You Just Got a Full-Time Investment Banking Offer – Now, What Do You Do Before You Start?
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You’ve been through interviews with 27 different banks.
17 Superdays.
You’ve talked to so many bankers that you don’t even remember half their names.
But now you’ve finally landed the offer, and you’re about to sign on the dotted line.
So what do you do between now and when you start working?
School vs. Free Time
First: what do you actually HAVE to do in the next 6-9 months?
If you absolutely need to finish classes or get additional credits to graduate or finish your program, you don’t have much choice in the matter: you need to do it.
Banks don’t like people who flunk out or fail to graduate at the last-minute.
Likewise, if you’re already working and you’re set to start on a specific date, or you’re set to finish your current job on a certain date, then you don’t have much say: your timing is already set.
But you may be graduating early, or you may not have much work to do for your last term / semester / quarter – in which case the possibilities become a lot more interesting.
What NOT to Do
This is not going to be some article filled with fluff that says everything is a good option.
I think a lot of crap is a total waste of time and should be avoided if you value your life and your last remaining free time at all.
If you’ve been reading this site for a long time, you’ll be able to guess some of the items on the “waste of time” list – but I love bashing the CFA at every chance I get, so let’s go through the list anyway and add in some new items.
Starting Early
First, do not start early. The following logic initially sounds appealing:
“If I start early, I can get a leg up over all my competition, be better prepared than everyone else, and ensure that I get top bonus in my first year!”
I could write about 100 reasons why this is a stupid idea and why you shouldn’t do it, but here are the top 4:
- You’re treated like an intern or even worse if you start early – so you’re not more “prepared,” you just get better at picking up dry cleaning and getting coffee.
- You’re not going to get a stub bonus in most cases, nor will you be guaranteed a higher bonus at the end of your first 18 months. In fact, you’ll get the same bonus as everyone else.
- You won’t be “recognized” as a 2nd year or viewed differently from anyone else when all the new 1st years start in the summer.
- There are hundreds of better things you could do with your time – just keep reading.
The only good argument for starting early is to network internally – there is some validity to that, but it’s still not a good enough reason to do it.
CFA
Ok, so you have 6-9 months of free time before you start working 100 hours a week. And you already have a solid full-time job lined up.
So the next logical step is to spend 500 hours studying for an exam that will do nothing for you in terms of banking / PE, right?
Yes, MAYBE the CFA will help with hedge funds or things outside banking/PE, but you need to think about the opportunity cost here.
You have limited time, and even if you’re worth $500 trillion you cannot generate more hours in the day. You get 24 of them regardless of whether your net worth is $1 dollar or $500 billion dollars.
With the 500 hours you spend studying for the CFA, you could do about 10 things that will be far more helpful for business school, buy-side recruiting, and boosting your resume – and, oh yeah, actually having fun and doing something outside the library.
Boosting Your GPA
This is a stupid idea for 2 reasons:
- How much can you really boost your GPA with only 1 semester / quarter left?
- Even if you boost it from, say, a 3.4 to a 3.5, it won’t matter much for buy-side recruiting or business school.
Yes, they still look at GPA but you need to think about the opportunity cost once again.
Let’s say you can spend 6 months and miraculously boost your GPA from 3.4 to 3.6.
Which do you think will be more useful: a GPA that’s 0.2 higher, or 6 months spent abroad doing volunteer work and learning another language?
So please forget about your GPA.
Part-Time Work / Working in Retail / Waiting Tables
I don’t even know how this one could cross your mind, but I’ve gotten emails and comments about this before so I had to address it here.
So you’re about to start a job where you’ll make $100K+ per year right out of school, and the first thing on your mind… is spending 6 months on a $10/hour job?
Even if you desperately need money in the short-term, there are better options than sitting around working at Best Buy or at your local gym.
“Travel”
I put this one in quotes because I’m referring to a specific type of “travel”: going on a whirlwind tour of 30 countries in the span of 6 months and trying to see and do everything possible.
Yes, I’ve done this type of trip before – but I only do it once every 5 years or so and only when there’s a good reason.
If you’re moving to a different city every week you’ll get tired very quickly, and you won’t remember anything that happened… take a whirlwind tour of Europe, and I guarantee all you’ll remember is Amsterdam.
Yes, you could get into some interesting adventures and yes, it could help you stand out in interviews, but there are better ways to go somewhere else, have a good time, and not want to kill yourself when you wake up each day.
