Frank
Los Angeles, CA
Male, 35
“It seemed like a good idea at the time.”
As a liberal arts grad with mountains of debt and molehills of direction, I took an analyst job at a top NYC investment bank. Neck-deep in spreadsheets and working around the clock, I fought to keep my head above water in a sea of brilliant, khaki-clad sociopaths. While the money and education were great, I quickly learned how the finance world really works... and I wanted no part of it. After 9/11, I left for good.
I hate to sound dismissive, but I've answered quite a few similar questions throughout this Q&A. They may not *exactly* resemble your situation, but should provide ample guidance. Please have a look and if you're not satisfied, let me know.
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I worked in NYC, so there were no cars or parking lots. That said, I did once hear our department head shout to one of his underlings. "Hey Dave, cancel your lunch and come watch me buy a Bentley!" I wish I was kidding.
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Social skills help in virtually any profession (unless you're a mime, I suppose), and amiability always helps in an interview. But at the analyst level... they're not quite as important. More than anything, banks want analysts who are smart and ridiculously hardworking. Social skills are icing on the cake.
That said, social skills become increasingly important as one moves up the ranks. Whereas analysts are primarily behind-the-scenes workers, higher-ranking bankers are responsible for bringing in new business, and even the most sociopathic know how to schmooze with the best of 'em.
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Hi Jim. Don't mean to be short, but I've responded to many similar questions above, and I suspect you could draw guidance from those answers. Please have a look around and if you're still left wondering, let me know. Thanks.
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Chick-fil-A General Manager
How often do you have to fire someone, and does it ever get ugly?
Programmer
Is Mark Zuckerberg really a genius programmer? Or was he just lucky?
Stand-Up Comedian
What types of crowds are the worst for you to to perform for?
Some work can be done from home, but anything requiring tangible deliverables generally requires you to be in the office. If, for example, you're overseeing the creation of a pitchbook to be distributed at a 10am meeting the following morning, you'll need to wait until the Printing Department cranks them out so you can check for quality assurance. If they finish at 2am and you find errors (which you undoubtedly will), you'll have time to correct them and re-run the job through the Printers. If you'd gone home, only to discover the error at 9am the next morning, you'd be screwed – the Printers can't fix it that quickly.
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If you're interested in a career-switch to finance, business school is a good way to do this. In two years you can absorb the skill set to qualify for finance positions. In fact, you can use your biology background to your advantage, especially if you're interested in doing finance in healthcare-related fields. For example, I worked with an investment banking associate who'd completed medical school, and naturally his focus was on healthcare transactions.
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Breathe easy – unless your last name is Buffett, there are virtually no banking internships available to anyone until after his or her JUNIOR year. And even after junior year, there are very few internship spots available. My firm, for example, hired 10-12 summer interns (all of whom had just completed junior year) and 150 1st-year analysts. This ratio was common across Wall Street.
That said, you can still make this summer count by pursuing internships with smaller, boutique banks and financial services. Don't worry if they're not "big name" firms – having any financial services exposure, even a small investment firm in your hometown – is like catnip to investment banks. I'd also recommend looking into internships with companies in the sector you'd be most interested in focusing on when you DO go into banking. For example, if you're interested in tech, doing an internship with a tech company would be extremely relevant to your banking career as it would develop your industry expertise and focus.
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