Breaking into Investment Banking

Introductory session

19 October 2013

Speaker: Viacheslav Lavrentyev

Higher School of Economics, ICEF, 2012

London Business School, Masters in Management, 2013
Investment Banking Department, Credit Suisse, 2011
Global Industrials Group, London
Investment Banking Department, Morgan Stanley, 2013
Basic Materials Group, London
Accepted the offer to join the Analyst class of 2014
Interview experience with other international banks across the industry spectrum
Goldman Sachs, Moscow
J.P. Morgan, London
Lazard, London
Jefferies, London
Currently interning with Frontier Ventures, a Moscow-based Venture Capital firm

What Is Investment Banking?

Front Office Career Paths

Investment Banking

Sales & Trading

Research

Investment Banking
Department

What Is Investment Banking?

Firm Types

Bulge bracket banks

Work on the biggest deals (usually everything worth over $1bn, but $200-300mm
occasionally, depending on the group and economy)
Global presence
Financial supermarkets
Middle-market banks
Deal size in the range of $50mm-$500mm
Often have a strong presence domestically, but arent quite as strong
internationally
Financial supermarkets, but not quite like bulge brackets
Elite Boutiques
Deal size comparable to that for bulge brackets, but may go lower
Significant international presence
Tend to focus on specific product, most commonly M&A advisory
Regional Boutiques
Generally work on small deals
Limited geographical presence
May focus on specific industry
Not quite relevant to the discussion

Whats going on in IBD?

Department Structure

Investment Banking
Department

*Capital

markets department status may vary across banks

Industry Coverage

TMT
Financial Institutions
Industrials
Consumer & Retail

Product Coverage

M&A
Restructuring
Leveraged Finance
GCM*

Country Coverage

Russia
Germany
Emerging Markets
Nordics

Whats going on in IBD?

Hierarchy: Up or Out
Managing Director

Director

VP

High level communication with clients

Strategy implementation

Very similar to MDs, but more account

management

Managing Analysts & Associates

Day-to-day client communication

Associate

Ideas implementation
Supervising Analysts

Analyst

Creating pitch books

Building & running models and ad hoc analysis

Summer Analyst

Meat

Life of an Analyst

Pitching
Creating of marketing materials for a potential deal
Managing support staff
Preliminary financial analysis
Data mining
Execution
Building and running financial models
Creating update materials
Administrative work
Ad hoc analysis
Screening for business opportunities
Lifestyle
No typical day
100 hour work weeks and all-nighters are not a myth
Very limited control over personal time
Intellectually stimulating environment
Peoples game
Good pay
Exit opportunities

How to Get There?

Summer internship
The easiest way to get in
Opportunity to understand whether its for you
Need to apply early
Ideal for penultimate students
Off-cycle internship
Availability varies bank by bank
Generally longer duration and lower conversion rate
Networking should help
Full time application
Very limited number of spaces
Almost impossible to get in without meaningful experience
Networking is the key
Last resort

How to Get There?

Summer internship
The easiest way to get in
Opportunity to understand whether its for you
Need to apply early
Ideal for penultimate students
Off-cycle internship
Availability varies bank by bank
Generally longer duration and lower conversion rate
Networking should help
Full time application
Very limited number of spaces
Almost impossible to get in without meaningful experience
Networking is the key
Last resort

Writing a Resume
Structure

Education
Mention GPA, degree class and student rating only if they are decent enough
May list several relevant subjects and course works
Include other achievements, e.g. scholarships or student awards
No need to mention school unless specifically required by the recruiter
Business and leadership experience
Specify department and position
Use CAR approach
Try to limit number of bullet points to four
Avoid soft wording, e.g. words like helped. assisted etc
Make sure that your achievements are substantiated by hard data
Exaggerate if needed, but make sure that youre able to stand behind what you include during
the interview
Dont shy away from listing your leadership experience, e.g. charity work, student club activities
or even military department experience
Additional information
List anything relevant that is not worth a separate bullet point in the previous section
Remember to remain results-oriented
Include additional certifications, e.g. GMAT, CFA
Include only relevant software skills, e.g. dont mention programming languages if youre not
applying to technology jobs
This section is a chance to differentiate yourself from the crowd on the personal level
Languages
Nationality

Writing a Resume
General Advice

Clarity is crucial
Remember that reviewer will read your resume only once and very briefly
Make sure that your selling points are clearly communicated
There is always a room for improvement
Put yourself into reviewers shoes
Ask more experienced people for their opinion
Once done, go through every bullet point and think about how to reword it in
a better way
Be critical to what you include
Be professional
Use professional lingo, but think whether the interviewer will understand
what you mean
Word all your experiences appropriately
Formatting is very important than you think
A good resume looks good from the first glance
Be consistent
No typos please

Writing a Cover Letter

Indicative Structure

Introduction
Be very concise
Who you are
What position you are applying for
Why do you want to work for the company
Opportunity to show that youve done a research
Dont be afraid to drop names
Why do you want to do investment banking
Opportunity to show that you understand what the job is all about
Why you are you a good fit for the job
Coherent story about how your previous experience and what youve learned
will help you to add value
Opportunity to elaborate on what youve mentioned in your resume and tell
more about yourself
Complement your resume rather than rephrase
Conclusion
Summary of your selling points, relevant qualities and interests

Writing a Cover Letter

General Advice

Same principles as for writing a resume apply here

Dont spend too much time
There is a big chance that no one will read you cover letter
Perfect is the enemy of good: as soon as you cover letter meets
certain criteria, no one cares
The criteria are still quite high
How to research the company
Google
Networking
Specialised databases, e.g. Thomson Reuters
The only goal of a cover letter is to get you invited to an interview
Always thank the reader at the end

Application Questions
General Advice

Soft questions examples

Which qualities & skills do you possess that make you suited to the role to
which you have applied?
Please describe a recent task or project where you have shown personal
accountability and used initiative to exceed expectations
Please describe a situation where you produced a high quality and high detail
piece of work despite a demanding deadline
Approach them in the same way as writing a cover letter
Worse-kept secret: its ok to exaggerate, even a lot
Hard questions examples
Describe a recent development in the investment banking industry. What
implications might this development have for the division to which you have
applied?
How would you go about valuing a company?
Test your commercial awareness and ability to express complicated things in a
simple manner
Dont overcomplicate or overthink: you dont have to summarise a corporate
finance textbook in 150 words
Think broader

Networking

Something that can really help you to differentiate yourself from the crowd
Main goal is to get inside information and to establish long-term professional
relationship
Start looking for relevant contacts in your close circle: family, friends
Its ok to reach out to people you dont know: response rate is really high
Be polite and very concise
Ask to go for a coffee or have a phone call
Dont get offended if no response: emails get omitted and people are busy
Remember that this is a business meeting
Learn how to pitch yourself
Think about topics you want to discuss and common ground beforehand
Do your homework
Its ok to ask about the headcount and recruitment process
If someone can help you, hell let you know it himself
Networking can be very intimidating
Doesnt work with everyone
Gets much more comfortable over time
Always follow-up and say thank you
Try to keep in touch by email and meet occasionally when theres something
to discuss

Q&A

Thank you!