Quick Word of Advice - An Easy Way to Differentiate Yourself
As people scramble for internships or FT positions, thought i would share this tidbit.
I work at a boutique M&A advisory firm as an Associate.
I recently have driven and completely revamped the Internship program. In a period of 1 month, we have received 200+ applications from a range of different undergrad, MBAs, PhD's and even former/current lawyers....and yes, its unpaid as well.
I say all this because NOT A SINGLE PERSON has picked up the phone and called my firm asking to speak with myself or the other Intern Supervisor.
In a world where texting/IMing/emailing is becoming the new norm, set yourself apart by picking up the phone and talking with someone.
Or if you really have balls, show up at the office in person to shake someones hand and show them you are the real deal. (Mod Note (Andy) - based on the community's comments inside the post, this isn't advised
Since first impressions mean a lot, if there is interest, I'm happy to share more on how one can do this successfully.
So basically...cold calling or showing up at an M&A Advisory firm is not frowned upon?
IMO I'm not sure this is the right advice for all shops. It certainly helps to pick up the phone, but I would definitely advise against cold-showing up. It may right for your shop if it's small and you guys have a structured internship program, but I can imagine that a lot of boutiques would be very unreceptive to this approach.
The problem is, most people with enough balls to attempt a cold show up probably lack the ability to pick up on subtle social cues for how it would be appropriate to press the situation and proceed, or take the "not interested" hint. I just think that most 19-20 year olds are not socially mature enough to successfully execute such a maneuver.
This. +1
If you show up at my office unannounced I will have security escort you and you will be forever branded as a creepy stalker kid.
Unless you have somebody's seamless order or a delivery from Amazon don't visit the office without an invitation.
hmm what if you show up with some delicious seamless for some of the bsd's in the office, and instead of a menu you attach your resume instead, shake a few hands, then leave
The approach I've recently been taking is to apply and then shoot and email to the job poster (if the contact info is available) or I email someone in the group which the posting is for and ask to get on the phone with them to discuss how they like working at their firm. I find it to be a bit more welcoming than just calling out of the blue or showing up at someones office. Im curious to see how this looks to a person in charge of screening applicants.
I'm all for the dale carnegie school of thought but this is creepy. if you're not in a smaller town, there's likely security that won't let you in without an appointment. if you are in a smaller city, this will be seen as rude because no one likes a pop in (friday afternoons notwithstanding).
I agree with calling, but popping in? settle down spaz.
The OP must not be super busy if they want a bunch of in-bound calls from hungry, young monkeys. I've not been a banker for a few years (was a VP when I left), but I didn't have time to field unscheduled calls about recruiting. An unsolicited call would have likely meant an auto-ding. We had a recruiting process, and we intended it to be followed.
What I was open to was an email asking for a call time. Then I could time it to fit around my constant flow of client-related calls, travel and meetings.
NEVER, EVER, EVER show up at an office unexpected if you actually expect to work there.
no more love for the ballsy & tough kids. glory to the conventional politically correct soft hipster.
You have no clue how busy we are. If you email me and I can fit you in when I have time, I am happy to pay it forward and do so. If you call me or show up at my office I'm going to be really pissed.
Take me as an intern and i promise you will have more time to go through your mail !
Just logging back in - breezed through the comments. Glad there are a number of different opinions listed from different M&A shops - they all seemed pretty valid as well.
Also, got a couple of PMs that were sent my way.
Happy to provide more insights/thoughts this weekend on this post and throughout the PMs when I have some more time to breath. In the mean time, please continue to ask questions - and those that have other opinions, please share. I am sure i can learn quite a bit from others as well.
Before signing off, one thing i will say to help provide context and also settle any skepticism around me "not having anything to do at my job" is that our Internship program is not required by the MD. I have completely driven it (and basically created it) - that is because my personal mission statement is to... Sharpen, Elicit and Encourage the potential in others and myself leading us to hopefully operate and achieve "self-actualization." (Think of MASLOW's Hierarchy of Needs)
Because of the time and cost to bring on 2-3 interns for the summer, we actually end up losing money (from a purely monetary standpoint), and I sure as hell end up losing a lot more sleep as I end up having to start my work much later after training a number of our interns on any number of items throughout the course of the work week. WORTH though. I chose this industry because (a) I love the subject matter of finance/economics/M&A (b) I feed off of other passionate people, and (c) it is by nature....an apprenticeship type environment. So, for me personally, the fact that I get to positively impact and see others grow over a period of 12-13 weeks makes up for all the extra hours.
I always use email as a way to set up calls, as opposed to just calling out of the blue, but yes, I agree that it's important to get on the phone with whoever's doing the hiring.
Three Ways to Differentiate Yourself in Finance Undergraduate and MBA Recruiting (Originally Posted: 03/23/2014)
So I don’t normally write blog posts, but I thought this one was necessary since I wish I did these when I was an undergrad student. Not trying to make myself seem old here, I graduated within the last 4 years. Let’s get right into it since I’m really bored at work (I work at a top 2 sell side BB sales & Trading firm by the way).
