My Last Day (Plus – Reader Q&A: Middle East Banking, Types Of Recruiting Teams And My Own Resume)
So it’s my last day in investment banking and what better way to celebrate than with a reader Q&A post? How about a Q&A post with commentary and other reflections 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?”
The Middle East does tend to get overlooked compared to India and China – whether or not it’s “hot” is debatable, as places like Dubai suffered a lot following the financial crisis.
If you want to work in the Middle East, you should get a summer internship there or take advantage of any other chance to travel or work there there.
People often advise aspiring bankers to work in New York first because it’s easier to transition elsewhere later. There’s truth to that, but you could easily do an internship in Dubai, work in New York full-time first and then move back later.
I would also recommend contacting alumni who work in the region and seeing if any of them can point you in the right direction.
More on finance in the Middle East:
Types Of Recruiting Teams
“I’m a rising senior preparing for recruiting in the fall. Do the Investment Banking, Sales & Trading, Equity Capital Markets, Debt Capital Markets, Research, and Private Equity divisions of bulge bracket banks 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?”
It depends on the bank and group in question, but usually your resume will only be reviewed by the group that’s actually considering you.
If you indicate that you’re interested in multiple groups, more than 1 set of bankers could review it.
You should definitely indicate a group preference, and it’s fine to list more than 1 – just don’t go crazy and list 8. I would keep it to 2-3 max so you don’t look wishy-washy.
My Own Resume
“I was wondering, since you’ve written about how to write an investment banking resume and how investment bankers read your resume 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.”
A bold and daring suggestion, I like it. Only problem is that I would have to alter so much that it would be pretty worthless after the fact.
I do have a solution for you, though – look at the resume templates and tutorials on the site below and use these “good” resumes for inspiration:
- University Student Investment Banking Resume Template
- Investment Banker Applying to Buyside Resume Template
- MBA/Experienced Investment Banking Resume Template
- How to Write an Investment Banking Resume With No Work Experience
My Last Day As An Investment Banker – Thoughts
Today (June 28, 2008) marks my last day at work.
It’s strange to be leaving after spending around 80% of my waking hours in the past 2 years in this office (my improved 2nd year hours dropped that from 90%).
I certainly won’t miss all those all-nighters, but I’ll definitely miss all my friends who are sticking around through next year.
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.
Update – June 2010
Two years have passed since this post was first written.
The site has grown beyond my wildest expectations, and I started running it full-time shortly after the article above was written.
What started as a hobby – a way to relieve stress after work – has turned into a company with employees across 3 continents and a series of intensive training programs.
What lies ahead?
Who knows.
It wouldn’t be any fun if we knew in advance.
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the advice and the content you’ve laid out here on your site is truly remarkable and insightful.
i have a few questions regarding investment banking resumes:
1) Do you recommend a resume that contains coursework if that individual is already on a finance track?
2) A resume that seems to be cluttered with content from all sides of the paper using a smaller font so as to add all of one’s accomplishments?
Regarding the investment banking world, how hard will it be for the 2009 class to obtain an IB analyst stint from a non-target?
Thank you so much!
Hi Gomi,
1) If you already are a finance major, don’t include finance coursework unless it’s banking-related… I usually just list unusual/interesting items there if applicable.
2) No, avoid clutter, it makes it very difficult to read. Focus on the major items on your resume and reduce appropriately.
3) Non-target IBD recruiting will be tough this year – you will likely need either a previous banking internship or will have to go to a smaller firm. Many of the bulge brackets are not even recruiting heavily at target schools, though you can always get in with persistence.
What are you up to next? PE? Hedge Funds? Something completely different?
Piquay: I drank the kool-aid and will be running several of my own businesses. Should be an adventure, and if that fails there’s always retirement to Thailand as my safety net…
I love your site and glad to see how helpful your posts are to the job-seeking community, thank you for all your hard work and can’t wait to see what you have in store next!
I had a kind of off topic question related to resumes. I am an undergraduate hoping to get a full-time position this upcoming fall and had a couple of questions.
