| Topic Name: |
What are my CHANCES? |
| Message Name: |
Good Reply |
| Date Posted: |
06/06/1999 |
| In Reply To: |
I will tell you exactly the strategy I and many of my friends found effective to landing offers at places like, Morgan Stanley, DLJ, Lazard and Blackstone. I got offers from a a couple of smaller, less prestigious firms but chose one of the above.
My profile:
Ivy League degree
internships in Ibanking (MS and SSB)
Frat President
Campus President
3.5 GPA
History Major
Ambulance Corp Captain
Looking at this type of resume, I am sure anybody would be impressed. In fact, I landed 25 out 25 first rounds I sent resumes to.
Guess what, its not this resume that got me the offer.
It is tough to get even a first round with a bank. It basically means that the bank more or less believes that you have the "ability" to survive as an analyst in their firm.
So what are the interviews for?
1. Kick the tires. Are you everything you said you were.
2. Personality and fit.
3. Bringing back a set number of candidates to super saturdays. Gotta make some cuts even if they like everyone they interview.
Believe it or not, my resume is fairly common place. In fact, I know people in my school with near 4.0's that did not fair well during recruiting at all. So what made me different? (As well as a handfull of my friends that seemed to rack up every offer at our school?)
I think the bottom line was preparedness. Listen, a ton of kids in my school had investment banking internships. It was no big deal. Alot who were with me at MS and SSB ended up at place like Chase and Paine Weber.
Just because we had interned at the same places does not mean we are equal candidates. In that 10 weeks, I some how got on more transactions, did more complicated analysis, and had a more rewarding learning experience. That is what came out during the interviews. By the time I had reached my interviews I knew every question they would ask me. And, i had prepared answers that would knock their socks off!
1. I could talk about complex deals that i had worked on. M&A (both buy & sell side), high yield, converts. I could explain thoroughly how to create a discounted cash flow model, build a cash flow statement out of the income statements and balance sheets, I could exlpain how the biotech industry prices drugs ect.
Honestly, I did not learn all of this during my internship but learned most of it afterwards. I had been exposed to alot of this marginally. So basically by demonstrating that I had all of these experience led my interviewers to believe certain things about my ability.
1. I must be a hard worker
2. I must learn quickly.
3. I can handle alot of responsibility
4.The people i had worked with had enough faith in me to give me such responibilities.
5. That i essentially had lived the life of the analyst, BUT I was back for some more.
These are the types of issues that you have to convince your interviewers that you are somehow more qualified than the rest. The vast majority of people even with IB experience could not answer the aforementioned questions confidently.
There is onyl one way to ensure that you will stand out. And thats to stand out. And often means exceeding theit expectations. Having the working knowledge of a competent first year when you had only been an intern.
One way or another, you have to prove these things about yourself. The banks have the luxury of taking the best of the best.
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| Message: |
Hey, good response. I too know people who got into those firms and yeah, work experience over all else. They care about GPA but only to show you're hard-working and responsible. I'll be working at Lazard next year and I definitely feel my resume was carried by a couple internships. Funny, I know someone in my frat who got an offer from one of those firms too. We prepped together and we both kicked ass.
We almost had identical resumes. Average grades, great internships and lots of preparation. Secrets to our success. ; )
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