1. Open a Personal Trading Account through an Online Brokerage Firm (Fidelity, Schwab, Interactive Brokers, Trade Station, etc…) – If you are trying to get into Sales & Trading or anything that involves portfolio management, this is extremely important. Opening a personal trading account is easy and you can open one with $1,000. Why should a student do this? Well, if you’re trying to get into finance and you’re from a non-target, you need to PROVE that you know your stuff by trading your own ideas (this is arguably true for target school kids too). The Upside: you make money and you get to strap finance experience to your resume.
The Downside: you lost $1,000 you can carry forward in tax losses and when people lose money on the market, they tend to learn a lot more than when they make money (this applies when you start trading mainly). Generally speaking, no one cares if you actually made or lost money, but what people will really try to find out is what you know and how you executed your trading idea (this is especially true for options strategies). Speaking from experience here. Opening a personal trading account and executing strategies is probably the most impressive thing I could see on a person’s resume. What I want to see is the type of strategy, what tickers, any type of sectors, etc… Basically, need to know how you found alpha in the market based on the way you think and analyze the trading opportunities. The main thing here is to understand how you conceived the idea and how you executed this. In summary, do not claim buying Apple shares was your strategic play, cause it wasn’t yours, it was advertised all over the world that Apple was a great bet in every aspect.… but claim that say High Yield closed end funds will do great in the next five years because of XYZ… Then explain how you rotated your investments/assets into another strategy because you didn’t see the initial strategy as effective. So, when executing these strategies, things should come naturally when talking about them in an interview, which is golden in a BB interview.
2. Write Finance Articles on Seeking Alpha – So you think you’re a hot shot future Equity Research Analyst? PROVE IT and then get compensated for it. Did you guys know that you get 1cent per article click on Seeking Alpha and $500 for every insightful article (known as a Top Idea) on the same site? You could generate a reasonable income from this effort if you wrote every single day and covered say Utilities or Gold Indices. I wish I met an undergraduate student who published their own work on Seeking Alpha, for the whole world to read, but sadly no one does this and it is a great way to get your name out there BEFORE EVEN GRADUATING.
Obviously, there is a formal review process of articles, but once you’re done writing about four or five of these articles, you pretty much understand how to write effective articles. Additionally, the comments are extremely helpful when it comes to reviewing your valuation methodologies and Seeking Alpha users are made up of both Hedge Fund managers AND sell side analysts. There was an article posted today on the Wall Street Journal stating that Seeking Alpha publications were more accurate than actual sell side analysts. Is that convincing enough for you? Link to article: http://blogs.wsj.com/venturecapital/2014/03/19/study-crowdsourced-stock… .
So, if you’re good at this, you will be a beast at full-time recruiting. Oh wait, YOU ALSO GET PAID FOR IT. So, please take this one seriously if you plan on going IBD or Equity Research. You will probably blow away the interviewer. I never want to hear about how someone couldn’t get an offer to be a summer analyst anywhere cause writing articles for a summer is arguably better than an actual Equity Research stint at a boutique, buy-side, or sell side banking internship. Seriously.
3. Always take school clubs seriously, people will ask you about your activities on campus four years out of graduation… it literally just happened to me in an internal mobility interview.
If your school has a technical trading, investment fund, or financial diligence club.. You better be part of that organization to see optimal recruiting results because the professors who oversee the organizations have some serious firepower when it comes to recommendations to organization alumni. These organizations include business fraternities as well, but not social fraternities and sororities… This doesn’t really apply unless you went to Harvard or Princeton (finals club or eating house, respectively).
So I hope you guys learned something from this post. My intention is to help people stimulate ways to differentiate themselves in the interview process and I would be sold if I saw someone’s resume with these types of items on their resumes. There is just no way you could fail if you did all three of these on top of everything else.
K3
One last thing, don't forget to enjoy undergrad.. it just gets worse after from a work/life perspective ha.
Thanks for posting. I'd like really to attempt both #1 and #2 in September. What do you a general trading strategy would involve for starting an account with $1000-2000?
Hi JT - for 1 to 2k, the best strategies are unvervalued market opportunities. So an example would be BP's oil spill and how the stock dropped below its book value... Stuff like that. I mean you could always try some serious betting or even momentum strategies, however, your method better be seriously back tested before doing something like this. When I executed my first momentum strategy I would download daily data from Finviz.com and track the momentum's of stock names within the five days after they climbed 30%, etc... My suggestion for momentum is to focus on ETFs though, since I believe the downside isn't as rough as a company that surged 75% in a week.. example ticker: FULL. When you start accumulating money (by hopefully writing articles on Seeking Alpha), you can start growing that account big time. I started with 1k in my junior year and I have more money in my account now than I ever thought I would by following wealth preservation methods. I also love closed end fund investing... there is serious alpha there since prices of funds seem to go off in random directions, and the markets liquidity is so low, no qunats will touch the universe with sizable cash. Anyway, hopefully this helps.
Agree with the first. Don't be afraid to lose some money trying different strategies. Try and understand the differences in investing in different asset classes, i.e. options vs stocks vs etfs vs bonds vs commodities vs futures etc.
Question on 2: How exactly would one go about presenting a portfolio from on online brokerage account in a interview or CV?
