From The Student Room

TSR Wiki > Careers > Career Options > Finance and Banking

---

If you really want to get involved in Finance and Banking you need strong people skills and good academic performance. This guide is based off one that Chassez produced a while ago but has been edited and altered in some places.

Contents 1 Investment Banking 1.1 A Level choices 1.2 Universities and Degree choices 1.3 At university 1.4 Uni Penultimate Year: Apply for Internships 1.5 Internship: An 8-12 week interview 1.6 Uni Final Year: Apply for Grad Jobs

Investment Banking

A Level choices

To get into the right universities to get one of those highly sought after places you'll need to make the right choices at A level. Top of the list is maths, this subject is vital to most finance roles and even if the job doesn't use a lot of maths, it shows you have vital problem solving skills. If possible take Further Maths as this will differentiate you from the other candidates. Other than maths I would suggest an essay based subject such as History, Economics, English or Politics. These subjects lend themselves towards analysis and allow you to practice those vital writing skills before university. Other decent subjects for a 3rd choice would include science based or other humanitarian subjects. Try not to take "Mickey Mouse" subjects as some universities blacklist them.

Universities and Degree choices

The best candidates for the job wont always come from the top universities but its most likely that the top universities will have the highest number of potential or suitable candidates. For investment banking, overall university reputation is probably more important than degree subject reputation but some mid table universities do have specialist departments such as City's CASS or Readings ISMA . The top universities will also be on the milk rounds of a lot more top banks and so you will have an increased exposure to opportunities by being at the elite institutes.

Doing the right degree for investment banking depends on the position you want to do. The majority of people working in investment banks will probably have some type of numerical based degree (eg Economics, Maths, Physics, Engineering) but having these skills is only necessary in certain divisions such as the Financial Markets (trading, selling etc). Degrees in subjects such as History or English adequate for the IBD division but would still be in the minority.

These universities are the most likely to be recruited from: Cambridge, Oxford, LSE, Warwick, UCL, Imperial, Kings, Bristol, Nottingham, York, Durham, Bath etc.

But probably around 80% will come from the first 3

Also try to get ABB at A level at the very least. Many banks will automatically reject candidates below this level.

At university

From chassez's article on IBtalk.co.uk

Get involved is the main advice. Every university in the country has a wealth of opportunities outside the academic department, including sports teams, common-interest societies, music and theatre groups and a student union. IB employers will be looking for evidence of a number of key skills such as leadership ability, communication skills, stamina and teamwork ability, which are much more clearly demonstrable through getting involved in such activities rather than just your degree course. Remember that tens of thousands of applicants will next year be applying for internships with similar academic grades to you, so doing something to stand out of the crowd can work wonders. By all means stay on top of your work - most application forms will ask for a breakdown of your 1st year exam results, and want to see that you're at least at a 2:1 (60%) standard. But if you're well organised you'll be able to do your work, enjoy university social life and do something extra. For example, to show that you have leadership skills you could be captain of a sports team, or to show strong writing skills (useful particularly for corporate finance) you can write some articles for the student paper. There's no need to do mountains of extracurricular stuff, it's only your 1st year after all - just something that will stand out of the crowd.

To get an IB internship, some work experience relevant to finance is almost essential. This doesn't need to be anything too flashy - just data input, accountancy work or personal trading (whether using real money or 'Fantasy' Stock/FX trading) is all good. Maybe you'll be able to fit something in during termtime, and if not the summer after your 1st year is a good time to get some experience. Particularly useful is getting into the 'back office' of an investment bank through a temping agency such as Michael Page or Joslin Rowe. Then you'll already have an impressive name on your CV when applying for internships...

Uni Penultimate Year: Apply for Internships

An 8-12 week IB internship in the summer after your penultimate year (i.e. the 2nd year of a 3-year course, or 3rd year of a 4-year course) is the way that the vast majority of IB candidates end up with a graduate job. An internship gives you real 'hands on' experience, demonstrating that you're able to cope in a pressurised environment, not to mention awesome pay for a student (from £500-£800/week at leading IBs). Almost all application forms are via the internet, and open up during the autumn/christmas period. It's worth applying as soon as they open since many assessment centres are conducted on a loosely 'first come, first serve' basis. It's worth applying for 10-15 internships - yes multiple application forms are lengthy and somewhat tedious, but it maximises your chances when the applications:offers ratio for internships can exceed 60:1.

If you've followed the aforementioned advice and have some good experience to state on your application form, you should be in with a chance of making it to the interviews/assessment centre. See IBtalk's other articles on how to prepare ( http://www.ibtalk.com/main/articles/guys_interviews.php ) and an A-Z of key IB terms ( http://www.ibtalk.com/main/articles/terminology.php ) to get ready. Also, the day before your interview it's worth typing the bank name into Google News ( http://news.google.com ) to check up any major developments recently.

Internship: An 8-12 week interview

OK, so you're in. Time to relax? No. Now comes the important step of trying to convert your internship into a full-time job offer. After all, if you apply for grad jobs at other banks they may ask if you got an offer after your internship, and it may be tough to sidestep why not. And it'd always be nice to come back to uni starting your final year with a full-time offer already under your belt. Depending on the division and the bank, anything from 20-80% of interns are given full-time offers at the end of their placement. The key to success is simply to [b]not screw up[/b]. If you don't do anything they object to then they have no reason to turn you down, whereas if you are overly annoying or display incompetence then you're probably in trouble. You need to show keenness, but not too much of it, and demonstrate that you would fit in well with the team. Then at the end, if you like the bank and want to work there in the future, you're sorted with a hassle-free final year - you can just sign the contract and concentrate on your degree as peers stress out over what they're going to do next. And if you don't want to stay there, you can leverage your internship when applying for grad jobs...

Uni Final Year: Apply for Grad Jobs

Most of the applications open up around 1st September, around the end of internships. The application form and recruitment process is very similar to that of internships, and with an internship under your belt (whether you converted this to an offer or not), you should have much less difficulty in getting to assessment days - the application ratio for full-time jobs is actually lower than for internships, usually. If you apply early you could have an offer by October, although others carry on into February or March. If you're not having much luck don't let it get you down though, as you need to keep on top of your degree since a 2.1 is required by most IBs these days, and you can always re-apply for graduate jobs the year after. But with a bit of luck you'll graduate in June and have a couple of months off before entering the City.