Archive for July, 2008

5 Ways To Boost Your Recruiting Chances In A Tough Hiring Market

Lately one of my most common questions via email goes something like this:

“I’m a rising senior looking at investment banking recruiting in the fall. However, the market is really tough right now, there have been a lot of layoffs, bonuses were down 30%, and it seems like a lot of the bigger banks may not be hiring much. What can I do to break in?”

The market we’re in right now is definitely the toughest since 2002 or so, and even well-qualified students and professionals are faced with the same dilemma: how to get in when hiring is down.

Read the rest of this article

A Week In The Life Of An Investment Banking Analyst: Saturday

Back when I posted my representative Week In The Life Of An Investment Banking Analyst, I skipped Saturday and figured no one would notice (or just assume that we don’t work on Saturdays).

However, I’ve received an unprecedented number of comments and emails inquiring about “what happened to Saturday”, so I went back to my journal to figure out what Saturday in this week looked like.

I could be cruel and write about that one Saturday when I was summoned away from dinner and had to pull an all-nighter into Sunday, but that’s not representative of a typical weekend (plus, that’s a story for another time).

So here’s Saturday of that same week:

Read the rest of this article

Summer Internships: What You Wish You Knew

One of the most fun parts of running Mergers & Inquisitions is helping prospective bankers (and other financiers) out there get the internships and full-time jobs they’re after.

I’ve already covered quite a lot on the topic of summer internships, whether it’s how to dominate them, what not to do, a summer intern success guide and even what to do if you get transferred.

In the spirit of these previous articles, I would like to solicit feedback from readers on topics you want to read more about.

This is directed both at interns who are working in banking / private equity / related areas this summer as well as those who are interested in doing so next year or further in the future.

I’m not going to set up a survey or anything (this will be informal), but here are a few ideas to get you started thinking about what you’d like to see:

Read the rest of this article

Mergers & Inquisitions Core Content

What is Investment Banking?: Ari Gold: What Bankers Actually Do, Why NOT Do Investment Banking

Investment Banking Lifestyle: A Day in the Life - Worst Day and Best Day, How to Stay Fit, Investment Banking Wardrobe for Men, Investment Banking Lingo Part 1 and Part 2, A Week in the Life (Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday)

Breaking into Finance: How to Get an Investment Banking Job, Networking into Investment Banking, Recruiting in a Tough Market, Breaking in from Engineering, Breaking in from Law, Breaking in from the Back Office

Investment Banking Resumes: How to Write an Investment Banking Resume, How Investment Bankers Read Resumes

Investment Banking Interviews: Investment Banking Interview Guide, The Interview Selection Process, How to Close Your Interviews

Summer Internships: Summer Intern Success Guide, How to Dominate Your Summer Internship, Tips from a Former Summer Analyst, What You Do as a Summer Analyst, 10 Summer Internship "Don't's", How Summer Interns Get Full-Time Offers

Investment Banking Salaries: Investment Banking Salaries vs. McDonald's, Why Investment Bankers Make So Much Money, 2008 Analyst Bonuses

Private Equity / Buyside Jobs: Private Equity Resumes, Private Equity Interviews, The Myth of the Buyside Job, Headhunters: Friend or Foe?

Specific Groups: UBS LA, Boutiques, Restructuring, The Back Office

Quitting Finance: The Conference Room: How You Get Fired, The Farewell Email, A Day in the Life of a Former Investment Banker