Ask an investment banker anything.

Reply 40

Runninground

18

Do you know of any ACA qualified (Chartered Accountant) people where you work?

Reply 41

Engineer2015

8

Is the hype true, money wise i guess you get around £40-45k (if you're lucky). But generally, is its worth getting paid 40-45K for 80 odd hours a week?

Reply 42

Namige

17

Do A levels/GCSEs matter when applying for a job in this area?

Reply 43

ChefInBlackTie

OP

Original post by clh_hilary

I've heard of that approach before as well.

And it works. Anyone can do what I did

Original post by Foo.mp3

Pretty please? My as yet-unborn feral children need clothes and shelter so as they may better serve said bloodline, oh capitalist overlord :adore:

OK, once I top out my morally-questionable-but-legally-endorsed tax avoidance scheme if I have any leftover it's all yours

Original post by Runninground

Do you know of any ACA qualified (Chartered Accountant) people where you work?

Yes. The vast majority of our lateral hires have ACA qualifications (these are the approximate equivalent, or perhaps one year-equivalent behind, of MBA associates in the US)

Original post by Engineer2015

Is the hype true, money wise i guess you get around £40-45k (if you're lucky). But generally, is its worth getting paid 40-45K for 80 odd hours a week?

1. You'll make more than that. I think we pay our interns £45k a year base or something like that, full-timers get bonuses on top
2. Whether anything is "worth it" is purely subjective. It is a difficult job but your exposure and experience is years ahead of your peers in most other industries and this divergence becomes absolutely apparent after a couple of years in when you grab lunch with Henry Hipster from uni who decided to work for the next Angry Birds and is still eating instant ramen in his mum's basement. Think long-term
3. It's all a choice. Like I said before, nobody forces us to do what we do and plenty of people are queueing up for my job (especially in the current environment)

Original post by Namige

Do A levels/GCSEs matter when applying for a job in this area?

No

Reply 44

Laomedeia

21

Original post by ChefInBlackTie

I get cold-called by uni students at least once a month asking various questions on banking so figured I would go straight to the target demographic with some old fashioned Q&A

In summary: M&A advisory, joined as an analyst in 2011, London uni graduate, work in the City

Fire away

Why did you chose an occupation in which the second word rhymes with the name of something I like to do a lot of? Do you do this too?

Reply 45

shopoholic

14

What did you study at uni? How did you land your first job as an investment banker? Did you do masters? :smile:

Reply 46

Engineer2015

8

Original post by shopoholic

What did you study at uni? How did you land your first job as an investment banker? Did you do masters? :smile:

Go through the 1st page.

Reply 47

Engineer2015

8

On a scale of 1 to 10, how accurate is your role or IB in general to the film "Marginal Call".

Reply 48

MostUncivilised

3

Original post by ChefInBlackTie

I get cold-called by uni students at least once a month

How did they get your number?

Reply 49

Namige

17

Is a first class degree an important differentiator for banking? Or is the usual 2:1 minimum enough, and that the rest of the CV is more important? Also, do you ever wish you'd gone down a different career route in life? Or is banking everything you expected it to be and hoped for?

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 50

Engineer2015

8

One last question or two, you mentioned in a pervious post that your degree is not relevant to the job nor is what you learn, so why is the requirement you to have a degree relevant? Secondly, if nothing or very little of your degree is utilised at graduate entry, how does that work logistically? Are you learning the "tricks of the trade" as you go along or are you applying the many skills you have developed at university, whilst also doing the former. (I’m assuming that your role is not a structured graduate entry job.)

Reply 51

gr8wizard10

21

Original post by Engineer2015

One last question or two, you mentioned in a pervious post that your degree is not relevant to the job nor is what you learn, so why is the requirement you to have a degree relevant? Secondly, if nothing or very little of your degree is utilised at graduate entry, how does that work logistically? Are you learning the "tricks of the trade" as you go along or are you applying the many skills you have developed at university, whilst also doing the former. (I’m assuming that your role is not a structured graduate entry job.)

I'd assume you need to do a quant degree at a Target/Semi to stand any real chance

Reply 52

Orwellianhipster

1

How much excel spreadsheets do you use and what skills are required?

Are you a big swinging dick?

Do you work in mergers and acquisitions, trading or other?

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 53

TheGuy117

14

Do your co-workers fit the stereotype of bankers being a bunch of dickheads?

