf in Antarctica. In reality he was on a submarine in the navy and they only briefly surfaced in Antarctica, but I still remember the example today.

Why Work With Dream Resume?

The Financial Services industry is an extremely demanding field that isn't for everyone. But if you enjoy the challenge, thrive under pressure, and love Finance, there is a huge opportunity to make huge money.  To begin with, you need a compelling resume.  If you don’t enjoy writing, don't worry, you can still get your professional resume done and land your dream job despite keen competition.

Whether you're an Investment Banker, Commodities Trader, Stock Broker, or Analyst your resume needs to highlight your academic and professional accomplishments, specific and extraordinary achievements, and expertise in your particular field. I know how to do these as I’m a professional financial services recruiter, but I’m too busy. In view of the recent increase demand in resume writing, here’s a website I strongly encourage your visiting: Dream Resume

Dream Resume Financial Services resume services give you an advantage over what will be submitted by your peers. Whether you already have a draft that requires editing or need a new resume, you will work one-on-one with a resume consultant experienced in crafting completely customized and successful Financial Services resumes. Read my previous post for additional information. 

Investment Banking Resumes Writing Services

Investment Banking Cover Letter Examples

To write an impressive investment banking cover letter, I would like to introduce a website InterExec. This website is mainly used by headhunters, so you may not have heard about it. The reason I want you to visit this website is not for you to use their service, but to learn writing an impressive cover letter. Follow these steps.

Click on the website InterExecResources
Click ‘Current Candidates’
Discipline: Choose B – Financial/…
Click ‘Get Current List’

By doing so, you’ll come up with a number of candidates with financial backgrounds. From there I have copied several profiles for your reference. Please note that these profiles are written by highly professional executive recruiters. And the profiles all belong to extremely senior bankers and you may probably at a much junior level. What I want you to learn is the style of writing when writing your own cover letter. They are written in 3rd person, you can write it in first person.

In fact, for mid level executives who do not have a headhunter to represent them may write a blind profile like this just to make it less sensitive at the initial job search process. Until the employer replies and asks for your resume, you can politely demand for confidentiality.

A DIRECTOR OF CORPORATE FINANCE with expertise in leading the execution of public and private M&A, financing transactions and strategic reviews for Large Corporate and Private Equity clients and in materially influencing new business origination.

In the past 5 years has advised on transactions totalling some £20bn, including one of the largest in the UK in 2010. Has significant experience with highly complex and contentious corporate finance issues. Contributes to new business development activities and played a key role in originating two new clients in the last 12 months.
Qualifications: MSc, BSc, FSA Approved.

A CORPORATE FINANCIER / INVESTMENT BANKER with expertise in building Board relations and significant revenues from transactions and mandates with major Healthcare Corporations in Europe and Asia.

An exceptional record of building $60m revenues from corporate finance activity with a leading Global Investment Bank for International Clients with consolidated market capitalisation of +$500bn. Specialist knowledge of the Pharmaceutical / Healthcare sector, building from scratch significant presence and revenues in Europe and Japan with total mandated transaction values exceeding $100bn.

Further extensive experience in Corporate finance and development for a Global, market leading Pharmaceutical company.

Qualifications: MSc, CFA.
Courses: M&A – INSEAD.
Languages: Fluent German, Advanced French.


When you have to write a REALLY short paragraph summarizing your USP (unique selling point), you need to study the ad and see what qualities are most needed by the employer. If you are proactively approaching an employer, analysis what is most important in the role you are interested in. In any case, some words and phrases are highly useful and generally catching the eyes of the hiring managers.

I’ve written a few examples for mid level bankers.

Candidate impresses as a down-to-earth and competent senior banker who has a proven track record in originating Power / Energy transactions.

Having gained over 10 years in Project and Structured Finance in the Power and Energy space, Candidate brings an excellent understanding and exposure to international financing structures with the last 5 years deeply involved in Asian transactions.

Possessing strong industry networks with global corporates and sovereign houses in Asia Candidate can immediately add value to XYZ Bank.

Copy the style of these profiles and re-write with your personal details and make it the experience paragraph in your cover letter. Be short, include your USP and make use of numbers when mentioning deal sizes.

