Inside Investment Banking
If you want to break into investment banking but don’t have a degree from Harvard or an internship from Goldman Sachs, you should visit the website of Inside Investment Banking (IIB).
I find IIB interesting because it is created by 5 bulge bracket investment bankers whom all broke into investment banking in 2008/9 without Harvard or Goldman on their resumes. What made them successful was Preparation and Knowledge (as stated in their website). They spent 100s of hours of research so they knew more than any other candidates about writing resumes, answering banking interview questions, wining & dining bankers and basically how to game the IB recruiting system. And now you have the opportunity to get that same unfair advantage, since they’ve put together all of this knowledge in the IIB System.
Going through their website, you’ll be amazed that they’ll do almost anything to help you get a job in investment banking. Depends on your need, you can go a la carte to pick the services such as Top 50 Interview Q&As, Toughest Brainteasers, and the 6-in-1 Guide Pack is now on sale. Even more determined? You can join their membership and obtain all-round services and backup. I’ve contact them and obtained a discount of $100 if you decided to join their Premium Membership. Use discount code of ibankingresume when checking out. There is a 7-day refund guarantee.
If you decide not to buy anything, you should opt-in to access their Free 10-Part “Get into Investment Banking” Tutorial Series so that you will know more about how to land a job in investment banking than 90% of candidates.
Investment Banking Resumes - Inside Investment Banking
A blog for undergraduates and young bankers – cover letters, resume writing and interviewing skills, just for investment banks.
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Monday, January 2, 2012
3 Ways to Improve Your Investment Banking Resume
Looking to land an investment banking job in the new year? You need to polish your resume. Here is an article from StreetOfWalls.com which will certainly help.
3 Ways to Improve Your Investment Banking Resume
Most resumes go through HR, and while you certainly want to make yours stand out quickly for an HR screener, distinguishing yourself quickly is even more important when you are in the investment banking hunt. That’s because it’s the bankers—not HR—who are usually reading the resumes, and bankers’ time is limited. Traditional wisdom says you have only 20-30 seconds to make an impression when HR reads your resume. You can cut that time in half for bankers!
Number 1, find a way to stand out.
A good school won’t do it, even if you went to Harvard (or better!) Let’s face it—half of the resumes in the pile are going to be from Harvard, and the other half are going to be from Princeton, Yale, Wharton, or Stanford. Instead, use your unique experience to stand out. Show how you did something special to work hard; show your ability to multi task—for example, if you started a company with multiple employees. The story gets even better if you managed a project across multiple states.
Number 2, show your knowledge of the industry.
Highlight industry knowledge and target those groups inside the bank. This has to be legitimate, however. You can’t say you worked at Blockbuster and claim to be a media expert. If you are going to claim to be a media expert, you need to have real industry knowledge—for example, you interned for a pharmaceutical company conducting research on new products in the pipeline.
Number 3, if you don’t have real work experience, highlight your relevant interests.
The key here is to make sure these interests are indeed relevant and not too fluffy. For example, you could highlight specific case studies that you worked on or talk about your investment portfolio. Using fluff here could hurt rather than help. For example, don’t say that you were treasurer of your fraternity or a cashier at Walmart so you are used to handling money. Don’t use anything that’s too much of a stretch, like working at your dad’s office, any fraternity position, any retail job or anything related to high school unless it is REALLY impressive.
And here’s something to think about. If you really don’t have any relevant work experience, start positioning yourself so that you can claim some. Advise others who know less than you. In other words, become a consultant of sorts—Amateur investing clubs, college business teams—who needs your words of wisdom?
Get yourself an internship, even an unpaid one. Call on local banks or brokerage houses. Offer to sweep the floors if you have to. In addition to having something to put on your resume, you might actually learn something!
Related Articles
3 Ways to Improve Your Investment Banking Resume
3 Ways to Improve Your Investment Banking Resume
Most resumes go through HR, and while you certainly want to make yours stand out quickly for an HR screener, distinguishing yourself quickly is even more important when you are in the investment banking hunt. That’s because it’s the bankers—not HR—who are usually reading the resumes, and bankers’ time is limited. Traditional wisdom says you have only 20-30 seconds to make an impression when HR reads your resume. You can cut that time in half for bankers!
Number 1, find a way to stand out.
A good school won’t do it, even if you went to Harvard (or better!) Let’s face it—half of the resumes in the pile are going to be from Harvard, and the other half are going to be from Princeton, Yale, Wharton, or Stanford. Instead, use your unique experience to stand out. Show how you did something special to work hard; show your ability to multi task—for example, if you started a company with multiple employees. The story gets even better if you managed a project across multiple states.
Number 2, show your knowledge of the industry.
Highlight industry knowledge and target those groups inside the bank. This has to be legitimate, however. You can’t say you worked at Blockbuster and claim to be a media expert. If you are going to claim to be a media expert, you need to have real industry knowledge—for example, you interned for a pharmaceutical company conducting research on new products in the pipeline.
Number 3, if you don’t have real work experience, highlight your relevant interests.
The key here is to make sure these interests are indeed relevant and not too fluffy. For example, you could highlight specific case studies that you worked on or talk about your investment portfolio. Using fluff here could hurt rather than help. For example, don’t say that you were treasurer of your fraternity or a cashier at Walmart so you are used to handling money. Don’t use anything that’s too much of a stretch, like working at your dad’s office, any fraternity position, any retail job or anything related to high school unless it is REALLY impressive.
And here’s something to think about. If you really don’t have any relevant work experience, start positioning yourself so that you can claim some. Advise others who know less than you. In other words, become a consultant of sorts—Amateur investing clubs, college business teams—who needs your words of wisdom?
Get yourself an internship, even an unpaid one. Call on local banks or brokerage houses. Offer to sweep the floors if you have to. In addition to having something to put on your resume, you might actually learn something!
Related Articles
3 Ways to Improve Your Investment Banking Resume
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