AlexMBAApply wrote:
To understand what bankers are *really* looking for, you have to understand the actual job itself and the group culture.
Four hallmarks of banking culture:
a) It's like a fraternity - it's a macho culture. They see themselves as reformed nerds-turned-alpha males (including the women). Note I said "they see themselves as..." and not "they are..." As such, they want people who they feel fit that image of the alpha dog, even if they aren't saying that out loud.
b) It's a sales culture. It's not a place for intellectual discourse. The dynamics are more similar to a locker room than a science lab (and the humor as well - see below). It's about applying your smarts to being #1. Money isn't just something you buy things with - it's a way of keeping score. Banks get ranked. You get ranked vs. other bankers. There is a pecking order of MDs even within the firms themselves.
c) There is a gallows humor that permeates virtually every office and bank. It's a cynical, jaded dry sense of humor. They may not be consciously looking for this in interviews, but they are in a way sensing if you are "one of them".
d) It's a way of life, not a job. You spend so much time in the office with the same people. They want to know that you're the kind of person who is reliable but just as important - someone who they won't strangle at 3am because you're an annoying dweeb. People's personalities tend to change the later you are in the office - and oftentimes the *real* person comes out when they're dead tired after 10pm and trying to get work done.
If you've ever done a fraternity rush, been in the military, or competed in a lot of team sports, you'll be in familiar territory for IB recruiting (except that they aren't asking you to drink vomit, but that instead you're being asked to do a Taylor Series expansion on the Black Scholes model - it's not necessarily if you get it 100% right, but whether you can get through it in one piece without sh*tting your pants). As a 1st year, you're the "rookie" so you're expected to shut up and do what's given to you and to speak only when spoken to sort of thing so no 'trying to act like an MD' by interjecting your ideas in a client meeting unless being asked to (and it's not uncommon for 2nd and 3rd year analysts to have more power than a 1st year associate with no IB experience). In fact, the analyst-associate dynamic is somewhat analogous to enlisted-officers in the military (in situations where a 1st year associate is staffed with an experienced analyst, the analyst is really driving the ship).
That's why banking interviews can feel a little juvenile at times or like a human cockfight, with the kinds of seemingly random questions they ask, as if they were grilling you.
They're not looking for the absolute smartest or the most knowledgeable finance dudes/gals (they will retrain you anyhow in "their way" of doing models). They are basically prodding and poking you to see if you're the right FIT. Any banker will tell you that the job hardly requires genius - just a reasonable level of everyday intelligence will do. From a technical standpoint, what you need to do in the job as a junior banker is simple:
a) you're willing to make it a life, not just a job (i.e. you'll suck it up if you get asked on Friday night to cancel your plans to do a pitch book). In other words, you're willing to stay in the office at all hours even if you have nothing to do. To be clear, they're not expecting you to enjoy it (and if you say you love doing pitch books for 80-100 hours a week, they will laugh in your face and call bullsh*t), but they're expecting you to suck it up.
b) you're thorough and detail oriented. This means a willingness to always double-check your work to minimize any errors - your Excel links are referencing the right cells, your document formatting is consistent, you keep the deal docs organized, and you are making sure the analysts are doing the same.
The rest is all about personality and presentation (how you present yourself in terms of your clothing, physicality, etc.).
Thank you for your insight into the banking culture, Alex!
17 Jan 2009, 17:17
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