Why Investment Banking?
Why do you actually want to be an investment banker? If you ever hope to enter the field, you’ll need to have a great answer to this question - because it’s something that every single interviewer will ask you. But other guides do a poor job of guiding you on how to answer this question. -You want to be a lifelong learner. -You like finance and accounting. -You’re always in search of a fast pace. And if you want to sound exactly the same as everyone else, feel free to use these types of responses. But if you want to succeed in interviews, you’ll have to be more memorable and give answers that make the other person actually like you. You should use either the “Big Picture” or “Slice of Life” method to accomplish this. “The Big Picture” method is more appropriate if you’re a career changer, a non-finance or accounting major, or you can’t think of a specific incident that made you interested in finance. The outline is: Background in One Industry + Experience in Finance = Success in Achieving Long-Term Goals. Maybe you’re a healthcare policy analyst and you want to combine your industry knowledge with investment banking so you can advise companies one day; or maybe you’re an engineer who wants to go into venture capital, combining technical knowledge with finance. You can make up and modify your “long-term goals” as necessary to fit the situation - just make sure you’re consistent. The “Slice of Life” method is better if you’ve had solid finance experience. With this method, you mention a specific person, story, or event in the beginning, and explain how your interest developed from that. -You saw your parents day-trading when you were younger, so you then decided to start trading your own account, following the market, and doing a few investment internships. -You had the opportunity to meet female executives at banks during a leadership retreat and that sparked your interest. You can combine these methods as well - but keep your story short if you want the interviewer to listen. Aim for a 20-30 second elevator pitch and you’ll be ahead of 90% of prospective bankers. Riyan Richter writes about the career search system, how to successfully network, and how to get into the finance industry at Mergers … Inquisitions, the internet’s leading resource for investment banking and answering the why investment banking question in interviews. |