@kyc - Have you considered doing both leadership groups/orgs? I think having a finance org is essential to anything with finance, however, there are ways to spin non finance orgs. I would highly recommend surging into a leadership division and make an impact. Sounds like you're a bit passionate about other orgs, which is a good thing, believe me. People in finance are exceptionally boring and are not as fun as Wolf of Wall Street makes it... Well, at least not anymore. The fact that you have another org on your resume would be so much more interesting if you pair it with a finance org. Double leadership roles is an awesome combo, HOWEVER, do not let this make up for lower gpa, cause you will get screwed for this in recruiting.
@abcxyz - awesome post dude, we're on the same wavelength of mindset and I definitely agree with you on that. If a kid could prove to me that they integrated multi level modeling automation and used it to make money, I would immediately promote their resume and blast it to 20 trading desks at my bank.
@Coondorf - this is very case by case basis. If you have a bunch of IBD internships on your resume, then don't make it a big section, but more of an "other" stuff section. If it's the only thing you want to do with your life, then make sure it's a big and thorough section. If you have money on the line, people will probably read that section to find out one of two things: 1) how brilliant you are and 2) how stupid you are.. basically, everyone will read what you put in that box since everyone strays from putting their asses on the line in an interview or when talking to finance industry professionals. I would say put down Personal portfolio management. How much you were managing, returns, number of trades per month on average, and major strategies you execute plus which tickers. If you are a volatility arbitrage trader, write how you caputre alpha by buying at the utlra 52 week lows and then sell on market panic days (in example: Russia ukraine situation). This will show you have so much effin experience that you play volaitility, tickers to include are ^VIX, VXX, VIXY, TVIX, other.
Granted I work in CRE, but I wouldn't even think of mentioning the first two in a serious interview --- maybe in passing, as hobby. If some college kid was trying to sell his $1000 position to me, I'd probably ding him --- just by the fact that I wouldn't want someone that clueless in front of clients.
Your view is obviously different, so I think it depends on the interviewer.
@DBCooper - yes, people will view different things in candidates as beneficial for a role or not. The idea is to pick up a smart and self-motivated person by identifying additional differentiators on top of all the crap someone would need to do to get noticed by a BB recruiter.. Your views are plausible, however, if an undergrad student did all the above and didn't put on their resume, there would still be a drastic difference in knowledge and caliber in that candidate. I promise you that, and I speak from experience. a 4.0 gpa is only that, a 4.0 gpa.. but 33% return per year using a systematic algo model is a lot more impressive when it comes to S&T. One question for you though.. what is "CRE"?
CRE = Commercial Real Estate
Resourceful
great post. SA has been changing my life over the past year, and the WSJ article this week proves exactly why. There is so much great knowledge and opinion on that site, that you can learn continuously and more effectively than just by passively reading textbooks and never putting said knowledge to use. I see alot of young guys writing excellent analyses on that site, and it certainly gives them a great online presence that any recruiter would be able to find if they searched for them. The exposure, experience and knowledge one can gain from learning and publishing actionable research on that site should not be understated.
DBCooper - yes I think CRE is a bit different than ER, IBD and S&T.. different domain knowledge with some overlap. You could always be a Seeking Alpha on Residential and Commercial REITs right?.... That would be impressive to read and talk about in an interview. REITs and real estate is a big and attractive industry altogether... Arguably very under covered and smaller barriers to entry if you are an "impressive" BB candidate.
@brosephstalin - Dude, same page. Thanks for acknowledging its wealth of information and platform for recognition. There are seriously smart people on there including buy-side analysts publishing actual buy pitches to companies and clients (USING THE SAME MATERIAL... learned this in a funny way when I interviewed at a hedge fund).
Definitely try to get into a Finance Club-type student organization. Coming from a non-target and without a traditional structured internship, my involvement in the Finance Club at my school was paramount.
I joined as a normal member my first semester and ran for a role called "Investment Director" in my second. If your club does not have this position, I would recommend that you take it upon yourself to start it. Ours was basically nonexistent my first semester, which is why I wanted to take it over in my second.
The Investment Director in our club acted as a liaison between the Club and a local branch of a financial services firm that holds a portfolio for our club. (Keep in mind that this does not have to be a real portfolio. There are numerous platforms for "experimenting" in the market without real money.)
At the beginning of the semester, I present a powerpoint to the club regarding the current holdings and status of the portfolio, and a short summary of the macroeconomic market conditions. I would then direct a discussion on different investment ideas (mostly stocks and equities, some commodities–very little involvement with options or other derivatives) and summarize the brainstorming.
I then take the top ideas from the discussion and do some light analysis on each idea, weighing pros and cons in context of current market conditions, and present this in a powerpoint for the following meeting. After hearing the response to the pros and cons we make a final, group-decision on 2-3 investment moves for the semester.
During the semester, I would present a mid-year update on the portfolio, the status of the investment moves from that semester, and their effects on the portfolio, as well as any changes in the macroeconomic market environment. I would then present a similar presentation at the end of the semester, looking forward to potential changes and horizons for the following year.
During interviews, I was able to relate that this experience involved doing analysis of the market, specific investment vehicles, and a portfolio of multiple securities. I also showed that I could summarize information, make clear and effective presentations, offer directive insight while still considering the desire of the Club, and effectively manage a leadership role in an organization of my peers.
Whether it is real or fake money, whether your portfolio goes up or down, this is a manageable way to gain great experience in very relevant skills that exceeds the experience gained from simply managing a proprietary Scottrade account (although this is still very valuable experience, too).