If the answer to that is yes, do you ever get upset in the morning that you have to go in and work with a bunch of dickheads?

Reply 54

TheGuy117

14

Also, do you know anyone in banking from KCL?

Thanks for doing this btw. :biggrin:

Reply 55

ChefInBlackTie

OP

Original post by shopoholic

What did you study at uni? How did you land your first job as an investment banker? Did you do masters? :smile:

Answered previously - let me know if you don't find the relevant responses

Original post by Engineer2015

On a scale of 1 to 10, how accurate is your role or IB in general to the film "Marginal Call".

The title you are looking for is "Margin Call"

Original post by MostUncivilised

How did they get your number?

Who knows. I suspect it's from the business cards I sometimes give out when I speak at a workshop that get passed around to people's friends, or they tried ringing reception and asked to get put through, or they just try their luck with [email protected] after finding me on LinkedIn

I used a mixture of methods when I was cold-calling myself many years ago so it's both amusing and ironic to be on the receiving end now. I don't question how they source my information as long as they have something intelligent to say, in which case I help if I can

Original post by Namige

Is a first class degree an important differentiator for banking? Or is the usual 2:1 minimum enough, and that the rest of the CV is more important? Also, do you ever wish you'd gone down a different career route in life? Or is banking everything you expected it to be and hoped for?

It can't hurt to have a first but I didn't get one. Do your best in school and try your luck regardless

Banking is a job. It pays well. It is interesting. It's also a real pain in the ass sometimes. But what job isn't? Every occupation just has varying degrees of excitement, agony and money - banking has extremes of all three

Original post by Engineer2015

One last question or two, you mentioned in a pervious post that your degree is not relevant to the job nor is what you learn, so why is the requirement you to have a degree relevant? Secondly, if nothing or very little of your degree is utilised at graduate entry, how does that work logistically? Are you learning the "tricks of the trade" as you go along or are you applying the many skills you have developed at university, whilst also doing the former. (I’m assuming that your role is not a structured graduate entry job.)

Practical reasons. Your degree is a fairly standardised indicator of personality, intelligence and life choices that allow employers to make a base-level decision on whether you fit the role, the same way universities look at A-level or GCSE results even if you didn't do anything relevant to your degree

Everything you need to know about the job, you will learn on the job. Soft skills are underrated - that and languages are the only thing you will bring with you from formal education but don't underestimate either. There is a lot you can do whilst pursuing education to build up an applicable skillset

I joined the standard analyst graduate programme which lasted twelve months from July 2011

Original post by Abdul-Karim

I'd assume you need to do a quant degree at a Target/Semi to stand any real chance

Not true

Original post by Orwellianhipster

How much excel spreadsheets do you use and what skills are required?

Are you a big swinging dick?

Do you work in mergers and acquisitions, trading or other?

Maybe 50% of my time. Attention to detail is a great skill to have (like noticing what role I mentioned in my first post)

Reply 56

Runninground

18

Original post by ChefInBlackTie

Yes. The vast majority of our lateral hires have ACA qualifications (these are the approximate equivalent, or perhaps one year-equivalent behind, of MBA associates in the US)

Do you know what kind of background those guys have? Are they all people with degrees at top Uni's and big 4 trained?

Reply 57

ChefInBlackTie

OP

Original post by TheGuy117

Do your co-workers fit the stereotype of bankers being a bunch of dickheads?

If the answer to that is yes, do you ever get upset in the morning that you have to go in and work with a bunch of dickheads?

Yes, but I'm a dickhead as well so I blend in fine

Original post by TheGuy117

Also, do you know anyone in banking from KCL?

Thanks for doing this btw. :biggrin:

Yes

Original post by Runninground

Do you know what kind of background those guys have? Are they all people with degrees at top Uni's and big 4 trained?

I will say it again: it doesn't matter. Comparing backgrounds as a precedent for getting into banking is like comparing whether Kenya or Ethiopia produces better runners

I appreciate that most of you are students and therefore your education is the single biggest qualification you have, but once you meet the minimum requirement it's such an irrelevance that it doesn't even bear thinking about. Get the best credentials you can and focus on building skills that matter. Nobody I've ever interviewed has ever impressed me with their academic achievements

Original post by Foo.mp3

Huzzah! Assuming you are serious:

What is the (pecuniary) cost of your tax avoidance?

What is the benefit?

What is your reservation price tax threshold? (given the above)