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Bank of America this morning announced that it will fire 2,000 investment bankers on top of the 30,000 announced last year in an attempt to regain profitability.

This looked like another run-of-the-mill megabank layoff announcement except that along with the layoffs, the bank also is planning on a structural overhaul of how junior bankers (analysts and associates) are going to be staffed at the firm.

Specifically, the Wall Street Journal reports:

I am pleased to announce that Wall Street Prep's Restructuring & Bankruptcy Modeling Training is now available as a $399 self study program. This program is an adaptation of our live training at investment banks and business schools.

I think it's a great program for anyone looking to understand how bankruptcies are analyzed. The program is available at a special 15% discount for Wall Street Oasis members.

For free sample videos and complete details click here, and select ‘Restructuring Modeling’ from the list. Alternatively, call us at 617-314-7685 with any questions.

Answer: Here's how I think about it. Stock options are a form of employee compensation and a transfer of value from the current equity owners to employees.  Presumably employees much prefer $50k + options over $50k.  I think we can all agree that this transfer needs to be captured somewhere but the question is how?

Wall Street Prep recently sat down with Tara Place, the Sr. Associate Director of Corporate Outreach for Babson’s Undergraduate Center for Career Development.  Her responsibilities include overseeing the recruiting program and building recruiting partnerships with companies.

What did you do prior to taking on this position?

I worked at Fidelity Investments for over 10 years and held various management roles including Director of Human Resource Process Consulting and Director of College Relations.

What advice would you give to applicants with a lower GPA?

Under 3.0: It’s important to focus on your story. You should be able to deliver some background on your academics without becoming defensive. Feel free to note any external factors that could play a role in your GPA. - - For example, a student athlete with an advanced course load could be in this situation. The most important thing is to focus on all of your positive attributes including your passion for the industry and company you are interviewing with and your unique skill set and experiences. All of these will offer a picture of a well-rounded individual, regardless of your GPA.

After a meeting or interview, how important are thank you notes?

The key to this question is providing an in-depth answer that lasts roughly 2 minutes in length. You need to make sure that you give enough info without providing a novel of an answer. You should briefly mention where you grew up, where you attended college (and better why you decided to pick the college), what your major is (and why your choose it). When discussing your college experience, be sure to highlight any summer internships (professional) even if they are non-finance related and any clubs where you have a leadership role on campus. Be sure to focus your response on professional internships (lifeguarding doesn’t count) and clubs where you serve as a leader – much more powerful than discussing clubs where you are simply a member.

See below for samples of a poor answer and a great answer.

When interviewing for investment banking positions, you'll almost inevitably encounter questions that ask you to tell an anecdote that shows you as a leader, team player, and generally smart person that people want to be around. To answer these questions properly, you want to have several well thought out anecdotes that you can weave into relevant answers to send this exact message.

I see from your resume that as a member of the Class Council, you managed to raise $12,000 for your class.  Tell me about this.

This question is testing your understanding of processes, and an opportunity for you to tell a story that puts you in a positive light .  In investment banking, the entire deal is a process from start to finish.   You want to make sure that you provide organized steps of the process from a higher level and then what you specifically did to raise the $12,000.  Investment banks / financial firms are looking for leaders – people to run with projects with little guidance.  This is your chance to shine and show how you take initiative and need little “hand holding.”

Below are examples of poor and great responses.

In today's blog, I wanted to share our take on answering the "why investment banking" question if you are a liberal arts major. As always, we'll follow a simple template: 1) a brief description of how to think about these questions, 2) what represents a poor answer, 3) what represents a good answer, and lastly, 4) an actual example of a great answer.

I see that you are an art history major, so why investment banking / finance?

Investment banking offers liberal arts majors one of the few relatively well-defined and challenging career paths available to "smart but skill-less" undergrads. Obviously, many also enter the industry with the obvious intention of making a great deal of money. Of course, answering this question in an interview begs for a little nuance. The "why investment banking" question, regardless of whether it is posed to a liberal arts major or business major, should also always be looked at as an opportunity to tell your story.

Below are some sample answers (poor/good/great)

Hi guys, over the next several months, we'll be profiling common investment banking interview questions our students get often, as well as our recommendation for how to answer them. For each question, we'll follow a simple template: 1) a brief description of how to think about these questions, 2) what represents a poor answer, 3) what represents a good answer, and lastly, 4) an actual example of a great answer.

I see that you have a 2.8 GPA.  Typically, we hire 3.5 and above.  What’s going on?

Wall Street Prep's Puneeth Kumar recently caught up with Melinda Barrow, the graduate recruiting & development coordinator at Rothschild. For the uninitiated, Rothschild is a venerable global advisory firm, and remains privately owned by the Rothschild family. Rothschild operates in 42 countries, employing 3000 people. In the United States, business divisions include financial advisory, mergers and acquisitions advisory, restructuring, and equity markets advisory.

What does Rothschild look for in a good candidate?

Investment bankers talk a lot about multiples. In fact, almost everyone in finance talks about multiples. Jim Cramer is probably talking about some company’s multiple right now.

Surprisingly, though, multiples and what they actually represent is deeply misunderstood by a frightening number of investment bankers (including, believe it or not, those that may be interviewing you on your super day).   So, let's get right to it - what is a multiple, really?