Doing an Investment Banking Job Search

Doing An Investment Banking Job Search

Overview of the Industry

The most obvious functions or divisions of investment banks are corporate finance, where banks help their client companies raise capital through equity, debt or other types of offerings, and mergers and acquisitions services, a major source of fees for some banks. Sales and trading in equities or fixed income, or more exotic products such as derivatives are other main divisions for most investment banks, and research jobs in these product areas might be another option. Equity research is a function open to new associates, if you have a passion for and some knowledge of a specific industry, though jobs are fewer than in other areas, such as corporate finance and mergers and acquisitions. You work with clients, traders, M&A and are involved in valuation, analyzing company fundamentals, very hands-on. There are also product areas such as equities, fixed income, derivatives, real estate, private equity, and foreign exchange. Many areas of banks depend on contacts and relationships of bankers with clients -trading, sales, corporate finance. Most functions are somewhat sales-related. "Bankers are paid for executing transactions in the context of relationships," not for taking vacations, and having someone else cover for them. (Correctly or not, this was stated by the panelists in an April, 1998 investment banking presentation at SLS as a difference between working in a law firm and an investment bank.) There is certainly the challenge of bringing together the right people, of thinking up new combinations, new ways to do deals. It's more a business of continual change, a business of execution, than a business of innovation. It may also be a "narrow, parochial lens on business", according to Barry Newman, JD/MBA alum, Managing Director at Salomon Smith Barney. Many more people are heading firms now, who worked early in their careers for McKinsey, than those who worked in all I-banks combined. He points out...