Investment Banking Cover Letters

Do THIS Before Your Next Job Interview

An investment banking interview is unique in many ways. However if your preparation is focused only on IB, you may overlook some important interview rules that are common to all businesses. Have a 360 interview preparation and minimise the chances to be defeated by someone who is better prepared.

I've recently read a great article from my friend Jimmy Sweeney regarding interview preparation. He has granted me permission to share it with my readers. Here you go.

Marathon runners practice with friends before the big race. Speech contestants practice their speech in front of friends before the competition. Musicians practice with friends and colleagues before a concert. Savvy job seekers do the same.

Never walk into an interview cold. Warm up with a friend or fellow job seeker first.

DEVELOP QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

Before the practice session study the mission statement of the company you're interested in, the job description of the position you're aspiring to, and the responsibilities involved. Then create questions around that information. Your practice partner can help you there. Next, prepare your answers, including real-life examples from your current work experience so that when you're faced with questions, you have specific details you can refer to on the spot.

DRESS THE PART

Treat the practice session with the same respect and professionalism you would the real thing. This includes dressing appropriately––a suit and tie or sport coat and slacks for men, a pants suit or tailored dress for women. Be sure to polish your shoes and avoid heavy-scented perfumes or after-shave lotions. Select conservative jewelry, avoiding dangling earrings and clunky bracelets that distract. You'll want to keep the hiring manager's attention on what counts—you and your qualifications for the job.

ASK FOR AN HONEST CRITIQUE

Following your practice interview, ask your friend to critique your appearance, attitude, attention span, answers to questions, and to give you his or her overall impression of how you did. In other words, would your friend hire you? This information will be invaluable to you as you can make changes where necessary and keep in place what worked well.

The popular adage, 'practice makes perfect' may not always be true, but 'practice leads to progress' is true all the time. And progress will soon lead you to the job of your dreams.

Jimmy Sweeney is the president of CareerJimmy and author of the brand new "Secret Career Document" job landing system. Jimmy is also the author of several career related books and writes a monthly article titled, "Job Search Secrets."

Investment Banking Interview

Banking and Financial Services Salary Information 2011

If you love challenge, want to execute your banking/financial knowledge and people skills, and of course to make a handsome income speedily, consider working in Asia, especially Hong Kong.

Here is a link about working in Hong Kong.



In this dynamic market, you need to work in a fast pace and highly competitive environment, however you’ll be very well rewarded financially. An analyst with 1-3 years of experience can earn between $64,000 and $102,000. I used to distribute the investment banking salary info to my readers by email. But I’m getting very busy, so I’ve obtained these links for you to download the reports directly.

HUDSON BANKING AND FINANCIAL SERVICES SALARY INFORMATION 2011
Click below to download reports for individual cities.
Hong Kong
Shanghai
Singapore

The Hong Kong report is very comprehensive, do download it. Below are some highlights that you may want to know.

HIRING OUTLOOK FOR 2011
Optimism about Asian markets is high and hiring activity is likely to remain strong throughout 2011. Many banks, hedge funds and asset management companies with a strong presence in Europe and the US are seeking to develop their business in Asia and will be undertaking strategic hiring to achieve this objective.

Candidates with in-depth experience in China will be sought after this year, as will those with wide ranging business networks…..As in 2010, there is likely to be a greater emphasis on basic salary in the make-up of remuneration packages, as banks seek to avoid negative publicity arising from large bonus payments. Increasing stock options is another possible alternative to paying large bonuses.

Investment Banking Resumes - IB Salary

Private Equity Jobs

Private equity (raising funds to invest in private companies) is a relatively young business however has become of the most well paid careers in the financial field.

A career in private equity (PE) which includes venture capital, PE fund of funds, hybrid funds, and secondary funds can be extremely rewarding. But landing a job in this field can be difficult.

If you're seriously considering a career in private equity, you have to become familiar with how firms hire. Here are a few links that you may want to look at.

PE Recruit – This website offers a free test of your PE skills

PrivateEquityBlogger – This website offers a free PE eBook

PE Jobs Digest – This website offers free PE job listings alert

DreamResume – This website has a team of experienced finance professionals to help write your PE resume with one-on-one support

Related Article
How To Write a Private Equity Resume

Investment Banking Resumes - Private Equity Jobs

Managed Bank Accounts in The UK

Bank accounts around the world: managed bank accounts in the UK

There are so many different types of bank account across the world nowadays. Here, we're going to have a look at one type of account in particular - the managed bank account… and how it might work in the UK.

