Here's a list of all the valuable q&a's and interviews that have been done with WSO members and professionals in their respective industries.
Frequently Asked Questions
Starting Your Career Building Relationships Certifications WSO Humor / What Not to Do Lifestyle & Exit Ops
Starting Your Career
There are two ways to look at this question. The first is to take the idea that it all evens out in the end. The people that are good at what they do will get to the top of their craft. The second perspective is that your starting firm is extremely important and it will determine how far you go and how quickly you get there. The reality, like most things in life is somewhere in between. Learn More
For full-time, yes it does. Working in an industry group will give you access to exit opportunities in that industry and related industries. For example, most analysts targeting private equity after their investment banking analyst stint will try to be placed in the Sponsors Group or Leveraged Buyout group since the MDs in those groups are in direct contact with PE partners. Learn More
On WSO, we get a lot of questions from professionals in the middle or back office positions of a financial services group that are trying to get to the client facing / front office positions at that firm (like M&A in IB). While this transition is possible, it is exceedingly rare and usually takes several years of networking and persistence. Learn More
Building Relationships
No, you don't have to do anything you don't want to...SHOULD you continue to network? Absolutely.
Try to help undergraduates just like people helped you. Try to reach out across groups, across banks and continue to build a strong foundation that can help you get a new job should you suddenly lose your current one. When you only try to network when you need something, you'll soon find that there are less people around when you need that help. Learn More
You should build relationships like you would any normal friendship. Go out to lunch, go out to coffee and if you really get along, you can even go out for drinks or happy hour together.
The key here is to relax and realize that you are all in the same boat. Covering for a fellow analysts and trying to help them when they are working long hours will go a long way toward building loyalty and a camaraderie between employees. Learn More
In order to build a good relationship with your superiors, you should first try to establish trust by delivering consistently high work quality. If you are triple checking all of your work, it is a good way to make sure there are no simple mistakes which can quickly hurt the trust-building process. Learn More
Certifications
The simple answer is no. Having the CFA designation on your resume is nice, but it will not make up for poor grades or a lack of extracurricular activities and work experience. If a firm wants you to earn a certain certification, they will usually let you know once you are hired and will usually pick up the cost for you; however, that doesn’t mean you can’t strengthen your value as a candidate by attaining the CFA yourself. Learn More
For most accounting positions, obviously attaining a CPA is seen as a big plus to potential employers. Much like the CFA, the CPA designation will not land you a job, but it could make you more competitive.
If you do earn the CPA, employers can be confident that your knowledge of accounting will be sound. The value of attaining a CPA outside of accounting, however, is often called into question for other careers in finance. Learn More
An overview and explanation of the FINRA / NASD certifications was created by WSO super-user Frieds to help out those who are curious.
Seeing as there have been a few recent posts about the NASD/FINRA Licensing exams, I thought it would be prudent to discuss them with you guys, since most of you monkeys looking for full-time employment on the street will need to take them in some way, shape or form. Learn More
As with the CFA and CPA, the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) designation will not get you a job by itself. The designation is geared towards people interested in a career in alternative investments (private equity and hedge funds are a couple of industries where it is respected, as well as by funds-of-funds or FoFs). However, due to its recent entry into the world of finance certifications, it will not hold as much weight as a CFA. Learn More
WSO Humor / What Not to Do
Welcome to WallStreetOasis's collection of funny threads, we think you'll have a hearty laugh at what's found here.
Disclaimer: WSO does not wish to make fun of any person and welcomes questions of all kinds. By posting your thread to the humor section, we merely thought the responses were hilarious, and encourage you to ask more questions! Learn More
Here we have a young man who is greatly enjoying his time working for an investment bank. He's got a Porsche, goes to hot clubs, hangs with some (kinda, I guess) hot models, and doesn't mind blowing a bunch of cash. Is there a problem with that? Not at all. Should someone broadcast their extravagant lifestyle choices on television for the world to see when you haven't made Managing Director/Partner? Probably not. Learn More
This one is pretty simple. Operations handles a lot of the back-end work for you, so getting on their good side is in your best interest. Similarly, during the recruiting process if you get in good with human resources they can make your life very comfortable. However, for both departments, doing the opposite can have devastating effects. If you are a college student, please, please, please, please don't be rude to HR, much less pushy and demanding. Learn More
It is definitely important to show you are a qualified candidate... but what does that really mean? Well, for one you want to show you're well-rounded. A strong GPA, an applicable major, an internship or two, and a couple extracurriculars would make a well-rounded candidate. There is apparently, however, a way to be too good of a candidate. Should you let your recruiters know you have a 4.0 GPA? Definitely. That you had an SA at Goldman as a Sophomore? Yep. Learn More
Recruiting is a rough and stressful time for most prospective analysts. The banks know this and generally do a good job of making sure you have a good experience while interviewing with them. You must absolutely make sure to keep your cool and your typing in check while writing up your cover letter. While the your resume is kept in check somewhat by the format, you can potentially go wild on your cover letter. Learn More
Think very carefully about the emails and all written communication you send out. The banks you intern at hope that you have a great time during your internship, but they're not all-forgiving in the interest of a good time. This is especially true for your analyst bosses and fellow interns. If you do something immensely stupid, pompous, or uncouth, and you're stupid enough to put it in writing and send it to multiple people, you can expect to find yourself on Dealbreaker or Snopes: Learn More
Lifestyle & Exit Ops
Money is, without a doubt, one of the biggest motivators for having a career on Wall Street. Every year thousands of college graduates are lured to the industry by promises of hefty paychecks and the possibility of becoming the next Gordon Gekko. This begs the question, “How much do you really make on the Street?” Learn More
There are a number of perks that come with a job in finance. They do, however, vary greatly from industry to industry and firm to firm. The list below is by no means comprehensive, but to give you a better idea of what the perks are for a couple of the industries.
Investment Banking Analyst Learn More
Our Company Database now has thousands of compensation data points organized by Company and position. In 2013 we will also be providing an extensive compensation report as part of the Company Database that will compile, slice and dice the data in as many ways as you can imagine.
Feel free to search away and please help us build the database by filling in some data points yourself! Learn More
Investment bankers are, essentially, middlemen. Bankers connect the sellers of a company with a buyer and advise them through the deal process. Your responsibilities as a junior member of the deal team will mainly revolve around creating pitch books and financial models. You will occasionally have the opportunity to interact with clients, but this is often limited at the analyst and associate levels. As you progress in your career, your responsibilities will change in this respect. Learn More
Making the move to the buy-side is often a goal of investment banking analysts, as well as a dream for many undergraduate students. Because there are so many different types of hedge funds and jobs within those HFs, there is no "standard" day. Our goal at WSO is to give you as good of an idea as possible, so we will update this as we come upon more information.
Long/Short Equity - 2nd Year Equity Research Analyst (by WSO user KevinNYC) Learn More
