Career Advice (SBs inside)
Hey y'all,
It's winter break and I'm bored as shit in my tiny hometown so I figured that I might as well be productive.
Background: I'm a junior liberal arts major at an Ivy with a decent GPA (3.6-3.7). Going to intern with a MS/GS product team this summer but am ultimately interested in going FT at a smaller boutique (Evercore/Centerview/Greenhill) in the NYC area. Obviously still going into the summer with an open mind though and wouldn't mind staying with the product team if I like it.
What are some things that I can do now to set myself up as a strong candidate for these shops during recruiting? Would anyone recommend taking the GMAT now to add strength to my resume (Have an interesting resume with a lot of interests already though)? Any reading materials that y'all would recommend while I'm bored at home? Should I start networking or is that weird since the summer hasn't started yet? When should I start networking in the summer? Do BB product teams place into MM PE?
Thanks for any answers, giving out SBs to all!
What do you mean by product team? DCM and LevFin are both product teams but vastly different in exit options, so it's hard to talk about exits if we're not clear on what you mean.
I wouldn't take the GMAT yet. It's a lot of study just for the potential to put another number on your resume. (Not a bad idea to study up for it and take it during senior year though).
Networking isn't a bad idea, but it might be worthwhile to wait a little bit. People are busy with holidays now and also gearing up for internship recruiting in a lot of cases, so it's going to be a little weird if you're hitting them up, having already accepted an offer. If you wait a little, you can frame the discussion - you'd accepted an offer pretty early on and you're excited about your role, but seeing as how this will likely be your last internship in college, you're also interested in hearing about other roles in finance.
Reading materials: wouldn't worry about it unless you know nothing about your product team or corp fin in general, but here are some books to read: Monkey Business is a perennial favorite if you haven't read it. Fast Money isn't bad either, but semi-inaccurate reporting by the author. Those two are fast reads. The Accidental Investment Banker is a pretty good background from the POV of a senior banker, but it's kind of dry. Too Big to Fail is pretty good too, if you haven't read (or watched) it yet. The movie is on Amazon Prime for free.
Thanks for the reply and appreciate the book recommendations!
Don't want to say too much but it's more of a pricing group as opposed to a LevFin group with more modeling. Would this hurt me dramatically in getting FT interviews?
I don't think it will hurt too much (assuming of course that we're on the same page about what group you're going into - understandably a bit vague). Having the MS/GS name should open doors as you're networking well. Quaneaser is right about making sure you get the offer and also about the networking timeline - I actually switched banks after my internship and I started reaching out mid-summer, since that gives you enough of an idea about what you'd be doing FT in the group and allow you to contrast it to what others tell you in your networking efforts.
By far the most important thing you can do is focus on getting a return offer. If you don't get a return offer at the place you are interning at then you can essentially cross off any chance you have at switching to an EB (they will be loaded with applicants from comparable BB's who did do well in their internship).
Not a whole lot you can do on that front at the moment other than being prepared. That includes knowing technicals but it will also set you apart if you know what investment bankers do. What goes in a CIM? An offering prospectus? Do you know what those are? etc.
Product group is a broad term an can encompass M&A, leveraged finance, ECM, DCM, restructuring, etc. M&A/restructuring are great for PE, lev fin too (though this is bank specific as some are less modeling intensive). ECM/DCM not really as the skillset isn't the same as those other product groups mentioned or coverage groups.
But bottom line...get the offer first! (and start networking mid-summer)
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