Investment Banking Interview - Firm Asking for Project or Report Sample, Which to Choose?
Hello all, was wondering if I could get some thoughts on this.
A boutique financial advisory firm followed up with my application for an investment banking analyst position. They are asking for a school project or a properly redacted report I prepared for an employer. They said they are are looking for something that shows the depth of my "analytical insights, compelling writing, and clear, impactful presentation of complex ideas".
I am not from traditional business program - I studied in an integrated biochemistry & commerce program. As a result, although I do have a few business project reports that I could submit, I do not think they reflect my best possible work. I have much more impressive work in my biomedical research in terms of analytical insights, complexity, impact, length, responsibilities, etc.
TLDR: I am struggling to decide between submitting one of my biomedical research report or a more business-y report. The firm does not mention anywhere that they want a report/project related to business, but I assume that they would still prefer this.
What are your thoughts on what I should submit? What are they looking for?
I hate to be a nanny, but you should not be providing anything from a past employer. It raises both legal and ethical questions. It also puts you in an awkward "gotcha" scenario where your potential employer now wonders if you'd do the same to him/her.
I was in a similar scenario as yours once, and I submitted an equity research-type report that I prepared for a company in a class. If I were you, I would do the same. Choose a large, publicly-traded corporation and complete a valuation for it (DCF and both trading and M&A comps if you can find them). Then, right up an investment thesis. If your school has access to equity research reports, try to use one as an example. Otherwise, fine some online (here is an example I found). If you're supposed to bring this with you to your interview, get it bound at the FedEx store.
Good luck.
None of the work I plan to be submitting are confidential information - they are either from class projects and/or reports from work that has already been published in literature.
Unfortunately, I do not have an equity research report I could submit immediately (the submission is due tomorrow) - the only other business related reports I have are a marketing strategy report (i.e., SWOT analysis, evaluation of strategies/alternatives, proposal, industry analysis, etc) and a case study report from managerial accounting (i.e., evaluation of case based on key financial metrics, balance sheets/income statements/cash flow, proposed alternatives & financia projections).
My main quarrel is that I want to submit my scientific, biomedical thesis report because it is by far the most impressive, most impact, analytical, but I am wondering whether this is worth submitting over a business report.
Curious what you submitted in the end and if you got the pass to next round
I am also curious. Please update.
In a similar situation as OP.
Curious as well about the whole outcome. :)
Providing sample modeling work to IB boutiques (Originally Posted: 01/23/2014)
Hey guys, I've been cold-emailing a few boutiques in hopes of landing a summer associate role. A few places have asked me for some financial modeling samples that I've done. I'm a first year MBA student at a target school who is looking to switch careers so I don't have anything but some DCF models I've done for projects.
I would like to create a model I can use as a sample, which financial model would you guys recommend that I start with? Would a 6-8 page equity research report with a DCF analysis be good? or should I try to create a operating, merger, or lbo model for a public company?
Ideally I would like to create something that I can also use for AM shops as well.
Thanks!
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