It's worth noting that I went to a non-target State school, and I was always jealous of larger universities with investment groups and school investment funds...
(Edit) I also wanted to add that holding this role made me realize the challenges of analyzing investments and the macroeconomic market, but also how much I had learned already about finance – that I could competently perform this function and deliver valuable analysis in an effective presentation.
It also made me well-known among almost all of the Finance students and faculty at my school, who saw it as a daunting, impressive task. A little ego and networking boost sure never hurt.
@hakuna_matata - great post bro and nice work in getting in! I too went to a State School and had a blast.. I'm sitting next to a couple of those gtown/harvard/yale/types now and there is no difference between our calibers.. that is pretty obvious to me when my boss asks me pretty serious questions about what the heck is going on while the other analysts look like they need to be doing something that could add some sort of value to my answer, but end up looking bad when trying to fit their 2cents in.
@"khara 3alekon" thanks, and good to know! And about the OP, #2 is definitely on my finance bucket-list. Finding a part of the market that you're passionate about and willing to do the research on is a free-and-easy way to gain some awesome exposure. I think I've just been a little too lazy to get moving on it.
Surprised no one has mentioned this--sit for Level 1 of the CFA exam. You can sit in June after graduating in May. The very fact that you've even heard of the CFA charter is a feather in your hat with employers.
@DCDepository - dude, clutch. Definitely try to show you are serious about CFA as a student. It shows a couple things, and one thing especially; that you are in finance for the long-haul. Gotta crush things as an undergrad cause it really does impact you for the rest of your life.
Hi I have a question: do you think that running a "paper" portfolio (the classic 100k simulators) would give you the same hedge as running a 1k real one? I mean running it as serious as if it were real money, making your own strategy, updating it at least every 7 days and so on...
interested in blogging more for WSO? email me at WallStreetOasis.com>[email protected]
@bafista94 - To be perfectly honest, paper portfolios are not representative of real money for one simple reason: risk or skin in the game. The market rallies and bleeds together, can't be in paper and claim you know how to mitigate your risk strategies. A great example of this is trading volatility or foreign stock names. Paper strategies may be good for practice on how to execute various types of trade orders, however, this is not an indication of a great portfolio manager. If you don't have 1k, write five articles on SA and then use that cash to fund a brokerage account... I want to see that you both made money and got burned trading because that will show me what kind of person you are and what you did to shfit your strategies to book profits. I think many people do not understand the significant of skin in the game.
Here is one major difference between paper trading and real accounts:when you are watching the bid-ask spreads for illiquid tickers, traders spend about 50% of their time waiting till the spread is thin because once you place a trade that has a crappy spread that is a loss... so paper trading cannot replicate that same experience. Additionally, trading fees also impact traders because if you're a solo act, you are paying 9.95 a trade or wtv and therefore, you need to know your stuff when you go in and out of strategies.
Thanks for your answer I totally got it. I forgot to mention that I am more into asset/investment management rather than plain trading. So my time horizon would be, correct me if I'm wrong, longer than the one in the situation you described. So I was thinking (I'm in the 1st year of my undergraduate degree in Europe, so I have 2 more years plus one for my master's degree to figure out the best way, that's a lot of time but I want to score an intership next summer) of doing for each stock/etf I pick a pitch updated weekly and other type of analysis on the whole portfolio (how did I maximize the sharpe ratio, how did I arranged the weight of each stock, which method I used to hedge risk...)
Thanks for the post. Putting your ideas out there for the world to read and audit is a great way to build competency. I will definitely look into writing for seeking alpha. Also- great username ;)
@Saad Qazi - ha yes, you caught that (re: my username)! A lot of people have no idea what it means, which is a good thing, but perfect for certain people to spot out. ;)
I am a huge believer that evening the playing field is the real way we can actually find Alpha.. I believe this in sports, grades, finance, trading, sales, wtv... I would love to find/meet someone that executed the strategies I use to execute when I was an undergrad student... Sadly, I have yet to meet even one candidate who was like me when I was an undergrad. So, hopefully at some point.
@bafista94 - If you actually did that (what you explained) you will definitely land a gig in the S&T world assuming you covered all the other bases. Now, something I wish I did when I was a freshman but never even thought of was shadow a trader in a prop firm and effectively tell him or her that you will be their summer B%%$H... you will learn how they go through information and learn what is and is not important.. and they would love to have you since you will do their grunt work. You get to see the strategies in action and you could probably embelish the heck out of that for the rest of your life... BBs will love you, Investment Managers will think you are the most motivated human being on earth if they saw that.
I go to a target school and I started getting interested last year. I'm a little bit late to the game but I've been doing what you recommended.
The problem is that I was up a couple of weeks ago and now I'm losing money (5%). I decided to take higher risk investments in small-caps that cratered (10-20%) due to unsubstantial news. I still believe in my thesis but it'll take awhile for the catalysts to kick in. I didn't put a stop loss in which I know is an error. I'm wondering if I should just close my position for a huge loss…
And if you have $1000 its hard to have a diversified portfolio of stocks. probably need to go into etfs.
Hi, sorry to bring this up again, but I followed your suggestion and my first SA premium article has just been published. But now I was wondering whether I should put the fact that I am a SA contributor on the work/experience section of my CV (mind that I have no other relevant finance-related experience) or in the interests section. Thanks again for your suggestions!