There are several ways a managed bank account could work, so we'll look at just one possible way in this guide.

Managed banking

A lot of people choose a managed bank account because it helps them organise their finances and gain much better control over the money they're spending.

If you're finding it difficult to keep track of your monthly bills, or you're finding it hard to keep track of where the rest of your money is heading, you may know all too well that it's easy to fall behind and end up with bank charges for bounced payments and fees for unauthorised overdraft usage.

With a managed bank account, you won't need to worry about unexpected bank charges… but it's important to check the terms and conditions of your account first to see exactly how it works. Some accounts may charge an initial set-up fee and a monthly fee, so knowing where you stand before opening an account is vital.

How might a managed bank account work?

There are, as mentioned, several ways a managed bank account could work. One way involves a real person handling a bank account holder's money for them.

Once wages are paid into an individual's account, the company will set aside the money the individual needs to cover their monthly essential costs (bills, for example, and rent/mortgage payments).

The money left after doing this is then transferred to another account (one that is run alongside the main account), to be spent on whatever the account holder likes. They can, of course, spend this money without worrying about covering their essential costs (as they'll already have been taken care of).

So, that's just one of the ways a managed bank account could work. To find out more about this type of bank account, you could take a look at this bank account FAQ page.

Careers page of a company in the UK who offer managed bank accounts.

Amazing Cover Letters - Would It Work For I-Bankers?

Have you notice one of the career tools I recommend in this blog – The Amazing Cover Letters? Just want to share a little statistics with you.

To be honest upfront, I’m an affiliate of Jimmy Sweeney’s Amazing Cover Letter creator. I’m making a decent income from my headhunting job, why am I selling this software?

This blog is aim to help young graduates to go into one of the toughest job markets - investment banking. I-banking is really tough and candidates are facing keen competitions. While some readers ask me to write cover letters for them, I refer them to Jimmy’s software for two reasons. One I don’t have the time to do it. Two Jimmy’s software program does the job of a professional cover letter writer but at a much lower fee. For many candidates, this did sound like a dream come true!

Amazing Cover Letter Creator has an extremely high product rating. If you ever do any research over the internet, you must aware of this. But the statistics I want to share with you is its low refund rate of 0.19% (meaning that out of every 500 people who purchase this product, 1 returns it, and 499 keep it!). I have been selling this product for four years and this close-to-zero refund rate makes me feel confident that this is a product worth my recommendation. So what is Amazing Cover Letter all about? You can visit its official website or continue reading my introduction.

The creator and author of the Amazing Cover Letter Creator is Jimmy Sweeney. Jimmy is a professional copywriter and the President and CEO of a California based marketing company. Jimmy decided to put some of his copywriting skills to work in the job seekers market by writing cover letters for prospective employees. The end result of his experiment was the job seekers got significantly more phone calls as a result of Jimmy's cover letters. What’s more interesting is that these cover letters work across all industries and level of jobs. So whether you are looking for an ibanking job or a teaching role, his letters work equally well.

The program is very easy to use. Once you downloaded it to your computer, the first thing you do is to open it and choose the kind of cover letter you want. After this you have to choose the size of the applicant job pool and here you can choose among large, small or medium.

Then you would be asked to say whether or not you have experience in the field you are applying for, after you have done this, the program automatically chooses a cover letter template for you which you can then personalize or customize using most common word processing programs like Microsoft word.

This software is extremely powerful in a way that it generates very well-worded cover letters. The only challenging part is to make modifications to make the letter specific for the job you are looking to apply to. However, the software has a section where you can see samples of each section to give you ideas on how to modify the letter for your specific situation.

The cost of $39.95 is only a fraction of what you would pay a professional cover letter writer and the quality of letter that the software generates is on par with what a professional would write for you. You simply aren't going to find a better bargain elsewhere.

PS: Amazing Cover Letters come with Three Free Stuff:

• Top 3 Award-Winning Cover Letter Templates
• Amazing Job Interview Success
• The 'BIG 3' Salary Negotiation Secrets!

Visit Jimmy Sweeney’s Amazing Cover Letters Official Website

Investment Banking Resumes - Amazing Cover Letters Review

Investment Banking Salary 2011

Time to talk about money again, as it’s bonus time for most banks.

