A Day in the Life of a S&T Intern at a Bulge Bracket Bank in New York: 5 AM Wake-ups and Glorified Lunch Delivery Service?
This is a guest post from a reader who broke into Sales & Trading (S&T) coming from a non-target school. He’s previously written about his own story of how he broke into sales & trading, from the recruiting process to networking to resumes to “fit” interviews and technical interview questions.
The following occurs between 5 AM and 10 PM on a bulge bracket investment bank’s trading floor in New York.
5:23 AM: That’s right – my first alarm is starting to go off…
5:24 AM: SNOOOOZE.
5:25 AM: Staying in bed one minute longer means being late to work, so it’s time to roll out of bed.
Morning Etiquette – What to Do Between 5:25 AM and 5:45 AM
Consulting vs. Trading vs. Entrepreneurship: Got Lifestyle?
This article was guest-written by Zeke Lee, a Stanford graduate, former management consultant, and former derivatives trader on Wall Street. He founded the GMATPill.com, a video-based GMAT prep course for ambitious MBA candidates that was recently featured in Bloomberg Businessweek.
So you’ve reached your last year of university – or maybe you’re in your late 20s or beyond and still haven’t figured it out – and you’re in “What do I do with my life?” mode.
The obvious solution is “Whatever makes a lot of money and positions me to make even more in the future.”
But it’s tricky to answer that one, because there are quite a few fields where you can do that.
I’ve worked in 3 that you may have considered if you’ve been reading this site: trading, management consulting, and entrepreneurship.
You can do really well in any of those, but the one that suits you best depends on your personality and the kind of lifestyle you want.
So today, we’re going to delve into the lifestyles offered by these different professions and learn how everything from the location to the hours to your co-workers, stress level, and pay differs.
And yes, there will be at least one models and bottles reference by the end.
From Cold Call to Closed Deal: How a Private Equity Investment Comes Together, Part 3 – The Dotted Line
“She thinks $60 million is a discounted price? Can someone shoot her with an animal tranquilizer gun until she snaps out of it?” John says, looking around in disbelief at all the other Partners.
David turns to you and his eyes light up as a new idea percolates to the top of his head, and then sputters out of his mouth.
“You do know about the special analyst bonus, right?”
Everyone else in the room laughs, as you contemplate whether or not they really want you to tranquilize the CEO.
$60 million would be 6x EBITDA – a reasonable price for a larger company – but significantly higher than what you’d pay for a small, Founder-dominated business in a niche market.
David speaks up once again as the laughter subsides.
“And let’s not forget about her other demands: she wants to roll over 20% of her ownership and put aside 5% in an options pool for the management team.”
“So we’re paying for an overpriced business and then giving up 25% for no apparent reason. This sounds like a better investment than finding Google in 1998,” John replies while rolling his eyes.
Everyone else sits there in silence as you weigh your options before speaking up.
“Well,” you say, “On a positive note, I think I could call in a few chips to get the financing in place.”
“What bank would even look at this? It’s too small for any of the usual suspects,” David points out.
“Right now everyone’s desperate for business – in normal times they’d say no, but beggars can’t be choosers.”
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