Why Do You Want to Do Investment Banking?
So, why investment banking?
If you ever hope to enter the field, you’ll need to have a great answer to this question – because it’s something that every single interviewer will ask you.
But other guides do a poor job of guiding you on how to answer this question.
-You want to learn a lot.
-You’ve done well in finance classes.
-You like a fast-paced environment.
None of these is “wrong” – the problem is that they’re too generic, and they don’t set you apart from other prospective bankers.
But to succeed, you’ll need make the interviewer think you’re an interesting person and remember who you are.
You should use either the “Big Picture” or “Slice of Life” method to accomplish this.
Use the “Big Picture” method if you’re a career changer, you don’t have a finance background, or you don’t have a specific story that made you interested in finance.
The formula is: Background in One Field + Experience in Finance = Long-Term Success.
So maybe you’re an engineer and you want to do investment banking so that you can go into venture capital one day; or maybe you came from healthcare and you want to do investment banking so that you can advise healthcare companies on major financing decisions.
If you don’t have “long-term goals,” then make up some to fit the situation – just make sure you’re consistent with what you tell interviewers.
The other method – the “Slice of Life” – is better if you’ve been a finance major, or you have some full-time experience in the field.
Here, you start off with a specific event that made you interested and then explain how that interest developed over time.
-You started day trading when you were younger since your dad was a huge fan, so you became more interested in the markets and also did several internships.
-You met top female executives at banks in a summer camp, which made you look into the field more seriously.
You can combine these methods as well – but keep your story short if you want the interviewer to listen.
Aim for a 20-30 second elevator pitch and you’ll be ahead of 90% of prospective bankers.
Riyan Richter writes about the job development system, how to successfully network, and how to get into the finance industry at Mergers … Inquisitions, the web’s leading website for investment banking and answering the why investment banking question in interviews.
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