Subject: Hey, do you have a minute? Either come to my office or we can meet in a conference room.

Uh oh.

Unless that email is coming from the co-worker you’ve been secretly dating or (one of) the secretaries you’re having an affair with, you’re probably going to be fired in the next 5-10 minutes if you see this subject line in your inbox.

I usually write about how to get into investment banking, private equity and finance in general on this site. But with everything going on in the market lately, from Bear Stearns’ collapse last month to multiple rounds of layoffs at every bank, unemployment is on everyone’s mind.

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“Before I became so fervent about Private Equity, I thoroughly considered all my other career options: hedge funds and VC.”

-Hicks Musings, The Leveraged Sellout

One common question I’ve been getting lately goes something like this:

“Inquisitor, I just started as a freshman at Harvard. I am majoring in economics and finance and I’m in the stock market club, the investment banking club, and I even borrowed $500,000 of my Dad’s money to invest in my personal accounts. So far I’ve earned a 50% return in 6 months.

How can I make sure that I work at Blackstone by the time I’m 25?“

Another variant of this same question:

“I am only doing investment banking so that I can pay off all my student loans in 2 years, but I have no interest in ever doing it again. What are the exit opportunities like for Associates at boutique banks who want to get into hedge funds?”

For those breaking into investment banking, the exit opportunities are always a big motivation.

It makes sense on paper: you go from working 90-100 hours a week and doing mindless work to working 60 hours a week and doing meaningful work 100% of the time, right? Right?

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For those lucky enough to go to “target” schools (e.g. the Ivy League, Stanford, MIT, and roughly the rest of the top 20 or so schools in the country), breaking into investment banking is easy.

Well, maybe not easy. But getting investment banking interviews is relatively easy.

You go to the career website, check a few boxes, upload your resume, and wait to hear back on which banks have selected you for interviews.

If you don’t go to one of these schools, though, or are trying to get into investment banking from a different industry, the process is not so simple.

If recruiters don’t reach out to you and solicit resumes, you have to be proactive; reach out to them, and find any way in you can.

You have to network.

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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