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Here’s my step-by-step method to get a job in IB, which has been effective & useful for both beginners and people already pretty advanced into interview processes.If you’re interested in learning from investment bankers at the best banks in the world, we help you save tons of time by directly hopping on 1-on-1 calls with i-bankers at The Lobby. Reach out at [email protected] if interested; if not, hope the below is still helpful.—My AdviceMain themes to keep in mind:Finance interviews (unless they have drastically changed in the past 2–3 years) are highly predictable. People tend to think they are extremely tough, but if you study the right concepts & themes, you can almost bet you will be asked the same concepts by almost every interviewer. This varies from subindustries (Private Banking vs. Investment Banking), but within each one, this pattern of repeating questions seems to happen.Interviewers in IB and other selective industries receive dozens of resumes with 4.0 GPA’s & other stellar qualifications; it’s not about that. In IB specifically, people are looking at your GPA & experiences just to measure your competency and if you’re going to be able to handle this demanding environment. From then on out, the only kinds of things they’re asking themselves are: “Can I work with this person 15 hours a day? Do I want to be in the office at 2 am with this guy/girl? Do I like this guy?” Very few people understand this, and I think that was what most surprised me about my fellow interviewers. If you can grasp this before anyone else, you’ll have a huge advantage. Combine that with excruciating preparation on technical abilities and your answers, and it really isn’t that difficult to get a good job because most college students are not taking these things into consideration.Preparation StepsStep 1: Open a blank word document and write out your story. By that I mean, write out your story in the way you would say it in an interview. Most finance & other interviews inevitably start with the classic “Tell me about yourself” question, and I think it’s better to get some practice. Here’s a great article on how to do this specifically for finance interviews: How to Tell Your “Story” in Investment Banking Interviews in 5 Simple Steps.What I recommend including here is 1) your background 2) what you’ve done (internships, experiences, etc.) and 3) telling it all in a succinct, but interesting way. When you give too many details, you’re making a mistake. You should give 2–3 sentences per experience or life event and then move on. If the interviewer is particularly interested in one, then he/she will interrupt you and you can give detail then. Unless that happens, you should practice telling your story confidently to your friends, family, and in front of a mirror and try to time yourself so that it doesn’t take more than 3 minutes to summarize who you are, what you’ve done, and it always help to end the story on an easy transition to “why you’re here” and “why you want this job.” The reason for making things so succinct and not going into too much detail is because you might 1) bore the interviewer and 2) take away the interviewer’s opportunity to ask you a question which will make them feel like they grilled you on your past experiences.Side note: Let me elaborate on that last one a bit. Interviewers want to feel like they asked you tough questions and were skeptical of things you said. The smartest way to go about an interview is to be concise with your answers but steer the conversation towards topics that you know a great deal about, in case the interviewer decides to “get tough” on you with things you claim to know about. The more questions the interviewer asks and that you answer successfully, the better candidate you are in their minds.Once you’ve written your story out in your word document and refined it, it will almost become natural to you to talk about your experiences and highlight the aspects of them that make you a great candidate for many jobs. Then, in that same word document start writing out your specific answers to sample questions such as “Why do you want to do IB?” “Why don’t you want to go back to where you did that first internship” or “Why not start a company if your experience is entrepreneurial?” You need good answers for all of the above and more, so write them down and try to get great examples you can refer back to. Another good example is the famous question “Tell me about a time you failed,” or “tell me about a time you worked in a team.” These aren’t THAT common, but just the mere exercise of thinking through great examples of answers to these questions that highlight how you’ve overcome obstacles, your ability to recognize mistakes etc. will make you even more prepared to sell yourself in an interview.Step 2: Buy a technical & behavioral interview guide for finance interviews. Then read them. Let me repeat that; READ THEM. Too many people buy them and then never get into them. The stuff that appears in these guides is considered the bare minimum that people applying for IB to know when they reach an interview. If you don’t know your sh**t from these guides, then don’t start interviewing for IB.I recommend Wall Street Oasis, Vault, or Arden Reed for the guides. The one that seems to be most popular is Wall Street Oasis. For IB specifically, you need to know valuation methodologies like the back of your hand. For other industries such as Private Banking, other disciplines such as portfolio allocation, pricing of bonds, etc. will be more relevant. Do some research and figure out what technicals you need in your industry/sub-industry. It’s not that tough, it just requires some review and maybe some contextual examples of each concept you learn as you read. Go beyond memorization and force yourself to realize whether you truly understand the concepts. If you don’t, then you’re not ready to start “networking” or reaching out to people.Example: What is the WACC? Most interview guides give you a formula and give you 1–2 sentences on what it represents. So most people will just memorize that formula and hopefully remember those 1–2 sentences. Stellar candidates will grill deep down in the formula and what it actually means and how it’s used in a valuation. A trickier question (not really tricky once you’ve done IB) might be “When the