Summer Intenship at Investment Bank

[500E]

Dear All,

As some of you may know, i'm attending university doing a degree in Accounting & Finance with Computing (going into my second year next month).

I'm currently in the application process for a summer internship with the big investment banks for an entry in summer 2009.

Do you guys have any advice for the cover letter or CV or anything I can do to make my application look "different" from the others?

I appreciate it is a very competitive environment and I want to get my application submitted as early as possible to the best of my ability.

Any investment bankers here (or professionals in similar fields?).

Kind Regards,
Bill

P.S. Apologies for spelling mistake in title - I type too fast!

 

[SportsCoupeRich]

I work in M&A for a large global professional firms practice. If you give me a PM about your objectives etc I will try and point you in the right direction.

 

[NW_Merc]

My 2p worth. I'd look at the job spec you're going for and make sure that you highlight things in your life or education which fulfil those things. I'm sure the internship will select on a points score system. The more points you have the better your chances are. If say for instance you have been a club secretary at uni and had to look after the accounts as an example.

 

[Adam230K]

I work for Gapzrom Marketing and Trading at the moment but there's a good chance i'll be moving to Exxon Mobil very soon. You're right the investment banking sector is very competitive and quite hard to get into, they generally look to see if your university is one of the top in the country and ur on a strong 2:1 or a 1st. (thats if your applying for the giants like morgan stanley, jp morgan, so on and so fourth), as far as i know, the covering letter (or application in most cases) is what they look at the most. They mainly look at how u answer those irritating questions like "Please tell us about a time when you were in a team situation and your decision influenced the overall outcome" or some crap as such. You cv gets glanced at literally in seconds, just to see if your educational history is upto scratch, and if you have any relevant background experience (which if you are in university you probably wont).

Before i got into gazprom i was looking to enter investment banks... but i've developed a very strong interest in the energy sector and i'll be here for a while methinks . And oh, try your best to apply to about 10-15 places, internships GREATLY improve your chances once you leave university, because it is hands-on experience.

Good luck with it though and let us know how it goes

 

[500E]

Thanks all for your invaluable advice so far. I am applying for:

Investment Banking & Debt Capital Markets - London - 2009

at Barclays Capital.

I will be looking to apply to similar roles (or anything I can get really with IB) at more of the top firms and loads of the smaller firms too.

I'm currently at University of Kent at Canterbury - so I already know i'm at a disadvantage compared to all those applying from LSE, Oxbridge, Warwick ETC (for FT positions).

Although this is, I am confident I can get a first.

 

[jaymanek]

I worked at JPMorgan for 4 years and went to LSE...

I did a Long Term Internship and then went to on to work for them.

I can give you help no worries.

In all honesty im not sure where to start so ask any questions or you can give me a call anytime on my mobile number which is on my website.

p.s. i actually hired new interns in my last couple of years and its not just the Oxbridge and LSE students we used to take... JPMorgan actually went to great lengths to promote themselves to other (not so prestige) universities..

 

[chrisbala]

Bill

I just graduated from LSE and now working in M&A at Macquarie so I can give you some advice for the investment banking side.

With respect to DCM, you probably will be fired loads of questions about credit crunch etc. and the fact that it's pretty hard to find debt nowadays.

General pointers:
- Be enthusiastic : read as much as you can in your preferred industry sector whilst having a solid knowledge of the general markets
- Be yourself: IBankers aren't machines
- Be willing to learn - i found that just sayin this in the interviews helped
- Ask lots of questions
- Be logical in answering your questions and of course be honest when you have no idea at all

You're entering in a very tough market so best of luck...but feel free to ask me anymore questions etc. and I am sure others on the forum will be more than willing to help also.

 

[chrisbala]

Bill - just realised the advice I have given you was for when you get the interview.

To get an interview, apply to as many places as possible as mentioned, make sure your CV is easy to read (most HR flick through tonnes of the stuff, so if yours is easy to read with all the main points clearly defined it is a good start).

Also when answering the "wordy" questions be specific, they basically try and ask you what skills you have learnt from an example. So rather than vaguely responding with a competency, explain what you specificaly did in that task, what was the outcome, what did you learn. The more varied (and usually genuine) your answers are, the more it will impress.

Good luck again and feel free to ask more questions