Forgot to mention, that work experience will probably be unpaid.. but it's like insurance that you will get BB interviews towards the end of your education.
Nice article, I'm currently a student, doing all these 3 things. President of a finance society, Trading real money for my own account to gain experiences and money, and writing articles on my economic website.
But what is not said in this article, is that doing one of these 3 things, or these 3 things at the same time like I am doing, is really taking a lot of time. So you have to love what you do, and be prepared to work a lot more than the other students.
As students, people told us to enjoy our student life to not regret it in the future. Maybe they are right, but I personnaly enjoy trading, if there are other students who trade with real money and read me, you probably know what I am talking about. As normal (and poor) student, winning money on the market can be so good for the everyday life.
And even if we lose a little amount of money on a trade, it is still winning for us young people, because we make a step further to greatness. I really encourage students to trade real money, because at our age, we have definitely nothing to lose, what is 1000 dollars in a life ? Nothing. And the reward from it ? Unmeasurable.
Trade 1 year on a demo account, and switch to a real one when you feel yourself like a lion (Or a monkey) stucks in a cage.
How would you recommend listing trading experience on an undergrad resume?
already have # 1 covered and a member of SA since late last year - just need to publish some research now. Good to know that I'm already on the same wavelength!!
A little off topic but just know once you land a BB role there's a good chance you'll have to close your brokerage account. Only a few major brokers are allowed, you're only allowed to hold positions for longer than 14 days and you can't short anything in the market (unless a hedge).
Regarding the CFA, I feel like everyone was a CFA Level I candidate after school. Talking about how you've registered for the exam doesn't give much value imo. Unless you passed 1 level, don't mention it unless the interviewer asks if you'd be interested.
You can "feel" however you want--the reality is, unless you come from a target school you need to take every step to differentiate yourself from the competition. I broke into the industry from a semi-target and I didn't know a single person among my peers who had signed up for the CFA program while still in school--I was absolutely the only person who was studying for the June L1 exam. And I was absolutely asked about it during the interview process and the firm that hired me absolutely followed up with me in August when I got my results back.
So again, you can "feel" however your want. But that's all it is--a feeling.
One of my thoughts about publishing on Seeking Alpha is that you should make sure that your content is worthwhile when a recruiter looks it up. I see too many articles on there that just talk about price movements and technicals, and focus too little on valuation or anything that requires true calculations and modeling. If you are hoping to show your abilities from a technical perspective and you think that the firms you will be applying with want that as a job skill, so be it. I just think that your research should be highly relevant and specific towards the role you will be attempting to undertake. It's easy to throw some charts together about trading volume and sales growth based on public info, but it's much better (IMHO) to take all that's out there and create a truly intelligent look at a company and publish something new, different, or just plain smart that will have the CFAs and higher level people impressed. Also, the title makes a world of difference. Every time that I look at the list of news articles for an equity, I absolutely skip over the "AAPL is such a buy and should hit $600 in a few months." Give me something that points out a mid-cap or small-cap that has an undiscovered asset that is worth twice the book value reported, or that new tax legislation may create an incentive for ABC Company to settle a major lawsuit. There are some great articles on SA, but there are definitely some duds.
Pertaining to SA - Has anyone looked into posting research if you are currently working for a publicly traded firm (non-banking, an industrial company)? I know that there has to be disclosure guidelines, and I would think that posting research into your own company would be a major no-no (more on the lines of already publicly disclosed info, but most legal departments wouldn't want you to be conceived as a spokesperson for the firm). Just wondering if anyone has looked into that.
@DBCooper - Nice to see Todd Snider fans out there in the world. Kudos to good music choices!
And to add - One of the "golden boys" of my school's Finance programs that all the professors would talk about to their students (much like mothers with the "why can't you be more like him???") actually failed Level 1 the first go round. He is a smart kid, and heavily into technical analysis, but I think that he wasn't ready for a test that focused almost solely on fundamentals. You can't just be "smart" to pass the CFA. You either know it or you don't.
To some of you that are still in school - If you are truly interested in taking Level 1, find out if there are any professors at your school that are CFA Charterholders. They can sponsor you and the CFA Institute will let you take the first level for free or at a heavy discount (can't remember which). Well worth the trouble.
Also, I think that one of the other "qualities" that passing level 1 shows is a desire to succeed and work ethic. I'd say that 99% of people that take it can't just show up and pass. It requires hours and hours of hard studying time. Much more time and more intense studying than passing most finance classes takes.
Yes, definitely put it down on your resume. Make sure that you are trying to be a specialist in the space you are writing about on SA. Best way to develop a following.
Interviewers will ask you about your writing so when you are in position to send it over to anyone, make sure you are confident about it.
How to differentiate yourself (Originally Posted: 05/28/2012)
Hi Monkeys,
I am a Commerce/Economics student in Canada and am looking to break into IB after gradating from undergrad. I still have two years left of school.
I have a good GPA, am involved in extracurricular/leadership activities and am starting to network as much as I can.
I am wanting to land an internship next summer in Toronto, for which BB recruit actively in my part of the country. Nonetheless, I keep on wondering how to differentiate myself during the interview process. I know a lot of other kids are very bright individuals and have as good a GPA as I have and are as involved as I am also.
