So it’s my last day in investment banking and what better way to celebrate than by writing a weekly Q&A post? How about a Q&A post with commentary, announcements and other thoughts at the bottom?

Investment Banking In The Middle East

“I’m a rising junior seeking a career in finance/consulting. I’ve worked in private wealth management, strategy and corporate finance before and am looking to do banking after graduation.

I noticed you’ve written a lot about the “China angle” and how a lot of readers on your site are going there for finance opportunities.

While it’s definitely a big opportunity, I feel people are overlooking the Middle East. With banks sending a lot of people to Dubai, Abu Dhabi, etc. and the rise in stature of the Middle Eastern financial centers, do you think it’s worth pursuing banking or consulting there?

Do you have any tips for pursuing a career in the Middle East?”

Inquisitor:

I definitely agree with you that the Middle East is an often-overlooked opportunity area. Most Americans are at least somewhat conscious of the rise of China and India, but the Middle East sometimes goes unnoticed.

You’re onto something with your plan to work there - within a few years it could certainly turn into a hot spot.

If you want to work in the Middle East, the best thing you can do to prepare is get a summer internship there or take advantage of any other chance you have to get there.

People often advise aspiring bankers to work in New York first because it makes it easier to transition elsewhere later. This advice is true, to an extent, but you could easily do an internship in Dubai, work in New York full-time at first and then move back later.

I would also recommend contacting alumni who work in or who are from the region and seeing if any of them can point you in the right direction.

Types Of Recruiting Teams

“I’m a rising senior preparing for recruiting in the fall. Do the Investment Banking, Sales & Trading, Equity Capital Market, Debt Capital Markets, Research, and Private Equity divisions of a BB have their own recruiting teams at each school, or do they have a collective team that evaluates candidates?

I may be interested in a few of those areas, and not sure which direction I will go in yet. If I were to apply for both IBD and ECM, would my resume be reviewed by both teams or a joint team? Would it reflect negatively upon me if I apply for both?”

Inquisitor:

I hate to give non-answers, but this one depends entirely on the bank/group/office in question, as well as your school to an extent. Generally banks will send a few different people from across those groups to a school for recruiting/interviewing purposes; sometimes your resume may be filtered into the group they think you’re most suitable for, while other times each group will actually review your resume.

Personally, I only review resumes for those who apply to investment banking - I never look at anyone who’s applying for a different group.

It’s in your best interest to indicate a group preference - if you’re too wishy-washy on the application, the groups may get to talking and realize you don’t know where you want to be.

Even if you don’t know exactly, you should pretend that you do know and focus on one area to maximize your chances.

My Own Resume

“I was wondering, since you’ve written so much about resumes and have your resume review service, is there any chance you would mind sharing your resume on the site? Obviously I would expect you to alter names and numbers of course.

If you can’t do that, could you share a few anonymous resumes that you think are good? I’m starting shortly as a full-time investment banking analyst and want to understand what people consider “good” resumes.”

Inquisitor:

Interesting idea, but I fear that I would have to alter it so much to remain anonymous that it would no longer be worth looking at… more than names and numbers, I would have to change around details like school, activities, interests and previous work experiences and it wouldn’t resemble my own resume when I finished.

Fortunately, I do plan on posting sample “good” resumes once I finish up my investment banking prep service and will make those freely available to everyone.

And who knows, I might just be inspired to post a version of my own resume if enough people want to see it and I temporarily lose my sanity.

Feedback On The Investment Banking Prep Service

Thanks for all the feedback everyone submitted last week on this upcoming prep service/product/whatever you want to call it - I received over 100 responses via the survey and email and still haven’t had time to go through everything.

It seems everyone wants something slightly different, so I will likely offer a combination of the options presented there, with pricing and such to be determined at a later date.

Also, just to be clear - free content and blog posts will continue as well. I recognize many readers want to learn about investment banking but don’t necessarily want to be in investment banking.

My Last Day As An Investment Banker - Thoughts

Today marks my last day at work. It’s strange to be leaving after spending, oh, around 80% of my waking hours in the past 2 years in this office (that might have been 90% but my improved 2nd year hours dropped the average a bit).

I certainly won’t miss all those all-nighters, but I’ll definitely miss all my friends who are sticking around and continuing through next year.

Truthfully, I’m even going to miss the senior bankers around here. Sure, they made my life miserable at times, but looking back on it a lot of what I went through almost seems funny today.

I’m both excited and intimidated over what lies ahead - whatever happens, it’s going to be even more of an adventure than these past 2 years were.

Future Plans

I’ll be traveling over the next few weeks but posting will continue in my absence.

When I get back, expect more news on my upcoming service(s) and some other projects I’ve been working on in the background.

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Posted on Friday, June 27th, 2008 at 1:00 am.