Going into 2011, starting salaries for investment banking positions with a bachelor’s degree should range from $100,000 to $130,000 after bonus. Starting salaries with an MBA degree (associate position) range after bonus from $90,000 to $180,000. These salaries vary with firms and with the region of the country you are in.

Bonus checks in 2011 are generally smaller even for experienced bankers. For entry level bankers, don’t be disappointed if your pay is not that attractive. In fact some banks tend to pay less than others because they can get away with it. However at the entry level, the quality of experience you gain and the strength of the people you will work with are far more important than the money you receive. Maximize your present value and you’ll benefit from the great return of your future earnings. Don’t worry about taking lower pay now. Some ballpark figures available at this website:
http://www.careers-in-finance.com/ibsal.htm


Bank Bonus Outlook 2010/11
 
According to Eric Moskowitz of Korn Ferry Institute (Nov 2010) - Estimated bonuses will be flat to down 5 percent on average for the largest global financial services firms compared with 2009. Asset management, hedge fund, and private equity firms will receive slightly higher bonuses (10 to 15 percent), while fixed income and equity personnel will see the largest declines across the globe.

His report also include figures regarding

• Global bank compensation and revenue analysis
• Worldwide mergers and acquisitions activity in the banking sector

I have a copy of Eric’s full report. Email me at ibankingresumes(at)yahoo(dot)com with a headline "KF Bonus Outlook 2011" and I’ll email you a copy.

Investment Banking Salary 2011

140 Power Verbs To Electrify Your Resume

Today, four year back in 2007, I established this Investment Banking Resume Blog.  Here’s what I wrote in my inaugural page:

”The goal of this blog is to introduce resume writing skills for investment banking jobs.

The mission of this blog is to help undergraduates and young bankers to build a successful investment banking career.”

I enjoy the interactions with young people in these years.  I do hope your finding the information in this blog useful.  Marching into the fifth year, I have a little something for you.

1. A list of 140 Power Verbs to Electrify Your Resume – this does not only work well for investment banking resumes.  Feel free to forward to your loved ones in case they need to write a resume.  (By courtesy of DreamResume.com)
2. The 10% discount from DreamResume.com is still valid.  I’m glad that their ex-ibankers are willing to help my young readers to write their finance resumes at a discounted rate.  For more information, read this post.  Make sure to mention the discount code if you are placing an order over the phone. 
3. A FREE ebook – The Top 10 Secrets of The World’s Greatest Cover Letter – Attract Job Interviews Like A Magnet.  This is newly written by world famous career guru Jimmy Sweeney and I’m proud that he has given permission for my readers to download it for free.  See the download link on the sidebar of this blog. 

Finally I’ve decided to set up a new blog focusing on Resume Cover Letters only.  This will provide valuable information to job seekers of all industries and all job levels.  It’s going to be great news too as I’ve gained permission from my friend Jimmy Sweeney to publish some of his best articles there.  Jimmy is the President of CareerJimmy and Author of The Amazing Cover Letters. I’m sure you’ll be able to write excellent cover letters from reading his articles.  I’ll make a separate announcement when this new blog is up.

Anna Maria D'Souza

Investment Banking Resumes

March 1, 2011

Investment Banking Cover Letter

There is one BIG secret in writing a compelling investment banking cover letter – keep it short. There are two reasons to do this. The less you write, the fewer mistakes you will make and the higher chance to attract the eyes of the hiring manager.

Bankers read a lot of cover letters and resumes daily. One strategy for them to look for their best candidates is to spot errors (even typos) on any cover letter and resume and send them to the ‘no’ folder. To overcome this, your strategy is to keep it short. If you’ve read my previous post on a 20-second cover letter and do it well, you are on the right track.

To help you write compelling messages in a short cover letter, I’ve a little bonus here for you. My friend, career expert Jimmy Sweeney, has just published his new e-book The Top 10 Secrets of The World’s Greatest Cover Letter. This e-book is not i-banking focused, however works across all industries and level of jobs. I’ve asked for his permission for my readers to have a free download. Even more, Jimmy also allows you to send his e-book to your friends or loved one as long as you do not alter the contents in any way.

As this free offer is only for a limited period, I suggest your downloading it NOW and start crafting your investment banking cover letter and get yourself busy in attending interviews.

