Veterans in IB

I served for 4 years in the military and will start school at a non-target state school this spring. I am currently interested in pursuing a career in IB as I believe that the culture that I experienced while serving in the military is similar to that of the culture on wall street. An addition to the parallels between the two professions, I developed a genuine interest in finance through trading options. I wanted to know if any veterans can share some insight as to how they broke into banking as well as how they were able to use the skillsets they developed in the military in a similarly competitive and demanding career such as IB.

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You should go on LinkedIn and find people in jobs interesting to you that have some sort of mutual connection as well - e.g. bankers/traders who are alumni from your school or veterans as well. Ask for an informational interview and then have a nice chat with some of them about what they do and how they got there. Make sure you do some research beforehand e.g. at least understand the different roles at a bank: IB, S&T, ER, PWM, etc. 

 

I found that reaching out to other veterans in IB had a higher response rate compared to reaching out to alumni from my non-target, which led me to more calls and opportunities once SA applications opened. Also highlight what you did in your service on your resume that is similar to that of wall street (teamwork, ability to adapt to new information, small unit leadership, etc). And then of course do everything else that the other prospects will do. 

 

Great, thank you. Just based off of some general research on linkedin in seems as if there are a large number of veterans in IB, infantry officers especially. I plan on reaching out specifically to other 03xx vets and appealing to our shared experiences.

 

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