yakku wrote:
Great thread guys! some of you guys are legendary! (pelihu, riverripper n gang) amazing commitment.
I am going into a top 10 US b school this fall. I have 4 years in a corporate finance/financial planning/financial analysis experience in a global MNC. I was lucky to wing an internship with a small investment bank in Asia (big global bank with a small IB shop) this april and i am currently doing an internship before leaving for school in july/august. i want to go into IB after my MBA. i have a few concerns which i wanted clarified from the experts in this forum:
1. face time. this is a real downer for me as far as my internship is concerned. sometimes at 7pm, i do not have work to do, but i am still expected to stick arnd (was told explicitly) incase some work comes up at 9 or 10. question is does this happen at BB internships/FT associate job? It generally makes for a very inefficient work environment just waiting around.
2. Attention to detail: this seems to be dependent on who reviews your work. are all BB associates/analysts anal about numbers being 100% right? sometimes small things don't matter as things can be very grey esp. assumptions in a model etc. i understand glaring mistakes like grammatical stuff and comma, fullstops etc. but i m talking about the accounting adjustments that don't swing the big picture. do ppl over obsess about tiny details just to "provide comments'? or does this differ from team to team or even person to person.
3. I am finding the work quite boring/mundane/mind-numbing ~70% of the time. does this improve after the first 1 or 2 years as an associate? I am assuming I am getting the worst work as an intern right now.
4. worried about exit options as an mba associate two years into IB. I talked to a couple of MDs and I felt they feel stuck in IB (asin they are unable to find MD level equivalent roles outside of IB). I am assuming it is easier to transition to buyside after 2 years in IB as an associate? Also, anyone can tell me clearly the options available to someone 2 yrs in IB out of a bschool (assume BB). most options i hear about (PE/HF/VC etc.) seem to be more accesible/valid for 2nd/3rd year analysts.
5. Can someone throw some light on relative cultures across BBs in US? for ex. GS is known for teamwork, XYZ is known to be a tough place/longer than usual hours etc. any input will be great on this front. might be useful in recruiting as well as i feel culture is very imp when choosing IB employers.
6. do you guys see significant difference in the quality of work done by an associate and an analyst after 1 yr of joining the firm? does it get more analytical or thinking kinds or broadly more interesting than what it is in the 1st year after mba when you presumably are learning all the stuff and hence do a lot of grunt work.
lots of questions, i know, but i m hoping this will useful to all in general.
thanks in advance
Here are my two cents:1. face time. this is a real downer for me as far as my internship is concerned. sometimes at 7pm, i do not have work to do, but i am still expected to stick arnd (was told explicitly) incase some work comes up at 9 or 10. question is does this happen at BB internships/FT associate job? It generally makes for a very inefficient work environment just waiting around.
There is a certain level of facetime with every job but your situation is different because you're an intern. I have never in all my 4yrs of banking come across a situation where a full-time analyst or associate is told to just wait around in case there's work unless there's a reasonable expectation that some work might be on the way. In most places, the senior folk want you to get out early when you can because they know you'll probably not get the chance to leave at 7pm for another month. However, as an intern you really shouldn't be trying to leave at 7pm, even if you have nothing to do.
2. Attention to detail: this seems to be dependent on who reviews your work. are all BB associates/analysts anal about numbers being 100% right? sometimes small things don't matter as things can be very grey esp. assumptions in a model etc. i understand glaring mistakes like grammatical stuff and comma, fullstops etc. but i m talking about the accounting adjustments that don't swing the big picture. do ppl over obsess about tiny details just to "provide comments'? or does this differ from team to team or even person to person.
Yes, banking is all about anal-retentiveness. You should be happy the comments are about numbers and not font size! There are all sorts of reasons why things are this way. We'll need a new thread to get to the bottom of it. 3. I am finding the work quite boring/mundane/mind-numbing ~70% of the time. does this improve after the first 1 or 2 years as an associate? I am assuming I am getting the worst work as an intern right now.
Yup! "Boring/mundane/mind-numbing" comes with intern territory. Who else will do the boring stuff? The VPs? Haha!
4. worried about exit options as an mba associate two years into IB. I talked to a couple of MDs and I felt they feel stuck in IB (asin they are unable to find MD level equivalent roles outside of IB). I am assuming it is easier to transition to buyside after 2 years in IB as an associate? Also, anyone can tell me clearly the options available to someone 2 yrs in IB out of a bschool (assume BB). most options i hear about (PE/HF/VC etc.) seem to be more accesible/valid for 2nd/3rd year analysts.
You should not go into IB expecting to exit in 2yrs because there are few exit options for a 2nd-year associate. Exiting IB after only two years will mean starting over (in a majority of cases). Most people wait until they make VP and then try to get senior level roles in Corp. Dev. teams at Corporates. Occasionally, you'll find the odd VP or ED making the move to PE or HF (not because PE/HF positions are not desirable but because there are few openings that match any given set of deal exposure).
5. Can someone throw some light on relative cultures across BBs in US? for ex. GS is known for teamwork, XYZ is known to be a tough place/longer than usual hours etc. any input will be great on this front. might be useful in recruiting as well as i feel culture is very imp when choosing IB employers.
I don't think anyone can give you an answer to this because culture varies at the group level. As an associate, your day-day existence is almost completely dependent on the senior bankers WITHIN the group. Firm culture is just scenery and backdrop to the action. Get into the most prestigious bank you can get into within your target region and then fight really hard to get into the "best" groups within that bank.
6. do you guys see significant difference in the quality of work done by an associate and an analyst after 1 yr of joining the firm? does it get more analytical or thinking kinds or broadly more interesting than what it is in the 1st year after mba when you presumably are learning all the stuff and hence do a lot of grunt work.
See reply to #3 above. The more senior you get (ceteri paribus), the more interesting your work gets.