Help a u-grad out.
Been looking around in this forum, decided to sign up and look into it more.
Rising sophomore in u-grad bschool. So far I dont have a very specific career goal in finance, but I just want to set it at banking to keep my mind simple at the moment. I'm interning overseas right now, it's not a overseas BB office of some PWM or something - not a big deal at all, so let's not get further than "I have something to put in my resume for what I did this summer."
I'm finishing this job in about 4 weeks, and after that I'm looking into just taking some time off, get to know about what IB is more about (reading books, the journal, prepping a little in advance for finance classes im taking next semester, blahblah). My fellow upperclassmen advised me to keep reading the journal and learn the basic functions of excel so that I dont look like a complete dumbass once I get back to school in the US and apply for a fall internship.
Do you guys know anything else I should probably do? Sadly, I still do not "get" what IB really IS...Also, any simple guide for learning excel (the actual stuff you'll use if you intern/work). ? Thanks in advance for the help.
What's the rest of your CV like? Have you been doing ECs in school?
Get the vault guide for I banking! Your UG should offer free access to it. With regards to excel, I'm your same age, so I don't know how applicable it is to finance, but I would suggest knowing keyboard shortcuts, formulas, pivots, macros, vba, and anything you can pick up. There are modeling programs available, maybe your UG program offers a class like mine does.
If you find yourself with a lot of time, after mastering excel maybe move on to programming VB or VB.net which will make you a potential pro with macros. Also understanding databases and SQL could be another skill potentially helpful. Still time? try statistical software and matlab. the more the merrier. if nothing else, it shows initiative and analytical capacity.
thanks guys, shit...nicko, i wish i knew what you were talking about lol. Ill eventually google all of it. so...i know this may be a stupid q, but excel is a MUST b/c u make models using it right? (in banking i mean).
I think i might just buy an excel book, please recommend some if u know any.
The most useful thing you can do is learn about the different jobs in finance so you can have a good idea about what you like, potential interview q's, etc. I really wish I had done that early on as a ug. I laugh now when I think about how I applied to all these BB IB jobs without knowing wtf IB was.
Basically I wish I had found this forum 3 years earlier.
So keep reading WSO, the journal, and I would recommend reading "Investment Banking: Valuation, Leveraged Buyouts, and Mergers and Acquisitions" (http://www.amazon.com/Investment-Banking-Valuation-Leveraged-Acquisitio…). It gives a good detailed description of how to do the work in banking or any other position involving valuation.
^ This is very true. Lots of Freshmen seem to worry excessively about gaining work experience in their first summer in College but what I've noticed through my research it makes more sense to actually understand what you're interested in and then follow up on that. The Vault Guide to IB is your best resource at this stage.
Follow proforma's advice. Sometimes I wish I knew about different areas of the bank earlier in the process (I'm still going through the process as well, might I add). Learn what capital markets origination does. Learn what investment bankers do. Learn about research. Learn about sales and trading (learn the difference between the two). Learn about different products. Learn the markets. Sign up for Dave Rosenberg's morning commentary (I think its free and its great to understand the economy). Learn about different desks (FX, Commodities, Derivatives, Equities, etc). Learn about different sectors (TMT, Oil/Gas, etc). Read this site every day. Read SeekignAlpha. Build a DCF
I could go on. Point is, start learning everything you can as soon as you can.
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