Any tips on how to make an impact during the one interview that will determine if I do land an internship spot or not? What are ways to not sound stereotypical/boring/uninteresting to the interviewers?
Thanks all for any info!
Wear a thong to the interview. lol. See article from M&I... I paste the relevant part here:
Thanks, great info. As students, we usually get told the same things: high GPA, being involved, ranking in the 99th percentile of your class etc... It makes sense that once you get to the interview process, differentiating yourself by being an interesting person rather than an impressive person will be a lot more impressive.
Thanks again!
How do I Differentiate Myself? (Originally Posted: 10/17/2014)
Long story short. I decided to skip one of my classes so I could attend an alumni panel event. It was the same old basic event with a few alumni coming in and telling us about their career and other stuff. When it was time for questions at the end, pretty much everyone goes to to the alumni so they could "network" with them. They all do so in a desperate way by first asking generic questions and then asking for their cards so they could go on a coffee date. When it is my turn to talk to the alumni, it doesn't even matter because everyone is trying to do the same thing and as a result, even if I get their card, they won't remember me or they would lump me together with all the desperate people in the room.
I am holding a business card that I got form it and I feel like just tearing it up.
There must be something I can do that everyone does not think of so I can put myself ahead.
At undergrad level, you are meat for the grinder.
Give him your card.
Serious.
Since I work a co-op I have my own business card with my title, company, contact, and even has a link to my linkedin/twitter and blog (professional).
It has done wonders in differentiating me from the rest.
It doesn't work that well because you are at the mercy of your alumni if he wants to contact you or not. If you have theirs, at least you have the choice.
Don't you just fucking exchange cards?
delete
How can I differentiate myself from ivy leaguers for an entry-level trading position at a proprietary trading firm? (Originally Posted: 07/22/2008)
I am a senior majoring in finance and will graduating in May from a ranked university. My school is ranked 22nd in the nation for undergraduate finance but is not recognized at all from big prop shops and ibanks.
I will begin applying for positions come September and I was wondering how can I differentiate myself from the ivy-leaguers that I'm competing with? I will be taking the hardest finance courses offered this fall to better myself with quantitative finance. I have been self teaching myself C++ through various books and the internet. I will be taking a C++ course this fall as well. I have also had some experience with Java, VB, and VB.NET. How can I show the prop shops that I am just as hard working, intelligent, and motivated to learn as my competition?
Would it be advisable to stay in school and go for a masters in finance/programming/stats if I don't find the type of job I'm looking for?
Also, does anyone know the top prop shops in Chicago? I know some of the best ones in Chicago but I was wondering if anyone knew of a ranking of sorts?
Any advice would be helpful, thanks.
Submit your resume.
your an idiot bcaw
"Oh - the ladies ever tell you that you look like a fucking optical illusion?"
Hmm, I suggest you pursue a masters in finance for the time being and take an internship in the summer and then apply. That way your masters will put you in league with the ivies and perhaps even give you an edge over them and your internship will give you some good technical understanding and insight.
Well I currently intern at UBS in their Wealth Management department...its not any experience close to a prop shop but its still a good internship. You still think I should go for my masters immediately instead of applying and giving it a shot?
YOU'RE AN IDIOT TOO TEHE
.
work very hard, dont ever leave the office, in fact, sleep in a cubicle, Dilbert style
http://modernyuppie.blogspot.com/ The musings and antics of a Meathead College Wrestler Turned Asset Backed Securities Trader.
money
A few pieces of advice: 1) Be gung-ho - have a real passion for the industry. Read some books on it that aren't purely quantitative, but allow you to show the personal side of the industry - the stories, the failures, successes, blow-ups, etc. I suggest Liar's Poker, The Black Swan, When Genius Failed, and the Market Wizards 2) Network insanely - straight forward enough. 3) Open a practice account, take positions with investment theses, manage it, and print out the results. Then, at your interview, tell your interviewer that you have a practice account, had thse trade ideas, and this was your intuition. It's OK if you lose money. But be able to talk about it like a trader.
Hope this helps.
DeltaHedged www.deltahedged.com
"Since love and fear can hardly exist together, if we must choose between them, it is far safer to be feared than loved." - Niccolo Machiavelli
I think I definitely have the first two down. I've read Liar's Poker and Ugly American$...both very good books about traders. I want to pick up When Genius Failed and Market Wizards. As far as networking, I have a huge network, and a couple very good friends who are prop traders.
As far as the practice accounts, I've had many simulated portfolios but have never printed out the results. They won't believe me if I tell them my results without proof. Maybe I'll start a new portfolio and keep track of it for my interviews.
Thanks a lot deltahedged!
differentiate yourself easily (Originally Posted: 08/22/2014)
Hello, fellow monkeys. In one of the most competitive market places in the world, you need a way to stand out from the crowd. Thousands of applicants have ivy league credentials. Thousands of Wall Street hopefuls have a 3.7+. Everyone in this field is inherently intelligent, and you look like just another suit. But there is a very simple and cheap way to make yourself distinctive, and force people to remember you. By simply wearing a bow tie instead of a traditional tie, you will worm yourself into other's minds, and ensure that you will not go unnoticed.
