I-Banking: A Shrinking MBA Option

Source: MBA Career Coaches Investment Banking Career Primer

BANKS OFTEN FAVOR ATHLETES AND FORMER MILITARY OFFICIERS

“Beyond these traits, banks look for exemplary performance in school and prior leadership roles at work, even if one’s previous positions were not finance-related ones,” says Shinewald. “Strong undergraduate grades in analytical majors such as science, technology, engineering, or math (STEM) from top-tier institutions are important. Banks also favor athletes and former military personnel for their competitive nature and discipline.

“MBA summer internships are important because most banks hire interns for the majority of their open associate-level positions,” he adds. “Landing an internship requires extensive networking with employees at banks and excelling in a series of events (such as happy hours hosted by a prospective employer, roundtable discussions, candidate dinners, and Wall Street Treks [when groups of MBA students visit different New York City banks over the course of a week]) at which candidates are judged by how well they get along with other attendees.

“After a candidate is placed on a short list of potential interviewees, he will undergo a series of technical and behavioral interviews. Technical interview topics can include how to value a company and/or how an income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement work together to provide a complete picture of a hypothetical client firm’s finances. Preparation is key, and most MBAs spend every free moment reading the Wall Street Journal and crafting answers to potential technical questions.”

THE I-BANKING HIERARCHY

Shinewald points out that investment banking is largely a hierarchical group effort (see above). Senior bankers, the managing directors and vice presidents, direct union bankers (the associates and analysts. The MDs are the rainmakers who sell the clients and bring in the deals. The VPs then take the lead in executing the business. The associates and analysts do the number crunching and all the other tasks required to complete a project, often under serious deadline pressure.

The business schools that give MBAs a leg up on the i-banking competition are either finance heavy, such as Wharton, Columbia, NYU, Chicago, and UCLA, or have big brand appeal, such as Harvard, Stanford, INSEAD, Duke, and London. Of the schools that publish data on major employers, Columbia, Chicago, and Duke really stand out for placing recent grads in a wide range of major investment banking firms (see chart below).

To get the MBA Career Coaches primer on investment banking, click here.

DON’T MISS:

PRIVATE EQUITY: THE MOST SOUGHT-AFTER MBA JOBS