The other big issue with “travel” is money: even if you have a lot saved up from internships and previous jobs, flying around constantly and staying in hotels gets expensive, even if you fly coach and stay in 3-star places.
Hanging Out
“Just relax – you’ll never have so much free time again!”
Right?
Wrong:
- It gets boring after about a week. Don’t believe me? Head to the beach and just sit there doing nothing for a week. Tell me when you get bored… oh wait, you’re already back, guess that wasn’t fun for too long.
- You do want to have fun with your time off, but you also want to do something productive – both to maintain your sanity and to look better for recruiting purposes in the future.
If you’re the type of person who made it into banking in the first place, you’ll be bored out of your mind doing nothing for an extended period of time.
Even Forbes agrees: early retirees die earlier than those who remain active.
Ok, So Tell Me What to Do!
First, let’s think about what you actually want to get out of this free time between now and when you start working:
1. Fun
I won’t dispute this one: you can take sabbaticals and breaks later on in your career, but you won’t have this much free time ever again.
So you need to take advantage of it – yes, models and bottles are fun the first time around but there’s way more interesting stuff to do outside your own backyard.
2. Business School / Future Recruiting Boost
One problem you’ll face when applying to business school as an ex-banker is your lack of outside-work activities: it’s hard to compete with the 40-hour per week guy when you were pulling 100 regularly.
Free time before you start working gives you a perfect chance to fix this: you can spin even minor things into sounding major and stand out by having experiences that no one else has.
Plus, even in buy-side recruiting these types of adventures are sure to come up. I once had a Partner at a PE firm spend 30 minutes in an “interview” asking me about living in Japan – do something interesting and you’ll reap the rewards for a long time.
3. At Least Some Constructive Activity
This ties in with #2 above, but there’s more to it than that: you really will go crazy if you just sit on the beach all day and go drinking at night.
I did this for a few weeks after I left banking, but then I got bored – which explains everything on this site and related sites since then.
You don’t need to “work” 40 hours a week but you do need some type of mental activity to stay engaged.
The Problem With All This
You might look at all of this and say, “Of course! Why wouldn’t I follow everything you just said above?”
The problem is that you’ll be inclined to go to extremes. Some people will just want to hang out for 6 months, while others will want to study for the CFA, GMAT, take 15 training seminars, and start a side business too.
Both of these are flawed plans – so I’m going to give you a formula that spells out exactly what you need to do.
The Formula
Here it is:
- Go abroad to live there (as opposed to just “traveling”).
- Once you get there, find one “fun” activity. Spend half your time here.
- …and then find one “mental” or “work” activity. Spend half your time here.
So why is this the optimal formula for fun, getting something productive out of this time, and boosting your admissions chances later on?
Going Abroad
Sorry, but “I spent 6 months in Iowa” just doesn’t sound as cool as “I went to Mongolia and learned horseback archery, Genghis Khan-style.”
Bankers tend to be very well-traveled and this is a great discussion topic for networking purposes – plus, you’ll grow and develop a lot more overseas than you will by staying in your own country.
The more exotic the location the better – just make sure you don’t end up with bullet holes in your torso by accidentally venturing into a war zone.
Staying in one or two places also lets you save on expenses and actually get to know your new home rather than just going to the tourist destinations.
Keep in mind that the cost of living elsewhere is often much, much less than staying in a country like the US or the UK with obscenely high living expenses – $1,000/month lets you live well in other parts of the world outside the “developed” countries.
“Fun” Activity
This should preferably be something physical – a new sport, volunteer work if it involves using your hands and actual exercise, or even something like music.
It’s easy to skip out on the “physical” part of the equation, but you will go insane / get grossly out of shape if you do this.
“Work” Activity
This doesn’t need to be traditional “work” – it might be learning a language, studying for the GMAT, doing volunteer teaching, or anything else.
You could spend some time learning modeling and Excel if you want, but that’s not enough to take up 6 months of time – just make it one of your activities if you decide to do this.
And if you really need cash, teaching English overseas can pay much better than minimum wage jobs if you can stand doing it.
Personally I can only take it for about 5 minutes before I want to kill myself (which makes you wonder how I can possibly survive in Asia with everyone asking me to fix their English mistakes, but we’ll save that story for another day).
Example Itineraries
Now to some examples of how you could spend this time before work to do something constructive, have fun, and boost your networking / b-school admissions / buy-side recruiting chances.