For A Free Download, Click The Link Below

The Top 10 Secrets of The World’s Greatest Cover Letter

How Do I Get An Interview?

Recently I spoke with a few guys at a new start up that focuses on providing young candidates the tools they need to break into Investment Banking. They provide everything from Resume over-hauls, headhunter contacts, recruiter contacts, 60 page Interview Prep Material, Phone Interview Cheat Sheets, Financial Models (DCF, M&A, LBO), and 1-on-1 consultations over the phone. This is very interested information.

Their website is StreetOfWalls.com, and courtesy of our site they will critique your resume for free, simply email them with your resume attached.

Their motto is this: 22 year old investment bankers can make up to $140,000 per year, why not invest $30-50 to give yourself an edge over your competition. These guys not only worked at a large Investment Bank but also were on the recruiting team – they’ve seen thousands of resumes and have interviewed hundreds of candidates. They claim their products are the best and necessary to give you an edge.

If you’re still trying to get into the industry & think Merger Models (picture below) is still rocket science I definitely recommend checking out the website. They’re nice guys and usually pretty quick to respond.

How to Become A Proprietary Trader - V

The Career Path
Let's make one thing clear upfront: the hiring process for traders is highly competitive.

The conventional way of becoming a trader is to become an assistant trader to begin with. In reality, there is no such job as assistant trader. This is really more of a catch-all job title meant to attract interns. The assistant trader is generally responsible for verifying deals and working out problems with the back-office when he has a doubt. He also estimates the P&L (profit & loss statement) and verifies its main items, updates the prices in the morning, answers the phone, updates the spread sheets for pricing and the calculation of present or historic risk, monitors risks and positions, acts as liaison with research and helps provide quotes on big trading days.

In principle, the assistant trader should go on to become a trader, and eventually a proprietary trader, though there is no guarantee. He is unable to get hired into the position straight off. However interns are allowed a measure of freedom including contact and job rotations with traders from other desks.

Another way to become a trader is via the middle and back offices or risk management where the diploma requirements are more easily met. Above all, this path involves accepting a job and making a commitment to work there, typically for a minimum of 3-5 years. That is why age is so important. The younger you enter the field of trading, the better. A new trader must possess a dynamic personality, entrepreneurial spirit, intelligence, ambition and discipline to succeed in the field. In fact, the new graduates and assistant traders have priority over the front- and back-office staff in the scramble for front office positions.

You can take the direct approach and submit your application via the career opportunities page of corporate web sites where you may also find expensively developed training programs for young graduates to become traders, sales people, structuring people and analysts - in short, the firm's future managers.

In any case, landing an internship at the age of 22 is the key to the future, even though the hardest part is yet to come.

Can I be a prop trader if my qualifications are less competitive?
Yes. Provided you are dedicated, chances are there.

Many modestly-sized investment banks and stock brokers, whose profits do not mount into the hundreds of millions of dollars per trader, but offer people with less brilliant diplomas plenty of opportunities. As such, if someone performs well, even in a small company, he has every chance of being recognised and eventually handling more substantial sums, catch the eyes of headhunters and move on to work for bulge brackets. Therefore if you are taking the non-diploma path to success, the earlier you begin to make money, the better your chances for dealing with large funds and being hired by large banks as a prop trader.

What is Required?
Regardless of the path taken, the trader must be able to deal with technical and financial issues. Apart from the university math credentials, the job candidate must also have completed a solid year or two of graduate level finance or at least show a good understanding of economics and finance, a thorough understanding of financial issues, understanding of the main derivatives and the principles for pricing them, an understanding of the fundamental issues in finance and of the operations of the monetary system and the main players in the capitalist system. 

What is the Future?
When the time comes to make a change, a trader will find it hard to make the transition to a new career outside the trading room, given the job's degree of specialisation. Traders after 10 or 20 years of service may choose to retire early. Highly-driven individuals who have made a name for themselves may launch their own investment funds.

Action now
Browse the JP Morgan Intern Opportunities 2011 and go through the resume and cover letter tools in this blog and start your intern role searching. Also visit the career sites in this blog for more intern opportunities.

Download FREE eBook: "The Complete Guide To Day Trading"
If you are serious in a trader's role, better learn something about day trading now. Markus Heitkoetter, a professional day trading coach is offering his ebook for free and he promises to help you to become the trader you want to be.

Investment Banking Career