Investment banking?

sendos

sendos

sendos

Associate
Joined
21 Aug 2006
Posts
119
Dont suppose anyone has any experience in investment banking... was thinking about doing it after university and just have a few questions about it.
Are the hours as bad as i've been told? to the point where you burn out by the time you 40 because of hard work and stress.
Are the jobs all based in london? and are the openings that come up very competitive.
 
From what I hear at careers fairs etc, yes the hours are that bad and work stressful and yes it is days on end but the pay is grand and holidays are longer (months).
 
When you say investment banking, do you mean being a trader or an analyst/associate?

I'm not a banker myself but I do work for a large investment bank in IT and have to deal with the traders regularly so can give you a picture of that side of things.

From my experience of things the hours aren't excessive. The traders seem to get in early and do most of their dealings within a few hours of the markets opening. After lunch they mostly sit around bored and play games!
On that point it also seems that you need to have a mental age under 5 as well. Seriously, there are foam arrows, water bombs etc. flying about on the trading floors.

It is high pressure though, no doubt about it. If you can't stand up for yourself when it gets a bit sticky you won't last five minutes. Being a bully counts for you in the trading world!
It will be competetive to get in, any extra curricular stuff will do you well on your application.

PS If you're worried about being burned out by 40, then if you're any good you'll be able to retire very comfortably by that stage!
 
sendos said:
Dont suppose anyone has any experience in investment banking... was thinking about doing it after university and just have a few questions about it.
Are the hours as bad as i've been told? to the point where you burn out by the time you 40 because of hard work and stress.
Are the jobs all based in london? and are the openings that come up very competitive.
Click to expand...

Hours can be that bad, if you're in the front office don't expect less than 9-12 hour days on the trading desks and longer in corp fin, depending on the number of deals and time of year. The money for corp fin doesnt start being worth the hours you put in until you're a associate and get bonuses, but graduate route is the best way of getting there.

It could be that you burn out by the time you are 40, or it might be you no longer have a use and no one will employ you, but commonly people drift into a different but associated career path. All the top tier jobs are in London and expect crazy competition. If you dont have good alevels and a good degree from a top tier uni it is very hard - near impossible unless you have a lot of skill going for you in other areas ( like marketing your self).

Do know much about IB or are you just interested in it because you heard it can pay a lot? ( most people find out about it this way, probably near everyone!)

If you are what areas are you interested in?
 
My cousin works for ING in investments and leverage finance. As for hours, he works his **** off.
He got into banking after doing an engineering degree. He worked for ING in India in their finance department. His then boss put him on a fastrack management scheme which relocated him to Amsterdam, and now London. Hes 38 and isnt burnt out just yet.
 
Someone I know works in citigroup doing trading and they say they never work long hours because the markets are not open long enough. He just works a regular 40 hour week pretty much. Depends who you work for I guess.
 
yeah i've been interested in trading/anylising for quite a while, and been doing it on paper since i was 16 and doing it properly from 18. Eventuatally plan on doing it privatley but the sort of capital you need is stupid so i figured i'd get a job doing it and get better at it. i'll have an economics degree from sussex when i finish uni i dont know weather thats really stutable for IB though. Thanks for the input!
 
sendos said:
Dont suppose anyone has any experience in investment banking... was thinking about doing it after university and just have a few questions about it.
Are the hours as bad as i've been told? to the point where you burn out by the time you 40 because of hard work and stress.
Are the jobs all based in london? and are the openings that come up very competitive.
Click to expand...

A majority of the jobs are in London yes, if you want to work for a main bank. There are a lot of different roles within Investment Banking as said by the good people before me. As an analyst you would be working long 90/100 hour weeks, with no weekend, so if that is something you are prepared to do then consider it. There isn't much time for anything else other than work. You need to decide what part of banking you would like to go into, and make sure that you know the area thoroughly. There is no point going for an interview at a bank to be a 'Trader' if all you know about traders is they trade. You need to have knowledge, and demonstrate an interest that stems from more than a 'Oh, I woke up one day and decided to be an Investment Banker.'

It is crazily competitive to get into, the whole banking industry is, and once you are in you need to work hard to stay above the rest and get the promotions. That said, the hard work is very well rewarded 4 or 5 years into your career and onwards. You have to be prepared to sacrifice just about everything for the job though. There are an awful lot of divorced, unhappy, filthy-rich bankers out there, so it depends what you want to do with your life. I always thought of banking as a singles career, as not that many women will put up with 7 days a week, 12 hours a day jobs..

Whatever you decide to do, good luck, and I hope that you enjoy it.

Si
 
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