EMEA Recruitment, Part 2: How to Dominate Your Assessment Centers and Land Investment Banking Offers

“It’s not about the money. It’s about the game between people.”

-Gordon Gekko, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

The assessment center is the final sprint of the recruiting process – but it’s also a marathon in and of itself.

It’s the longest, most intense, and most tiring part of everything you do before receiving an offer.

And if you’re from the US and you think superday interviews are intense, well, you’ve never experienced the pain and agony that an assessment center can induce.

Here’s what to expect, and how you can make it through the process and land investment banking offers without losing your sanity – or getting voted off the island:

How to Navigate the EMEA Recruitment Maze and Land Investment Banking Offers in Europe and Beyond – Part 1

“You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.”

-Zig Ziglar

I was in my junior year at university when I started thinking about jobs after graduation – and suddenly realized that I didn’t know much about the recruiting process or how to actually win the attention of banks.

And the more people I talked to, the more I realized how much the recruiting process in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) differed from other regions.

The main difference is that it’s much more of a numbers game than what you see in other regions – so many people from all over the world apply that you need to set yourself apart (preferably without using illegal insider information).

To do that, you’ll have to master the application itself, the ability tests, the interviews, and the assessment centers.

Why Not Even a Boutique Investment Bank Will Hire You – And What to Do About It

“It’s soooo easy to work at a boutique bank, all you do is cold call them and submit your resume and you’re set.”

“If I have a 2.0 GPA and no work experience, boutiques will still hire me, right?”

“I’m applying to bulge brackets, middle market banks, and boutiques. Can you rank my chances at all of them? Also, can you rank the banks, schools, Excel macros, and the models in AJ’s video?”

No, no, and no.

I’ve got some bad news for you: you’re not good enough to get hired, even at a boutique bank.

I know this because I recently went through a hiring experiment of my own: searching for associate editors and finance wizards.

While this site may not be a boutique bank exactly, the similarities are striking: scarce resources, revenue in a similar range, a relentless focus on ROI, and 150+ applicants for only 1-2 open positions.

I learned enough through doing this to tell you exactly what you need to get hired by a bank – and what you need to get hired by me in the future, if we’re on the lookout for more help.