Also, you will help me pursue my dreams of going to a target (HYPS) and making it to The Street. I started this bow tie company as a junior in high school, hustled, and now sales are in the six figures and growing. Use the promo code "Zeebooty" for a discount and to let me know the sale came from WSO. THANK YOU ALL.
oootie.com
If you wear a bowtie in the context of networking and recruiting people will likely remember you for the wrong reasons. Congratulations on the business though, bowties are cool.
Wearing a bow tie, though may never miss the eyes of others, can never make a formal appeal. The fact that they are used while wearing tuxes and go well with parties and celebrations and not with the one like formal business meets and interviews.
In that case I'm sure there are an innumerable amount of parties for a tux to be worn by those on the street. The bow ties are high quality woven silk, and are actually quite impressive; consider one for a party.
If you turn up to an interview in a bow tie for a first year analyst gig I admire your courage but question your self awareness.
Well said.
Awesome on starting the business...but no way would I ever wear one during an interview.
hahahahahahah
this really grinds my gears, people spreading false information. chimps, please do not do this.
full disclosure: I wear bow ties to church, weddings, other fratty events, but never in the office, and that goes double for superdays & interviews if I were looking for jobs. the below is from John T Molloy, a pioneer in fashion for corporate America. if you haven't read his book "dress for success," read it. the below is his comments on the subject, found here
Interviewer -- I was shown by an associate a column on bow ties that you wrote in the past. He carries it in his wallet to show what a jerk you are to as many people as possible. In it you said you cannot trust people who wear bow ties. If you still believe that, you are a jerk. -- Proud and Honest Bow Tie Wearer
Molloy -- Your information is not completely accurate. I never said people cannot trust male bow-tie wearers. I said most people do not trust male bow-tie wearers. You are right. I believe that wearing a bow tie is a mistake.
There are two surprising things about your letter: It is in response to a column written more than 20 years ago and I am not really surprised by it because that column received a greater response than any I have written in 35 years. Interestingly, the response was to a letter in which a reader asked my opinion of bow ties. The reader thought since he started wearing bow ties people treated him differently and wondered if it were true or in his imagination as his wife suspected. I assured him that it was true.
I informed him research had shown that bow-tie wearers saw themselves and the public saw them as rebels or at least outsiders. I also pointed out that people told our researchers that bow-tie wearers could not be trusted to obey society's rules, therefore were less predictable than the average tie wearer. When we told bow-tie wearers of this reaction, a majority not only agreed with the findings but reveled in them. But when we told them they paid a price for their image of independence, their response was extraordinary and remains so. They attacked me, my findings and research so vehemently that I retested. Nothing changed then and nothing has changed since. If you wear bow ties, people will not trust you.
/////////////////////////
I realize some of Molloy's opinions are in there and people will post stuff like "oh well chuck royce & jim rogers do it!" and thus "prove him wrong," but heres the deal: you're not a 70 year old hedge fund manager, you're not special. you're a 20-something guy trying to be taken seriously and the LAST thing you want to do is wear something that is NOT taken seriously in the workplace. do you really want someone to focus on your neckwear? no, you don't. I recognize the importance of being remembered, but as others suggested, don't wear a fucking bow tie to accomplish this.
@"thebrofessor" telling it like it is.
Bowties are good for celebrations and festive events and not for a formal business interview. It would cause you a bad credit and make you give an unfairly impression with the interviewer.
Indeed. Wearing a bow tie to an interview? You might as well forget about the job.
Indeed. Wearing a bow tie to an interview? You might as well forget about the job.
Indeed. Wearing a bow tie to an interview? You might as well forget about the job.
How do you differentiate yourself amongst all the IB analysts who all did IB and all went to top schools? (Originally Posted: 12/01/2006)
I know most of this is common sense, but please give some suggestions.
I think that first if you're an analyst getting into IB not (only) for the money, but mostly for the deal exposure and learning curve, you've come a long way. As the guy who recently posted the "you've got a lot of growing up to do" thread puts it, if you don't really like finance, you will not make it to the top.
Also, I think uncommon and extraordinary extracurricular activities do play a lot more than people usually think. Being a former entrepreneur, having summited Kilimanjaro, being a genius violin/guitar player, and stuff like that... This really makes your personality shine, and makes you appear as unique, even when compared to any other former Ivy student working as a BB Analyst.
Really? even when such a claim is almost completely unverifiable?
Hi, I am an analyst working in private equity and frequently recruiting interns. I have to confirm that what catches my attention among all the candidates is not the school they come from, but what characterizes them. This is so crucial because once you work in a team, you got to like the individual on a personal basis, because you'll spend long hours together in the office. The candidate can be brilliant, but if I don't like him, he doesn't get a chance to get through the gate. It's important for productivity too. So the best way to assess personality is what you have done outside of your job. And, guys, don't try to give us any bullshit, because we'll find out, and that kills you in the business.
I'm assuming you make this decision before you have a chance to meet the person. Isn't it hard to get this across with one's resume? Can you provide some examples of things you have seen in resumes that portray this?
First, um, what is Kilimanjaro? Is this a guy thing?
Second, I've interviewed candidates who walked into an interview with the attitude of "I already own this place" and then a candidate who kept on checking his blackberry incessantly, I felt like I was keeping him from his other, more important appointment.