Destination: Brazil
You get there and decide to relocate to Sao Paulo, where you start learning Brazilian Ju-Jutsu as well as Portuguese at a language school there.
You party until dawn every other night, but you still have a few spare hours each week to brush up on your Excel skills, so you spend your first 3 months learning Excel and basic modeling, then spend your spare time over the next 3 months preparing to take the GMAT right before you start working.
Result: Now you have something cool to talk about in interviews and on business school apps, you had a great time there, and you might even be able to transfer to Brazil and work there in the future.
Destination: Thailand
I don’t have a great relationship with Thailand, but everyone except me seems to love it, so I guess it has to be mentioned here.
You arrive in Thailand and head to Chiang Mai to volunteer at an elephant camp (!) and teach English part-time while going to a Thai cooking school there.
You’re not sure about business school, so you don’t worry about the GMAT for now – and you did an i-banking internship so you don’t need to learn much modeling.
Result: Come on, who else will have something this ridiculous to write about or talk about in interviews? The night life in Chiang Mai is quieter than Bangkok, but hey it’s still Thailand.
Other Possibilities
These suggestions are just the tip of the iceberg.
Whatever you do, don’t just sit in your room hanging out with your friends at home. Yes, it can be fun for awhile but you’re not going to remember it in 10 years, and it won’t help you stand out in the future.
But write “Volunteer at Thai elephant camp” on your resume, and I guarantee that will come up in every single interview over the next 5-10 years.
But I’m Afraid to Do Anything This Crazy!
Then you may want to re-consider going into finance – because you will be getting exposed to crazy people and crazy situations all the time.
You might get called away to go travel on an hour’s notice, and it won’t look good if you say, “Sorry, MD, I’d rather stay in the office and learn Excel.”
The best way to describe banker culture is “Work hard, play hard” – and you will not fit in if you’re constantly staring at Excel and never hanging out / getting into adventures.
This is just a reality check – I’m sure some people succeed without having this mindset, but fitting in socially and having everyone else like you is really, really important and something that gets overlooked all the time.
So get out of your house, go somewhere else, and come back with some good stories.
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Tags: CFA, GMAT, GPA, investment banker lifestyle, investment banking, investment banking prep, understanding investment banking
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Hey what happend to Buenos Aires?
I thought about it, but decided to go with Brazil instead since we’ve mentioned BsAs so much before.
Cool article! I’m just wondering, is drinking absolutely necessary in banking? I can’t drink due to religious reasons, and I’ve heard that I’d have a hard time in banking because of it.
Personally, I have a friend in banking that does not drink for religious reasons, and he is quite successful. He has a great personality and is a networking ninja though. But, I would understand it being more difficult, and that is just one case.
It’s not absolutely necessary, but you should still make an effort to go out even if you can’t drink. Just go and say hi to people, tell them you can’t drink for medical reasons.
Curious to know why you’d tell them it’s for medical reasons. Is it bad or awkward to be religious on the street?
It’s just not something I would share with anyone. Same goes for politics or anything else that might offend people or make them feel awkward.
(This is also why I’m not writing about Brazil ever again)
I’d prefer to say I do not drink because of conviction, which is actually the case. I guess that is ok as well?
I interned in investment banking over the summer and I’ll be starting full time next year. I don’t drink either because of religious reasons, but it should in no way stop you from having fun. I frequently visited bars and clubs with friends in NYC just so that I wasn’t left out. Everyone was very very respectful of my decision, and as long as you’re a fun person to hang out with, it really doesn’t matter. The only people who have tried to entice me are the people of the same religion who DO drink. My advice to you: be open and adventurous (you don’t have to break any religious rules to do so)
Great advice. I really want to study abroad or spend some time overseas and really get to know another culture/country. I always thought it would be the best way to travel and go on an adventure before I have no life anymore, but always considered it for personal enjoyment. I never realized how great it will be for my professional goals, interviews, and overall coming off as a more interesting, well traveled person.
I never understood how some people get into banking with NO personality, whether its kids at school that somehow landed internships (family?), or even some bankers I talk to on the phone that can barely carry on conversation (at least they have the excuse of being burnt out).
Totally agree with you. Talked to quite a few bankers lately who seemed like they are some kind of machine or so. Awefull.
That’s a good question – I dunno, most of the bankers I knew were at least somewhat interesting. Some of the older ones were burned out / bitter though.
Hey man…
I really like your website, your posts. All of then is really great… But I have to say, your advice about going to Brazil couldn’t be more wrong. Dangerous???
