very important business meeting this week.
My dad got me a lunch with the vice president of investment banking at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods investment bank. I really don't know how this is going to go. I really want this lunch to figure out what i can do now, to make sure I get the internship at the firm next summer. Ben Stein wrote a really good article on business conversations that I'm going to use.
But the purpose of this thread is to start a discussion on what types of things I might be able to talk to him about, including things about the firm, general things about investment banking etc.
It helps he's an alumni of the college I currently attend, but my dad was saying just ask him what his past month has been like work wise, what else can you guys think would help to have this lunch go well.
Do a search for "informational interviews" on Google - you'll find lots of generic questions that you can tailor to your specific situation.
You may not expect it, but be ready to discuss the things your doing in college - if he's an alumnus, he'll reminisce.
Make sure you know about some of KBW's deals and what specialties it prides itself on.
Ask the VP about his path from school to his current position, what he does on a regular basis, and about the culture at the firm. I can't stress this enough, but make sure to ask about the culture!
Have a few questions ready in case there's a lull in the conversation, to avoid those awkward moments, but you'll find (provided that you're sociable) that the conversation will flow and you'll come up with questions on the spot.
Other than that, make sure to dress well and smile a lot. Oh, and if you want to position yourself for an internship next summer, make sure you can articulate why you want to do investment banking.
Good luck!
My personal thoughts on your question:
I would say be excited (genuinely) to meet him. Ask him for overall general career advice (if he were in your position all over again what would he have loved to know).
Don't be arrogant like you know everything there is to know about banking/ the real world/finance especially since you're just a student. I've met a couple ppl like that and I just laugh -- and if they're especially obnoxious I will make fun of them afterwards with my colleagues.
Don't be a clueless pushover as in "I'm exploring or looking for just anything to put on my resume." If I met someone like that I would be "wow, this guy has no idea what I do or what he'd be getting into. He's wasting my time."
As far as the internship is concerned be direct and let him know that you really want it: "I would be really excited to get an internship with you guys next summer, I want to do what you do -- is there anything I can do to put myself in a good position?" or ask him if there would be any opportunity for you to come visit him in his office for a morning or an afternoon to see what goes on or if he could possibly meet some of his analysts / colleagues to get a "real life" testimonial -- or maybe a tour of the trading floor (I think as a student this would actually be pretty cool). Maybe he's extremely busy and there's not much of chance of anything like that happening -- but it wouldn't hurt. In finance / the real world you have to be aggressive to be successful.
As far as general discussion topics -- how does he like the ppl he works with, what's his favorite/least favorite part of the job, where's the industry moving? any crazy/interesting anecdotes?
I think an appropriate goal of the lunch would be to have him thinking "hey, burkoboy is a good guy and Iwant to help him out even if I can't directly get him a position here."
sometimes best listener will also win.
I'd always ask "So what brought you to this industry? Please tell me about your succesful career." And most of these guys take pride in their work, so let them speak and chill out for a while.
ANybody else want to chime in, I've been preparing and I have this tomorrow.
please tell us how this went after you do it
Great opportunity to ask "why" questions. Why I-Banking, why KBW, why banking for financial sector. You may also want to display a curiosity and interest in the field by asking about daily work. For example, you can ask what it's like to work in i-banking with financial clients. Are they particularly averse to taking advice from your firm? Is it significantly more difficult than advising another industry (such as tech), that doesn't have as strong of a financial background?
How do you feel about sarbanes-oxley regulation, and the present deregulation? Why is there such a bull run in banking, M&A and equities at the moment?
those are just some of the questions that I would want to ask, to know an "insider's" point of view on.
Don't kiss ass, but don't be aloof. No offense intented wannabeabanker, but if some college student asked me any of these questions I would laugh them out of my high rise...
"How do you feel about sarbanes-oxley regulation, and the present deregulation? Why is there such a bull run in banking, M&A and equities at the moment?"
If you have to ask a question, ask the dude what he did last weekend, and try to find some common ground outside of the financial realm (Man, Lebron shouldn't have passed that ball...etc..)
Be direct and confident, but not arrogant. Portray an image that you are hungry and dedicated, but don't portray an image that you are desperate and incompetent (believe that KBW is not your only option, make this guy feel that you are capable of a top BB spot).
No offense taken. I gave him examples of questions I would want answers to, because of his expertise. I assumed the person had basic social skills and would only bring up the questions under the proper social setting, ie. if the interviewer flat out asks "what do you want to know about banking?". The sarbanes-oxley question, which i think is the most "out there" of the questions i listed was in direct reference to KBW. They're primarily a financial sector banking company. Hence, head of IB would have a formulated opinion about it and would feel comfortable talking about it. Asking him a question for which he would have to formulate answer would make him feel slightly uncomfortable. Also, most of these questions should be represented as natural thoughts. You would never flat out ask the sarb-ox Q. You would say so what's a day like, what's it like working with the financial industry, are they any more interesting than others, does it help keep your work in top shape knowing that these companies will call you out if you make even the smallest mistake, etc.. And again, most people with basic social skills and some interview experience are able to drive a conversation. Hence, drive the conversation to these questions. That makes it seem more like a natural question/immediate observation while still getting across that you're interested in the industry and have a bit of an understanding of the company.
just my 2c. But you're completely right, if you can hit on a shared hobby, you've struck gold. Talking to an interviewer about why the 90's Knicks deserve a title or why the Mavs shouldn't have won more than 50 games is an automatic pass on the most important part of an interview, the airplane test.
Ok, this went better then I thought, but it was pretty short.
It was supposed to be with 1 guy, and I had never seen this guy before. I was expecting a guy in his 50's, with a shirt and tie.
2 guys show up, their in polo shirts, sandals, and khaki's. Neither of them are over the age of 30. And their like, sorry we're late, work was busy, we just got back from Seattle 2 days ago.
So I pretty much used a bunch of ideas I had, and asked them what exactly they do, about their typical work day/week/month, their path from school to currently, what they were involved in throughout college, etc.
It helped out that they went to the school I currently go to, so we talked about the football team, off campus housing, and fraternities. One of them was in a fraternity, and right now I live with 11 guys off campus. so they thought that was pretty funny. They pretty much gave me some advice, some clubs to look into, basic keep your grades up, be involved etc. They said they don't really offer an internship, but might be able to, and that their NYC office does.
There was one guy who had been there for about 6 years, and one guy who had been there for 1. The guy that was there for 1 year didn't intern in I-banking, and said he was pretty much "just recommended for the job" and got it, but said he works 100 hours weeks sometime.
Both of their jobs sounded very interesting, and something I am definitely interested in, and I'm glad I got my foot in the door...
Where do I go from here, obviously I will be sending an email thanking them for coming, but what is the proper way to stay into contact, and bring up an internship for next summer without being to upfront?
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