IBD Internship in Japan
So I recently heard from am asian-american friend of mine that he will be working as an IBD summer analyst at a BB in Japan this summer. What puzzles me is that he isn't Japanese, and that he doesn't speak Japanese very well. He's able to understand Japanese pretty much fluently, but he isn't able to speak it. According to him, speaking-wise he's probably around conversational-business level? But to my understanding, in order to do IBD in Japan, you pretty much need to be a native speaker.
So my question is what kind of stuff would he be able to work on as an IBD intern if he's not able to speak Japanese fluently? Can anyone with some experience in ibanking think of some possible things he could be working on during his internship that wouldn't require mastery of Japanese? The reason why I'm asking is because I'm worried about his job prospective in Japan. I've actually been trying to persuade him to work in NYC instead, but he seems pretty adamant about working in Japan. Thus, I'm trying to get an idea of what his chances of "success" are working as an investment banker in Japan.
Also, given the recent events happening in Japan (tsunami/nuclear radiation), I'm curious to find out what other people think about how the ibanking industry in Japan will fare in the future. Should I continue to try and persuade him to work in NYC, or should I support his working in Japan?
Any help, opinion, comment, or input you guys can provide will be extremely helpful! Thanks!
Why do you care? If he believes in that country and it is what he wants to pursuit, why not let him go for it. Assuming you are not his mom. If you still want to stop him, just fill him with more nuke radiation to scare him off. BTW if he is not a ethnic Japanese, then why not go for IBD in HK or Singapore where the markets are booming.
I currently work at a mid-market boutique here in Tokyo. While you would need to be able to speak Japanese to move up the ranks, as an intern I would imagine your friend would still be useful to a firm as there are many documents that still need to be prepared in English (especially in Cross Border deals or if there is a foreign MD). While probably not the most intellectually stimulating task, I would imagine your friend might be checking the English used in pitches/documents fairly regularly.
As far as the outlook goes, the domestic market for deals has dramatically slowed down in the short term given the ramifications of the earthquake. Going forward though, I would anticipate increased outbound deals as Japanese companies look overseas for acquisitions as the market here will probably take a while to recover.
@jjbot: Thanks for the helpful input. As you've mentioned, it seems that it will be pretty difficult for my friend to move up the ranks if he stays in Japan without being fluent in Japanese. That said, would you happen to know of any options he might have should he choose to stay in Japan? In other words, would he be forced to stay as an analyst for the remainder of his career, or would he be able to move up to say maybe an associate or VP? I'm trying to get a sense of his future job prospects from either staying in Japan for full-time versus coming back to NYC.
Also, could you perhaps give a few examples of some documents that would need to be prepared in English? For example, would he be able to work on pitch books or market research like he would if he was in NYC, or would it mainly be proofreading/editing work?
Again, any insight you or others can provide regarding this topic would be much appreciated!
Just cause he doesn't speak Japanese doesn't mean there aren't opportunities for him to move up. I think it would really depend on the firm and what their needs are. For instance, if they are very active in cross-border deals, I would imagine his English abilities would be very handy for the firm and he may actually be able to progress his career rather smoothly. Obviously it helps to have JP language skills or at least the motivation to pick up those skills as time goes on (or else I don't see the point of choosing Tokyo over HK or Singapore).
As far as documents go, I can't speak for other firms but where I work, he would be involved in putting together pitch books and market research as well as the mundane proofreading/editing work. And since numbers don't discriminate...modeling and excel work would be on the menu.
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