I have about three of my past summer job positions were actually temp positions through a temp/staffing agency. While I am still an undergrad, these were pretty much temporary full-time positions where I did have descent responsibility
I am pretty confused on how to represent these on my resume without writing “temp” for each position, would it be ok to embellish a little and pretty much represent them as more representative titles of the jobs they were like “Financial Analyst” or would this be considered lying?
Also, I have the company listed on my resume for each position but what about background checks, obviously the company names would not show up but the temp/staffing agency shell that placed me there would, I have though full references from my previous supervisors/managers of each individual company I was contracted to work for, would this raise any red flags?
Mike: As far as I can tell, a summer job is a summer job. It doesn’t really matter if it was “temp” or not, you were still there for a few months and then moved on. If you want to be 100% certain, sure, put (Temp) in parentheses after it but I think you’re fine listing that title.
Think you’re fine on the background checks as well… on the forms they have you fill out, just give a brief explanation.
I apologize for another post but forgot one last thing
I’ve been going through your site and reading pretty much all your entries that I missed.
Particularly, in “how to get an investment banking job” under “bankify your resume” your cite that it is ok to embellish a little and give and example of a research assistant and look like there are some stuff added that the person may have not of done but looks much better on the resume
How would play out in a background check, do employers actually ask what position you were and the your responsibilites? Or do they just verify employment dates and how good of any employee you were?
I I embellished a little on the job titles and job responsibilities to make it more finance related or bank related would this come back to haunt me during background checks? I do have full references and never really had a job title but anything than temp sounds more finance related
I apologize for the barrage of questions, I’m trying to prep as much as I can so I know what to expect this upcoming fall
Everyone embellishes a little – background checks really only expose when you worked there and basic info. like that. Companies are reluctant to divulge too much for fear of lawsuits.
Last Question, I Promise!
I have full references of the employers would it be considered lying if I just played them off as contract positions through each respective employer without even mentioning that they were thru a staffing/temp agency?
Are temp/staffing agency jobs looked down up on resumes?
I worked for the contracted employers but was officially employed by the staffing agency
I figure if they just call and verify dates and stuff then HR can do this with my previous employers, and leave out the fact the positions were thru temp agency?
Also, would it be more advisable to put them on as full time position like “Operations Analyst” or something like an “Operations Intern” what would the fact that these positions do not say intern raise any red flags?
I’m sorry, I am determined and really enthusiastic about investment banking and just found your site!
I really wouldn’t worry about this too much – again, perhaps just put (Temp) in parentheses after the title and you’re fine. I don’t know why they would be looked down on, they’re the same as internships.
Aw man… This post exhausts all the readings on this site. Booo! I want more! I NEED more! =P
I gotta stop doing this at work…
I have big expectations for you to help me land that full-time job! =D (Hopefully…)
Jane: thanks, glad you enjoy it so much. :) I got your email as well – will reply but have been buried with moving and organizing things these last few days.
Congrats on finishing your banking stint! Hope you can continue to maintain this great site.
Thanks! And yes, the site will continue and actually expand quite a bit over the next few months.
Enjoy your trip! and tell us about it!
Thanks – about to head for the airport right now (feels weird not to go into work on Monday) so will keep you updated.
Thank you for your article. I have trying to find people who have worked in the MENA region over the past few weeks.
I am currently an MBA student about to graduate from a non target school in the US (but very well known for its undergrad business program, has a strong alum network) and have a full time job offer lined up with a well known middle market investment bank in the middle east. While I think the opportunity of great, I have been wondering how accepting this offer will define my career path 4-5 years down the line. How hard will be it be for me to transition to a BB firm in middle east. Also, what are my chances of being able to come back and work in the US if I leave without obtaining any work experience here.
I look forward to your comments.
Thanks!
Hard to say 4-5 years into the future. Generally easier to go from the US to elsewhere rather than the other way around, but Dubai is probably better than other regions in terms of moving back to US/Europe.