Try to spent one week in Salvador? Natal? Fortaleza? Florianopolis? and than Let me know?
I sure you’ll change your mind, and this part of this post.
Ok, I removed that part. I did not intend for this article to cause so much controversy. I’ll focus on more boring topics from now on…
Brian;
My apologize about my comment. I did not meant to cause any controversy.
I’m huge fan of M&I and I’m really thankful about all you wrote here. I just don’t agreed with that part and I think this could pass a wrong idea about Brazil, as outside Brazil there’s no much information about what really is Brazil, and mention like this will continue to pass this wrong idea.
Again, I’m sorry. And thank you for all you’ve been done here.
It’s ok, it was poor wording on my part. I really just meant, “Brazil is a great place, but I wouldn’t necessarily put it at the top of my list for first-time travelers” which I do think is true, given that getting around in Europe etc. tends to be easier due to more English-speakers.
I think experience of being abroad respectively of dealing with other cultures, knowing how to adapt and how to avoid unnecessary dangers are key if you really wanna spend half a year or so here. It is dangerous (I’m glad my year abroad is in Joao Pessoa, which probably the most peaceful federal capital in the country) but it is a beautiful country and an enrichening experience.
It is probably better to have been on vacation here before deciding to live here for a couple of month. You’ll already be in touch with the brazilian culture and better prepared to live on your own. That is what a quite some Europeans and Australians, I’ve come to know, did. They fell in love and decided to stay or return, not really minding the danger.
Hey, could you write a seperate article focused on the travel aspect of banking?
There is not much to say – it’s nothing like consulting where you’re always on the road. At most, you might get pulled away every 1-2 months for a business trip, but it’s highly dependent on your group.
The travel is never “fun” – it’s basically get there, go to meeting, get on plane back.
Brian, it is quite disappointing to read the statement about Brazil coming from someone who I believed was a really well-rounded individual that would be able to distinguish between an exacerbation of a problem and reality.
While there is no doubt that Rio can be a dangerous city, there is no doubt that any big city such as New York, is quite dangerous as well.
Your argument that ” in Rio, you have poor / dangerous areas surrounding everything else” is not a representation of only Rio, but of any big city. Whenever a city develops, it is very likely that the “wealth” will be surrounded by the lack of thereof. Poor people in pursuit of better living conditions will migrate to the city and guess what, obviously the cheapest place to live will not be in the wealthy areas, but rather “around it”.
It is contradictory for you to say that to walk to good areas you need to go through “bad areas”. You just stated that “you have poor/dangerous areas surrounding everything else”. To point out the contradiction, draw a small circle on a piece of paper. Make everything outside the circle the “bad area”. Make the inside of the circle the “everything else” (which should include the “good areas”). Now try to draw a line from a”good area” (which should lie inside the circle) to another “good area” (which can only be found inside the circle according to your argument) by crossing a “bad area”(outside the circle). I am not able to do that, if you find a solution to that, please let me know.
Considering you made the statement “poor/dangerous areas….” without really thinking about what it really represented (i.e. circle example above), your statement is still flawed. The 3 most important tourists attraction are: Sugar Loaf, The “Cristo Redentor”, and the Copacabana beach (even though I like other beaches, in Rio, more). None of these are in a location which is more dangerous than any other big city. Of course, if you are naive enough to think that the “slums” in Rio are a tourist attraction, than I do agree that the there are some places that are “extremely dangerous”. Just as I would not walk around the Bronx at night in my Ferrari, expensive cloths, and my Rolex, I would not expect that a well-educated individual would walk around the “slums” in Rio showing off their wealth.
I lived in Rio de Janeiro for 18 years of my life and was NEVER EVER robbed. Guess what? Probably your friend was naive/drunk enough to think that it is OK to wander around late at night on streets that seem, at the least, creepy when dark. That is just asking to be robbed anywhere!
In Brazil, I have never heard about an individual that goes in an Elementary school or in an University and start shooting people out of the blue. I guess I should REALLY be concerned about studying in the United States, because that “happens all the time” (exacerbation of a problem).
I want to end this comment by inviting you to go to Rio and spend a week or so there. I am more than willing to show you around. Of course, be ready to be “networked” like a ninja.
Comment removed.
This site is starting to frustrate me…
Brian, of course, feel free to remove my comment. My comment, in no way, was aimed at causing you frustration or anything of that type. I apologize if it did. I just wanted to provide a different point of view.
