Much of my email these days contains questions on advanced topics:

“Where can I learn LBO modeling?”

“How do you use Section 382 to determine allowable NOLs in an acquisition?”

It’s nice to show this kind of initiative.

But even if you can answer these questions, there’s a 95% chance you will not get past the first round of an investment banking interview.

Why?

Because you don’t know how to answer the most important question:

“Walk me through your resume.”

No matter how much experience you have or where you’ve interviewed before, you’re probably making critical mistakes that bore the interviewer and result in a “PASS” within 5 minutes of the interview starting.

So what are these fatal errors and how can you avoid them?

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“What’s missing from your resume is a focus on the results… I see all your recommendations and the projects you worked on, but I don’t see what happened as a result of your work.”

-McKinsey Recruiter to Me, 3 Years Ago

Some of you have asked about consulting (as in management consulting, not IT consulting - who in their right mind would do that?) vs. investment banking and which is “better” to pursue.

I’ve done both, but I worked in banking for much longer than I worked in consulting - so I am biased.

As we’ll see, the quote above shows why I didn’t go back to consulting and why I always recommend finance to anyone in “What should I do with my life?” mode.

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“What should we put our money in?”

“Is this the end of Wall Street?”

“Which bank is going to fail next?”

“Should I just move to Thailand or become a ski bum?”

The talk of rumor-mongers who obsess over every last development?

Paranoid message board chatter?

Too much refreshing of the Drudge Report each day?

No.

These are all snippets of conversation from 4 friends in finance, discussing the world at large this past weekend while “on vacation” (I tried to make them turn off CNBC, but it didn’t work).

So if you’re asking the same questions, don’t feel ignorant - not even the insiders have the answers.

But I have been receiving many smaller questions lately - questions I might be able to answer.

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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