Then, I've also interviewed candidates who just had charisma and answered my questions directly, without pompous flair. Humble. Nice. Clearly hard working.
Third, what's with IB candidates and IB'ers in general talking fast? I can't stand that. It's like "I don't know what I'm talking about so I'm going to talk really really fast to slide one by you and hope that YOU don't catch that I don't know what I'm talking about."
its a tall mountain
Disclaimer: The post above has been made by someone who is not currently employed in IBD, and has not had an interview yet...
it's a big mountain in east africa
i'd be skeptical of such a claim though
Find relevant experience (ie. financial modeling, comp analysis, etc.) in another internship, not necessarily in IB.
Oh, okay. Thanks. Don't know about mountains.
Mount Kilimanjaro is a huge mountain! Come on aadpepsi, I'm a girl and I know that. In fact, when I was in East Africa loads of girls climbed it.
BTW it's not that hard to do.
Well fp175 I was saying the truth! Dunno anything about mountain climbing. Clueless :-)
However, I would like to try it. Sure!
I also wanna go sky diving. Haven't done that either. I keep saying "next year on my birthday..." Je je je
Yeah...there's an easy path and a hard path. Most of the people I know who've summitted Kili are girls.
sky diving is such a big rush
go do something out of the analyst program
On what factors one can decide carrier in Investment Banking is suitable or not? This questions is bothering to me alot. I am planning to do MBA (Finance). I am not sure which direction I should go. Your answer will give big relief to me. Thanks
first and foremost, decide what you want in life. do you want to make a lot of money, or do you want to enjoy your time out of the office? this question seems simple, but examine it carefully. i made the wrong choice; i thought i'd enjoy banking, but the 100 hrs/week killed my life outside of work to the point that i had to quit. now i work in institutional sales so that when the market closes, my work is done. if you don't mind working the long hours, then banking may well be right for you. think about whether the people on the team you interview with are people you'd like to have dinner and drinks with; you'll be having many with them.
One of the reason I am intrested to go towards Finance due to huge demand. I heard IB in finance is better than other areas. Thta is the reason why I am intrested on IB. But like you said I can not kill myself by working 100/week. Is it common to work 100 per week? Can you tell me what other areas are demanding in Finance sector?
The hours are bad.. but from what I hear it isn't a stable 100 hrs a week, it fluctuates with your work and your groups deal flow. I'd say range 75-100+
What I Learnt This Week – Differentiate Yourself (Originally Posted: 12/05/2013)
Some light hearted satire by GS Elevator (here) and academic research profiled by The Economist (here) suggest that both Santa and nature (through natural selection) favour the rich and attractive people in life. Academic research has also shown that if you’re an attractive male, adding a photo to your CV is advantageous.
For those of you emerging from college or high school this story might seem all too familiar. What do you do if you’re not attractive or rich? I suppose the simple solution is to ‘get hot and rich’ – on the ‘right side’ of that catch twenty-two. Okay, perhaps easier said than done. Digging a little deeper – as revealed in the article by The Economist – found that people’s predisposition to favour the attractive and wealthy relates to natural selection; namely, that partnering with these people [through what is actually a self-fulfilling prophesy] will increase our, and our offspring’s, likelihood of survival.
Reading between the lines, we naturally subconsciously evaluate people by this criterion. However, if you’re ‘one of the fish that the world measures by how well you can climb trees’ you will forever feel incompetent, no matter how well you can swim. In, what I feel to be, quite a prolific and enlightening speech by Deepak Malhotra (here) [which has already done the rounds on WSO] he, like in Einstein’s famous quote, speaks of people’s genius and that the word is typically used in the wrong context - to describe people rather than their level of proficiency. That is, no person is unilaterally a genius, but rather, people can have a genius; something they’re great at, that makes them who they are. I can’t emphasise enough how important this is to understand how it relates to the difference between strength maximisation and weakness minimisation. Usain Bolt does not get up in the morning and say, “well, I’m fast, but I could be a better cook…”
So, rather than looking out from the pond and wondering, “how the fuck I going to climb that tree”, look inward, work out what your genius is and who values [or, how you can get people to notice] how fast you can swim.
Singapore Sling
First paragraph somehow quintupled...
@"Singapore Sling" interesting post, but I have to wonder, if what you learned this week was that you should differentiate yourself, why does your post appear to advocate focusing on strengths in lieu of weaknesses? To borrow your metaphor, if the fish wanted to differentiate himself, wouldn't it be wise for him to learn how to climb the tree rather than just be another swimmer?
Not trying to give you a hard time; I'm definitely interested in your thoughts here. Plus, I'm a little nervous that I may have missed the point :).
Focusing on your strengths rather than your weaknesses -is- differentiating yourself. A fish that knows how to climb a tree might be different from other fish... but I'd hardly see any reason why someone would want to pick him for a tree-climbing competition, as opposed to backing a chimpanzee.
Figuring out what you're good at and working on making yourself great at it is what will get you places.
So we have academic research saying I should be putting a photo on my CV and Malcolm Gladwell saying you're better off going to a bad college than a good college. These people need to step outside of the university library for a few minutes.
Wonder how the HR girls at GS would take it if it put a picture of LLoyd on my application.
They'd probably be wondering why someone attached a shiny dick pic to their res.
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