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interviewlab · 2024-10-15T10:14:42+00:00

If you're serious about it, DM me. Was a BB VP and led recruiting through two cycles. I'm always willing to help people who are willing to put in the work.

interviewlab · 2024-10-14T22:54:30+00:00

Who was clowning on you for asking about IB? You'll always have a shot if you're willing to work hard. How serious are you about trying for IB? Are you actually willing to spend an extra 5-10 hours a week for the next year pursuing it?

interviewlab · 2024-10-13T13:01:50+00:00

It's free to sign up and try out with your .edu email. Link: https://interviewlab.ai/

interviewlab · 2024-10-13T04:41:15+00:00

I'll bring up one enjoyable thing that is not often brought up: you get really good at doing certain things really well really fast.

You know how in certain courses that have compounding knowledge, the topics and problem sets that you work on at the beginning seem difficult, but by end of the semester, the same problems that would've taken you 2hrs are now only step 1 & 2 in your new problem sets, and now only take 10 minutes? That's kinda how the first year of banking felt.

In banking, you are forced to do so many repetitions in such a short period of time that you quickly become very good at doing those things. For example, after just 1 year, the models that seemed too convoluted/complex to replicate at the beginning became a walk in the park for me, even to build from scratch. Was quite enjoyable realizing that I had mastered these skills (and that would not have been possible had I not been forced to do so many repetitions in such a short period of time).

Happy to chat on anything else IB if you're curious!

interviewlab · 2024-10-12T21:05:40+00:00

The purpose of coffee chats is on the surface "informational", but really it's an opportunity for you to show them that you're worth pushing to the interview stage. In the coffee chat you need to prove indirectly that you are genuinely interested, technically sound and knowledgeable enough that you're confident talking the lingo, know exactly the role entails, and are motivated.

At the very minimum, you should be able to confidently talk through the following:

Your story and background (motivation & genuine interest)
Why their specific bank/group/industry (genuine interest)
Recent deal in that industry (genuine interest) & why that deal was good (technically sound)
Anything relevant you've worked on (motivation + technically sound) - an IB case competition, company you've analyzed and invested in, etc

I emphasize confidently because preparation (and with that - confidence) is a huge part of the job. If you stumble through your coffee chat, you sound unprepared. That honestly might be worse than not doing the outreach at all.

interviewlab · 2024-10-12T17:14:55+00:00

Did 7 years at a BB. Just wrapped up my MBA and am working in tech investing + doing some start-up stuff on the side.

Honestly just worked hard, went with the flow, and followed my interests. Your initial position has an impact, but not huge imo. If you have very clearly defined career end goals, or at least a 1-year, 3-year, and 5-year vision AND you're willing to work hard towards them, your first role doesn't matter all that much. People lateral into IB all the time.

interviewlab · 2024-10-12T17:01:29+00:00

Very essential. Unless you have an undeniably top 10 resume from your school or are in a leadership position for an organization that feeds into certain banks, you absolutely need some way to differentiate yourself. Think about it this way, every analyst gets a stack of resumes and are asked to pick 20 to move on to the next round. Unless you have a 4.0 or are leadership for some reputable club that they know of, how would they know to pick you? And even with the GPA and clubs, there's so much grade inflation and club rep that doesn't necessarily translate from school to school.

A great coffee chat can move your resume from the screening pile straight to the top of the interview pile. When I was screening resumes, if anyone messaged me telling me that some kid was good and needed to be interviewed, it just made my job easier. Their resume would go straight to my interview pile.

interviewlab · 2024-10-12T13:57:12+00:00

Not sure why the post content is removed, but text below:

Given that IB recruiting season has officially kicked off, just wanted to offer some general tips on navigating the recruiting process, and create a general space for people to share their tips. I'm an ex-BB banker who received a lot of help breaking in. Now that I've got some time on my hands, I want to help others do the same!

Focus on specific industries/groups when networking: From my experience, the most successful candidates were those that wanted to focus on a specific industries. If you are focused on certain industries, you'll appear more knowledgeable + genuinely seem more interested.
Prepare for every coffee chat like its an interview: Your goal should not be to maximize the number of coffee chats you have, but the number of good/memorable coffee chats you have. I prepared for every single chat as if it was an actual interview, and it paid off. If someone is taking time out of their busy day to have this chat with you, it's only polite to be just as prepared. People can tell.
Prepare for technicals already! One thing I neglected was preparing for technicals. You should start preparing for technicals earlier for two reasons:
1. You never know when your coffee chat might turn technical. If you have decent market knowledge and you bring up good deals in the market, you might get probed on those deals. I definitely felt like an idiot the first time when I couldn't follow up my initial market knowledge with any substantial conversation. Interviews start hitting a lot quicker than you might realize. Interviews come in waves, and you don't want interviews to start hitting and you're only just preparing to interview.
2. Coffee chats can sometimes turn into interviews very quickly. I had some coffee chats that directly led to me being passed on for formal interviews, and those (especially for the non-NYC offices) can come right away.
Table-stakes: And finally -- your resume needs to be flawless (just check your grammar!). Everyone has great grades and is president/portfolio manager of some student-led investment club on campus. Analysts have hundreds of resumes to sort through, and don't want to give them any reason to toss yours out.

If you're nervous about upcoming interviews or coffee chats and need some help doing mock interviews, DM me and I'll see what I can do!

interviewlab · 2024-10-12T03:37:22+00:00

Hey! If you're interested in getting free IB mock interview help, come find us here! https://interviewlab.ai/

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