"fighting" on resumes and in interviews

partyingtoohard — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 15:08:19 -0400

i fight because i know everyone has an inner-Bateman. i love doing mixed martial arts, jiu jitsu, wrestling, striking, etc. wall street is still a fairly testosterone driven place and i know a couple of senior bankers that practice jiu jitsu as well; however, is "fighting" too much of a taboo thing to talk about on your resume (under interests) and in interviews?

serious question, so serious answers only please. thanks all.

Most Important Factor When Choosing FT Offer

partyingtoohard — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 14:11:35 -0400

Not to make another rankings thread, but just wanted to gauge the general consensus on what the most important factor is when choosing a FT offer, ceteris paribus:

- prestige of bank
- strength of group
- geographic location
- firm culture
- base salary/bonus figures

Note: some of these probably overlap and I left out "exit opps" because like one wise member on this board has said you make your own exit opportunities.

difference between "tech corp. fin" and "tech m&a"?

partyingtoohard — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 12:48:21 -0400

When people are referring to strong "tech" groups, are they talking about tech the industry group or tech M&A? For example, Morgan Stanley Menlo Park and Credit Suisse in San Francisco are supposed to have really strong tech groups, but this is probably only in reference to tech M&A right?

Thanks guys

sophomore SAs

partyingtoohard — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 10:12:59 -0400

What happens to rising junior SAs at the end of the summer? It's kind of a strange position because sophomore's generally aren't up for FT offers. Are you just extended another SA offer right then and there for the same bank? Or is it pretty much "thanks for your help this summer. Remember to apply online again!" I figured you'd at least get some kind of guaranteed interview for an junior-year internship.

how's asia doing?

partyingtoohard — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 10:58:15 -0400

At a BB and have talked to a lot of friends at other firms. Seems like a lot of senior bankers are voluntarily jumping ship (see: NOT being axed or relocated) to work in the Asian markets. Either they're optimistic about the markets there or they're pissin their pants over the mess in the States (or, most likely, both). NY/London still the place to be or should SAs/prospective first years seriously consider starting in HK? Any people in HK wanna comment on deal flow over on the other side?

Doing work for other groups?

partyingtoohard — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 11:47:45 -0400

Currently placed in one group of a bank. Not really sure if this is the sector/product I want to do during my banking career. I also happen to know a senior banker in a different group. Would it be weird if I approached him and asked him if I could do work for his group in addition to the work I'm doing for my current group?

why not VC as an exit opp?

partyingtoohard — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 09:00:15 -0400

It seems like a lot of bankers and people on WSO are interested in PE/HFs as a post-banking career, but why not venture capital? Are the skill sets not transferable or something? Or is it because VCs tend to have more elongated investment horizons and the returns aren't as immediate? In PE, I guess you're more focused on buy-outs of mature companies, while in venture capital, you're in the seed/early growth stage of capital funding of start-ups and don't really see anything come to fruition until the exit phase (IPO, acquisitions, etc). Another possible reason I can think of is that it's a lot more difficult to break into VC than it is to break into PE/HF. VCs don't generally need bankers in the traditional sense; they're more interested in entrepreneurs and BizDev/tech-incubator types.

target vs. ivy target -- need all your help again in deciding

partyingtoohard — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 20:26:08 -0400

after reading that other dude's thread about banking adn student loans, it seems like a lot of you are in favor of going to the ivy league school even though there's a lot of debt involved. my situation's a bit more complex.

Financial aid was a bit wacky so here's what it looks like for me:

Columbia University - 150k in debt after graduation
Northwestern University - less than 30k in debt after graduation

- I want to get into private equity straight from undergrad (I know there are people going to tell me not to, but this aint the thread to do it) and I know breaking into PE is really difficult and it might be an advantage coming out of Columbia than it is coming out of NU

- If it came down to pure fit, I'd give the slight edge to Northwestern because I like the traditional college feel better than I like the straight up urban college setting of NU

Bottom line...

Is Columbia worth the extra 120k+ to attend over a solid target like Northwestern?

ok seriously guys...

partyingtoohard — Sat, 31 May 2008 21:49:30 -0400

how many of you currently in banking decided to pursue a career in finance because you had nothing else to do? As in, law and med school would be too tedious, no interest in pure engineering, not good enough athletically to play pro, etc. so banking was the best option. i doubt any one actually wanted to be a banker when they were ten yearsold right.

Bulge Bracket Principal Investment Area

partyingtoohard — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 23:06:34 -0400

What is a "principal investment area" of a firm? I know BBs like Goldman and JPMorgan have PIAs, but the functions seem to vary from firm to firm. To my knowledge, you can have everything from real estate PIA to natural resources PIA. Merrill has an energy principal investment area as well (Merrill Lynch Commodity Partners). What is the common denominator?