Initial phone interviews + PWM -> IB lateral recruiting

I've been reading these forums for a while and finally decided to make the push into IB.

Currently looking to lateral internally (or externally if it doesn't work out) from a PWM rotational program into Investment Banking. I've been doing my homework and following the guides posted on here and M&I. Through my networking efforts, I secured a phone interview in ~ 10 days to "ask a few questions about your background". I assume this will be a behavioral style interview with the typical "Walk me through your resume" and "Why IB?/Why this group?" questions. Am I under the right assumptions or will it likely be more intense?

Any thoughts on what to expect and how to stand out are greatly appreciated.

A few of my other questions:

- Should I invest in Pearl & Rosenbaum's Investment Banking textbook at this point or is it too late for that

- What are the best financial modeling & valuation resources/courses available? And are these types of courses helpful for interviews or would my time be better spent reading over technical interview guides/networking? There are so many different modeling courses at this point it's tough to compare

- Resources to learn the Internet, Media, Entertainment industry 

Background:

Graduated last year from a non-target with an undergrad in finance & specialized master's. Completed 2 finance internships, but none in IB.

5 Comments
 

This is coming from someone who had a PWM internship at MS/GS in one of the highest AUM NYC groups. 


PWM skills will not directly translate to junior IB positions. Ever. 

From PWM you can go into AM if you are lucky, or S&T. But even S&T is often a stretch. Lastly, people in PWM are usually able to land investor relations gigs. 

The thing is you can make millions in PWM, but 99% of people don't make more than $400k, and the majority make less than $150k. 

If I was in your shoes I would transition to S&T through tons of networking, or get an MBA. Because it is moronic to think you will be able to lateral into a respectable IB group. 

 
Most Helpful

Haven't been on here in a while. For what it's worth, I successfully lateraled from PWM to IB 10 months ago. Have already experienced some success in the role and quickly climbed up the learning curve to position myself as a top analyst in my group (according to my mid-year). Some pipe dream...

Remember: investment banking is NOT rocket science! Not sure where the elevated sense of entitlement and ego comes from, but it's not that hard to learn if you can get your foot in the door. I knew this going in and put my head down to learn the technicals then networked like hell. Lots of dry emails without responses, but only took a few good ones to land on the right eyes before I had a shot. And that's all I needed. I ended up having my choice between three banks. Thanks for the crummy response.

 

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