company we’re valuing has no debt, then how do we calculate the WACC?” If you have understood the idea & formula of WACC even basically, then you know that all you have to say here is “well then you just need the cost of equity,” but most people freak out and crack under pressure, which is exactly what you shouldn’t do. Understand the concepts well enough that you can be grilled with questions if they change a few things around from what you read in the interview guides. And, VERY IMPORTANT, if you don’t know the answer to a question, say you don’t know, write it down, and tell them you’ll get back to them. This is something else that resembles what employers truly want in employees; they don’t expect you to know everything, but they do expect a great attitude and a willingness to learn quickly and from previous mistakes.Step 3: Once you feel completely ready on the behavioral & technical side, then it’s time for the infamous “networking.” My opinion is that online applications are pretty much useless. Even at target schools, maybe 200 people apply for each 5–10 spots in IB. So if you want to make a difference, get off your a** and start reaching out to people. Do it in a polite, but persistent way. I recommend everyone to reach out to people they know in the industry, be it alumni, friends of friends, or whatever. By that I mean, get their emails, and write them a note that includes some of the following: 1) Name & Background, 2) Why you’re interested in working for their group/company 3) Ask them for 5 minutes of their time via coffee or a phone call and 4) Always attach your latest resume in PDF (NOT WORD). Assuming you reached out to 10 people, half of which are extremely rude and don’t answer you, then you’ll have 5 calls/meetings with people in an actual bank which resemble interviews. Here you’re already 200 steps ahead of the idiot who just applied online and sat back hoping for the best. Furthermore, in these meetings you can do a few important things.Sell your story well since you practiced.Tell them exactly why you want IB, since you’ve done your homework and written all this stuff down.Demonstrated persistence and hustle by reaching out to them outside the application system.Show them you’re extremely prepared on your technicals in case they decide to start asking (believe me, many people do). I have met dozens of finance professionals who think nothing BUT technical questions count as an interview, so that’s why I advocate for being ready way before you start reaching out.Last, but not least, you can ask questions yourself about the recruiting process, what they look for in great candidates, and ask them for other contacts within their own division/group/firm so you can continue making a name for yourself as a persistent, prepared, and likable individual.This is what “networking” is and this is essentially what interviewers want when they meet you. They want to get to know you, to know if you’re prepared and if they can work with you. As long as you have a good GPA and decent experiences, all this stuff should improve your chances of getting into IB or a job ANYWHERE for that matter. Most people don’t necessarily have access to bankers who they can cold-email, which is why we started The Lobby, but try as much as possible. I hope this helps.

I’ll answer this to the best of my abilities, but keep in mind I did this in NYC and it sounds like you’re looking for a job in IB in Europe (I’m guessing London). I do think there is a difference in terms of culture and what these banks look for depending on your country/city, but some recurring themes and advice below. The below has worked for both me and a bunch of guys/girls I have mentored to get into IB.My AdviceMain themes to keep in mind:Finance interviews (unless they have drastically changed in the past 2–3 years) are highly predictable. People tend to think they are extremely tough, but if you study the right concepts & themes, you can almost bet you will be asked the same concepts by almost every interviewer. This varies from subindustries (Private Banking vs. Investment Banking), but within each one, this pattern of repeating questions seems to happen.Interviewers in IB and other selective industries receive dozens of resumes with 4.0 GPA’s & other stellar qualifications; it’s not about that. In IB specifically, people are looking at your GPA & experiences just to measure your competency and if you’re going to be able to handle this demanding environment. From then on out, the only kinds of things they’re asking themselves are: “Can I work with this person 15 hours a day? Do I want to be in the office at 2 am with this guy/girl? Do I like this guy?” Very few people understand this, and I think that was what most surprised me about my fellow interviewers. If you can grasp this before anyone else, you’ll have a huge advantage. Combine that with excruciating preparation on technical abilities and your answers, and it really isn’t that difficult to get a good job because most college students are not taking these things into consideration.Preparation StepsStep 1: Open a blank word document and write out your story. By that I mean, write out your story in the way you would say it in an interview. Most finance & other interviews inevitably start with the classic “Tell me about yourself” question, and I think it’s better to get some practice. Here’s a great article on how to do this specifically for finance interviews: How to Tell Your “Story” in Investment Banking Interviews in 5 Simple Steps.What I recommend including here is 1) your background 2) what you’ve done (internships, experiences, etc.) and 3) telling it all in a succinct, but interesting way. When you give too many details, you’re making a mistake. You should give 2–3 sentences per experience or life event and then move on. If the interviewer is particularly interested in one, then he/she will interrupt you and you can give detail then. Unless that happens, you should practice telling your story confidently to your friends, family, and in front of a mirror and try to time yourself so that it doesn’t take more than 3 minutes to summarize who you are, what you’ve done, and it always help to end the story on an easy transition to “why you’re here” and “why you want this job.” The reason for making things so succinct and not going into too much detail is because you might 1) bore