I was referring to my comment within the article itself.
It was poorly worded – what I was trying to say was the following:
“Yes, Brazil is a fun place to go. HOWEVER, in comparison to other places like, say, the UK, it is still more difficult to get around and you do have to know a bit more to do so… so I would not necessarily recommend it if you’re traveling internationally for the first time.”
Honestly, you guys just need to read better. Brian says everything exactly as he has to explain it later. People get pissed at him about Brazil, the CFA, etc, only to have Brian have to repost almost exactly what he said earlier.
Seriously people, learn to read.
Ben;
I think Alex’s post is really coherent. He’s just explaining the reality o Brazil, as he lived there for 18 years and know what he’s talking about.
I think his post was meant to advice people that the reality in Brazil is pretty much different than the image that Brazil has in US and Europe. I do believe that the purpose of Alex was advice everybody that dangerous is not the reality in Brazil.
Changing the subject. I wanna thank M&I for these wonderful articles here. I never posted here, but i do follow every new article and all the comments.
Best.
A depressing article!
I’d love to see something with the title “you didn’t just get a full-time offer – now what to do about it”
Redouble networking efforts?
Delay graduation and grab a second major?
Graduate on-time and attempt to re-do recruiting as a fresh graduate?
Give up?
So traveling and doing fun things is depressing? I’m not sure what would be “fun” then.
If you didn’t get a full-time offer, basically you need to keep plugging away… networking, consider delaying your graduation, maybe a few other things, will see about writing this soon.
The thought of more successful peers worrying solely about traveling & fun is depressing to a person with only a black hole to look forward to come May!
It’s funny that you mention Brazil and Jiu Jitsu.
Is it just me or do finance people LOVE Mixed Martial Arts? My jiu jitsu class has become a hot networking spot and Mixed Martial Arts is like the only thing on my interests section.
It helps bankers take out their frustration!
Ain’t nothing wrong with sitting on the beach and drinking beer…quite awesome, I say.
But you’re right about not wanting to do that EVERY day…
I prefer hard alcohol over beer, but it is quite nice.
I had an IB internship over the summer and am have not received any analyst offers yet, though I haven’t given up. My overall plan was to use IB as a stepping stone to PE, but I was just thinking maybe I could potentially find a small middle-market shop that could use an analyst. I would then move over to a more reputable place (or IB) after a year or two.
How do you go about getting into a small PE shop? I assume their situation will be that they have enough flow that they need extra help but not enough to justify paying for an associate. Since there are thousands of these I could thereotically email all of them, but what should I do?
Focus on ones in your area, and any that you have something in common with (e.g. shared industry background). Don’t even bother emailing them: get the phone numbers of the ones you’re interested in and get on the phone. Also consider alumni if you have access to a good alumni database and go through them as well, using the same criteria.
I have been talking to tiny boutiques in NYC that have expressed interest in interviewing me once they figure out if they need an analyst. If they want me to come to NYC for a final round will they pay for the trip? I’ve heard that sometimes they don’t have budgets for travel/interviews so they can’t afford, thus making you pay. I have already spent enough money making networking trips out there and probably can’t afford another. If they don’t pay, how could you ask them to?
If they can’t pay, you usually can’t do much to change their minds – I would ask family or close friends to borrow the money temporarily.
I suppose you could try saying, “I’d really like to go, but I can’t afford the trip right now” but a small boutique might just say, “Ok, too bad” because they are disorganized compared to larger banks.
Is it acceptable to follow up with bankers who you haven’t actually talked to in person to just get your name our there? For example, some banks provide students with a list of contacts for all the bankers at the info sessions. Usually there’s not enough time to talk individually to each of the bankers.
Sure, I guess you could but make sure you ask something specific rather than just saying, “Hi, I’m writing just to make sure you see my name written somewhere.”
Hellow Brian;
Let me ask you something.
During the last year I’ve been in Spain. I did a Master Degree and I worked as a Analyst to biggest Spanish Bank.
I decided to come back to my country as the economy over here is really better than over there, and everybody knows that for our grow in our career, the company and department that we’re working must also grow, otherwise, you get stucked. I decided to come back because I was also a little bit home sick.
I started to make contacts since Spain, and when I get some interviews I decided to come.
