In case you missed them, here's some of last week's most popular topics:
Former Big 4, now buy-side analyst, ask me anything
I've been seeing a lot of accounting posts on here, much more so than when I first started reading WSO, and have decided to offer my experience to help any prospective accounting students who want to land into finance. Please leave questions below and I will respond accordingly...
Transitioning from IB to HF Series - Part 1: Getting the Interview
With headhunters likely beginning to reach out in December/January, I thought I'd put out a series of posts on making the transition from IB to HF. This one talks about getting that first interview...
I've been meaning to do this for some time now and, with the holiday party/gift giving season right around the corner, I figured now was as good a time as any. Those of you who know me know that I love my rum. Not only does it have a pleasant effect on a body after three or four, rum more than any other liquor has had the ability to trigger memories for me and take me back to some of the best times in my life...
2nd year IB Analyst taking questions
I'm a longtime lurker of this forum but I've never posted before. The information I got here over the past couple of years was hugely helpful when I was in school and looking for my job in banking, and still useful today. I wanted to give back by providing an opportunity for people who may be in the position I was in a couple of years ago to ask questions and get straightforward, frank answers...
You walk into work in the morning, and the first thing you do is not read up on the latest overnight news from asian stock markets, but you hold your head in your hands and you come to the realization that every single day has been worse than the day before. It’s not that you’re having a bad day, or a bad week even, you genuinely don’t want to take on any more of this work. Could this mean that you are burnt out?...
Surprisingly Painful Interview Questions
Because I'm nerdy like that, I tend to write down the more bizarre or tougher interview questions I get just to throw them at my friends and see how they'd react. As I'm traveling today and tend to incorporate at least one psychoactive substance into my flight routine, I figured sharing this list would be better than trying to write something that required actual thought.If you've heard any of these before (or something similar), or have any idea of how you'd want to answer them, feel free to share in the comments...
HP's Deal from Hell: The mark-it-up and write-it-down two-step
I don't think that there can be any disagreement that Hewlett Packard (HP) had a terrible day on November 20. In a surprise announcement, the company announced that it was taking a write off of $8.8 billion of the $11.1 billion that it paid to acquire Autonomy, a UK based technology company, in October 2011, and that a large portion of this write off ($ 5 billion) could be attributed to accounting improprieties at Autonomy. Even by the standards of acquisition mistakes, which tend to be costly to acquiring company stockholders, this one stood out on three dimensions:...
The Number One Reason You Were Dinged
And while those reasons all might have had something to do with it, none of them were the ultimate reason why you didn’t make the cut. The reason you were dinged boils down to confidence. Specifically that you weren’t confident enough...
An Ocean of Capital: Saturation in Private Equity
First it was rumors. The grapevine of talk from other private equity associates and friends from the BB where I did my banking stint. Of course, gossip is one thing we’re all used to from our investment banking days and just like at our old jobs ,there was no shortage of juicy gossip. However, I brushed a lot of it off as standard ex-banker complaining. After all, everyone loves to complain in finance....
Have a question regarding two walk-ins I'm planning: I noticed at one firm that not only is the VP overlooking HR an alumni of my uni, but so is over a third of the IM and PWM team. At the other firm, VP of HR is also an alumni and about half the analysts. What is the best way to approach and utilize from the alumni connection or is it something they will notice or bring up on their own if felt appropriate?...
We. Are. So. Screwed.It's no secret that the educational quality in the United States has been on the decline for well over a decade. But I had no idea exactly how far we've fallen in real terms. That is, until I read this Psychology Today piece about a recent survey of the math skills of college students in the US. And then I threw up in my mouth a little.
How bad is it?...
We've all been there before.An Analyst buddy sends a group-wide email. Something about a relevant deal and he wants to be sure that all the MDs know about it. Not to mention, it's almost bonus time and he wants them to know that he knows about it.
"Is he serious with this shit?" you think to yourself. Why not give him a little grief?...
Black Friday: Maybe the Mayans are Right...
Seriously. It isn't that I haven't seen these videos before but what on earth possesses people to do this? Is it really worth that much to them? Just in case my embedded video didn't work, here is the link over to zero hedge. I swear it is things like this that make me believe we are all screwed in a month....
Job of the Week:
Client Services Representative
Location: Denver, CO
Compensation: 55k + 10% bonus
Details: This exciting opportunity is with a well-established, elite investment management and financial planning firm. They specialize in advising high net worth individuals, including CEO’s and other senior executives of Fortune 500 companies, business owners, and families with substantial wealth. The mission of this wealth management firm is “To protect and prudently grow the wealth of our exclusive clientele”. This individual provides personalized and high level professional service to an assigned clientele group. They proactively anticipate client needs and collaborate with Investment Analysts and Financial Advisors to provide a customized client experience.