the interviewer and 2) take away the interviewer’s opportunity to ask you a question which will make them feel like they grilled you on your past experiences.Side note: Let me elaborate on that last one a bit. Interviewers want to feel like they asked you tough questions and were skeptical of things you said. The smartest way to go about an interview is to be concise with your answers but steer the conversation towards topics that you know a great deal about, in case the interviewer decides to “get tough” on you with things you claim to know about. The more questions the interviewer asks and that you answer successfully, the better candidate you are in their minds.Once you’ve written your story out in your word document and refined it, it will almost become natural to you to talk about your experiences and highlight the aspects of them that make you a great candidate for many jobs. Then, in that same word document start writing out your specific answers to sample questions such as “Why do you want to do IB?” “Why don’t you want to go back to where you did that first internship” or “Why not start a company if your experience is entrepreneurial?” You need good answers for all of the above and more, so write them down and try to get great examples you can refer back to. Another good example is the famous question “Tell me about a time you failed,” or “tell me about a time you worked in a team.” These aren’t THAT common, but just the mere exercise of thinking through great examples of answers to these questions that highlight how you’ve overcome obstacles, your ability to recognize mistakes etc. will make you even more prepared to sell yourself in an interview.Step 2: Buy a technical & behavioral interview guide for finance interviews. Then read them. Let me repeat that; READ THEM. Too many people buy them and then never get into them. The stuff that appears in these guides is considered the bare minimum that people applying for IB to know when they reach an interview. If you don’t know your sh**t from these guides, then don’t start interviewing for IB.I recommend Wall Street Oasis, Vault, or Arden Reed for the guides. The one that seems to be most popular is Wall Street Oasis. For IB specifically, you need to know valuation methodologies like the back of your hand. For other industries such as Private Banking, other disciplines such as portfolio allocation, pricing of bonds, etc. will be more relevant. Do some research and figure out what technicals you need in your industry/sub-industry. It’s not that tough, it just requires some review and maybe some contextual examples of each concept you learn as you read. Go beyond memorization and force yourself to realize whether you truly understand the concepts. If you don’t, then you’re not ready to start “networking” or reaching out to people.Example: What is the WACC? Most interview guides give you a formula and give you 1–2 sentences on what it represents. So most people will just memorize that formula and hopefully remember those 1–2 sentences. Stellar candidates will grill deep down in the formula and what it actually means and how it’s used in a valuation. A trickier question (not really tricky once you’ve done IB) might be “When the company we’re valuing has no debt, then how do we calculate the WACC?” If you have understood the idea & formula of WACC even basically, then you know that all you have to say here is “well then you just need the cost of equity,” but most people freak out and crack under pressure, which is exactly what you shouldn’t do. Understand the concepts well enough that you can be grilled with questions if they change a few things around from what you read in the interview guides. And, VERY IMPORTANT, if you don’t know the answer to a question, say you don’t know, write it down, and tell them you’ll get back to them. This is something else that resembles what employers truly want in employees; they don’t expect you to know everything, but they do expect a great attitude and a willingness to learn quickly and from previous mistakes.Step 3: Once you feel completely ready on the behavioral & technical side, then it’s time for the infamous “networking.” My opinion is that online applications are pretty much useless. Even at target schools, maybe 200 people apply for each 5–10 spots in IB. So if you want to make a difference, get off your a** and start reaching out to people. Do it in a polite, but persistent way. I recommend everyone to reach out to people they know in the industry, be it alumni, friends of friends, or whatever. By that I mean, get their emails, and write them a note that includes some of the following: 1) Name & Background, 2) Why you’re interested in working for their group/company 3) Ask them for 5 minutes of their time via coffee or a phone call and 4) Always attach your latest resume in PDF (NOT WORD). Assuming you reached out to 10 people, half of which are extremely rude and don’t answer you, then you’ll have 5 calls/meetings with people in an actual bank which resemble interviews. Here you’re already 200 steps ahead of the idiot who just applied online and sat back hoping for the best. Furthermore, in these meetings you can do a few important things.Sell your story well since you practiced.Tell them exactly why you want IB, since you’ve done your homework and written all this stuff down.Demonstrated persistence and hustle by reaching out to them outside the application system.Show them you’re extremely prepared on your technicals in case they decide to start asking (believe me, many people do). I have met dozens of finance professionals who think nothing BUT technical questions count as an interview, so that’s why I advocate for being ready way before you start reaching out.Last, but not least, you can ask questions yourself about the recruiting process, what they look for in great candidates, and ask them for other contacts within their own division/group/firm so you can continue making a name for yourself as a persistent, prepared, and likable individual.This is what “networking” is and this is essentially what interviewers want when they meet you. They want to get to know you, to know if you’re prepared and if they can work with you. As long as you have a good GPA and decent experiences, all this stuff should improve your chances of getting into IB or a job ANYWHERE for that matter. I hope this helps.