I made a really good interview for M&A analyst position at a bulge bracket here. Including I was interviewed by other analysts, some of than younger than me. It’s been a week and until now I got no contact back. How can I contact the team to see if is something going on? if I’m still on? I really want that position, but I don’t what to do besides of wait.
thank you man.
Just email or call and say, “I enjoyed speaking with you and wanted to follow-up and check on my interview status at your firm.”
How do you actually suggest going abroad to live in a foreign country (say you only speak English) for a few months? It sounds much easier said than done. Where do you live, what do you actually spend your time doing when you get there? I’ve been to London, Italy, and Buenos Aires before and can’t imagine what I would do there alone for more than a couple of days…
You get out of your comfort zone and go and meet people. In all of those countries you mentioned there are English speakers… look on Facebook for events in each city, go to them, and meet people there. Then, look up language schools or other programs there, or ask the staff at your hotel to help you find things to do.
Its pretty much paint-by-numbers for me by now…
I recently had a first round phone interview and afterwards realized there were a lot of other things I wish I had a chance to say or explain. Is there anyway I can get these points across or is my chance to sell myself completely over (unless I get 2nd round)?
Is there any way I can call and sell myself further without coming across as desperate? For example, I didn’t have a chance to explain why my gpa is low which would be helpful. This would likely make or break, as it has with other firms.
There’s nothing you can do now – if you contact them to try to explain further it will just sound desperate. Just keep this in mind for the future and make sure you bring up everything when you speak initially.
Before your FT starts, you want to spend at least a month preparing staying up late staring at a computer screen.
lol, how could I have forgotten about that one. You may want to build up your tolerance to cocaine as well…
Get used to ordering more food than you need. Try ordering one of everything in a Chinese delivery takeout menu with other soon-to-be FT analysts.
M&I,
Thanks for all the advice you’ve provided, just to let you know I was able to land 3 IB offers while having a relatively low GPA, came from an anon-target school, and had 0 family connections in finance. I decided to go to a well-known boutique with better deal-flow and hands-on experience than the 2 other large banking institutions.
Looking forward, if I decide to move to the buy-side after 2-3 years of banking am I kissing my post-MBA options of returning to banking good-bye? In other words, if you move over to PE is it pretty unheard of moving back into banking after your MBA if you’re struggling to find another PE job?
-George
Hi George,
Would you mind sharing you “strategy”?
Thank you in advance.
I would think it depends specifically on what you’re doing buy-side (deal exp, skill set) and how long you’re out of banking..it could help or hurt you. I doubt it will ruin all hopes. Can I ask, what makes you want to go to buy-side then back up the banking ladder?
The only thing I can think of is that you’re either a masochist, or cannot stand a small/quiet work environment or small group feel of buy-side even at a bigger firm. Banking-PE-MBA is pretty much the most solid career path in finance, I don’t see it limiting any options. Unless maybe you go Boutique-Unknown-Tier 3. Just my thoughts…
Well I’d love to stay in PE if I can get over to it, just I’m fully aware of how competitive it is even if you go to a solid MBA program and have banking and PE experience. The Boutique is well known regionally with a very large PE arm as well.
Congrats on the offers.
It is very unusual to move from PE back to banking – it’s not impossible, but you will face a lot of suspicion from bankers if you try to make a move like this. It’s easiest if you want to move into a group like FIG, LevFin, etc. where there’s a lot of common ground between PE and banking.
curious, when you say you shouldn’t start early in this article, what do you mean? is it only pertaining to once you get an offer or doing it before the end of college? for example, say you do IB internships before the summer before senior year, are you arguing to not go that pathway? if so, what do you suggest doing? btw i’m asking because i’m a freshman in college and i just supposed that doing IB internships in successive summers would look good to land a real offer by the end of senior year.
I’m talking about graduating in December and going to work full-time in January.
Internships are necessary and you have around a 0% chance of getting a full-time offer without them.
I am from London and as for it is part of Europe, I was wondering what language would be more helpful to give me leverage? I am interested in both Spanish and Arabic and I love both cities so I have no preference. I would be interested in working in the M&A in IB so which country do you believe has more exposure? I know your from the USA and you may not be able to relate to Europe but if you could tell me which one gets more exposure in the USA because I actually wouldn’t mind working there?
I wouldn’t think about which one is more “useful” – honestly, you need to be BETTER than native speaker-level to ever use them for business purposes. Spanish is probably more widely used simply because it’s widely used in South America and other regions – while Arabic is also widespread, there is not as much deal activity in the Middle East, except for maybe Dubai.