My main advice: figure out if IB is actually for you before you decide to pursue it.Everyone thinks they want to be an investment banker because that’s what everyone around them is recruiting for and talking about, even though they have no clue what bankers actually do, what life is like, or if it fits their personality.Once you’ve spoken with enough people who’ve been inv. bankers and can tell you about the actual experience, then you can have a much more holistic picture on whether or not this is for you. And for those who don’t know too many investment bankers, we started The Lobby to help them out and help them hear the real nitty-gritty of what happens in the industry.If you’ve decided the industry is for you, then below is my step-by-step guide on how to land an IB job. Hope it helps:—My AdviceMain themes to keep in mind:Finance interviews (unless they have drastically changed in the past 2–3 years) are highly predictable. People tend to think they are extremely tough, but if you study the right concepts & themes, you can almost bet you will be asked the same concepts by almost every interviewer. This varies from subindustries (Private Banking vs. Investment Banking), but within each one, this pattern of repeating questions seems to happen.Interviewers in IB and other selective industries receive dozens of resumes with 4.0 GPA’s & other stellar qualifications; it’s not about that. In IB specifically, people are looking at your GPA & experiences just to measure your competency and if you’re going to be able to handle this demanding environment. From then on out, the only kinds of things they’re asking themselves are: “Can I work with this person 15 hours a day? Do I want to be in the office at 2 am with this guy/girl? Do I like this guy?” Very few people understand this, and I think that was what most surprised me about my fellow interviewers. If you can grasp this before anyone else, you’ll have a huge advantage. Combine that with excruciating preparation on technical abilities and your answers, and it really isn’t that difficult to get a good job because most college students are not taking these things into consideration.Preparation StepsStep 1: Open a blank word document and write out your story. By that I mean, write out your story in the way you would say it in an interview. Most finance & other interviews inevitably start with the classic “Tell me about yourself” question, and I think it’s better to get some practice. Here’s a great article on how to do this specifically for finance interviews: How to Tell Your “Story” in Investment Banking Interviews in 5 Simple Steps.What I recommend including here is 1) your background 2) what you’ve done (internships, experiences, etc.) and 3) telling it all in a succinct, but interesting way. When you give too many details, you’re making a mistake. You should give 2–3 sentences per experience or life event and then move on. If the interviewer is particularly interested in one, then he/she will interrupt you and you can give detail then. Unless that happens, you should practice telling your story confidently to your friends, family, and in front of a mirror and try to time yourself so that it doesn’t take more than 3 minutes to summarize who you are, what you’ve done, and it always help to end the story on an easy transition to “why you’re here” and “why you want this job.” The reason for making things so succinct and not going into too much detail is because you might 1) bore the interviewer and 2) take away the interviewer’s opportunity to ask you a question which will make them feel like they grilled you on your past experiences.Side note: Let me elaborate on that last one a bit. Interviewers want to feel like they asked you tough questions and were skeptical of things you said. The smartest way to go about an interview is to be concise with your answers but steer the conversation towards topics that you know a great deal about, in case the interviewer decides to “get tough” on you with things you claim to know about. The more questions the interviewer asks and that you answer successfully, the better candidate you are in their minds.Once you’ve written your story out in your word document and refined it, it will almost become natural to you to talk about your experiences and highlight the aspects of them that make you a great candidate for many jobs. Then, in that same word document start writing out your specific answers to sample questions such as “Why do you want to do IB?” “Why don’t you want to go back to where you did that first internship” or “Why not start a company if your experience is entrepreneurial?” You need good answers for all of the above and more, so write them down and try to get great examples you can refer back to. Another good example is the famous question “Tell me about a time you failed,” or “tell me about a time you worked in a team.” These aren’t THAT common, but just the mere exercise of thinking through great examples of answers to these questions that highlight how you’ve overcome obstacles, your ability to recognize mistakes etc. will make you even more prepared to sell yourself in an interview.Step 2: Buy a technical & behavioral interview guide for finance interviews. Then read them. Let me repeat that; READ THEM. Too many people buy them and then never get into them. The stuff that appears in these guides is considered the bare minimum that people applying for IB to know when they reach an interview. If you don’t know your sh**t from these guides, then don’t start interviewing for IB.I recommend Wall Street Oasis, Vault, or Arden Reed for the guides. The one that seems to be most popular is Wall Street Oasis. For IB specifically, you need to know valuation methodologies like the back of your hand. For other industries such as Private Banking, other disciplines such as portfolio allocation, pricing of bonds, etc. will be more relevant. Do some research and figure out what technicals you need in your industry/sub-industry. It’s not that tough, it just requires some review and maybe some contextual examples of each concept you learn as you read. Go beyond memorization and force yourself to realize whether you truly understand the concepts. If you don’t, then you’re not ready to start “networking” or reaching out to people.Example: What is the WACC? Most interview guides give you a formula and give you 1–2 sentences on what it represents. So most people will just memorize that formula and hopefully remember those 1–2 sentences. Stellar candidates will grill deep down in the formula and what it actually means and how it’s used in a valuation. A trickier question (not really tricky once you’ve done IB) might be “When the company we’re valuing has no debt, then how do we calculate the WACC?” If you have understood the idea & formula of WACC even basically, then you know that all you have to say here is “well then you just need the cost of equity,” but most people freak out and crack under pressure, which is exactly what you shouldn’t do. Understand the concepts well enough that you can be grilled with questions if they change a few things around from what you read in the interview guides. And, VERY IMPORTANT, if you don’t know the answer to a question, say you don’t know, write it down, and tell them you’ll get back to them. This is something else that resembles what employers truly want in employees; they don’t expect you to know everything, but they do expect a great attitude and a willingness to learn quickly and from previous mistakes.Step 3: Once you feel completely ready on the behavioral & technical side, then it’s time for the infamous “networking.” My opinion is that online applications are pretty much useless. Even at target schools, maybe 200 people apply for each 5–10 spots in IB. So if you want to make a difference, get off your a** and start reaching out to people. Do it in a polite, but persistent way. I recommend everyone to reach out to people they know in the industry, be it alumni, friends of friends, or whatever. By that I mean, get their emails, and write them a note that includes some of the following: 1) Name & Background, 2) Why you’re interested in working for their group/company 3) Ask them for 5 minutes of their time via coffee or a phone call and 4) Always attach your latest resume in PDF (NOT WORD). Assuming you reached out to 10 people, half of which are extremely rude and don’t answer you, then you’ll have 5 calls/meetings with people in an actual bank which resemble interviews. Here you’re already 200 steps ahead of the idiot who just applied online and sat back hoping for the best. Furthermore, in these meetings you can do a few important things.Sell your story well since you practiced.Tell them exactly why you want IB, since you’ve done your homework and written all this stuff down.Demonstrated persistence and hustle by reaching out to them outside the application system.Show them you’re extremely prepared on your technicals in case they decide to start asking (believe me, many people do). I have met dozens of finance professionals who think nothing BUT technical questions count as an interview, so that’s why I advocate for being ready way before you start reaching out.Last, but not least, you can ask questions yourself about the recruiting process, what they look for in great candidates, and ask them for other contacts within their own division/group/firm so you can continue making a name for yourself as a persistent, prepared, and likable individual.This is what “networking” is and this is essentially what interviewers want when they meet you. They want to get to know you, to know if you’re prepared and if they can work with you. As long as you have a good GPA and decent experiences, all this stuff should improve your chances of getting into IB or a job ANYWHERE for that matter. Most people don’t necessarily have access to bankers who they can cold-email, which is why we started The Lobby, but try as much as possible. I hope this helps.