deciding on a division is one of the most difficult things for students and graduates to do because it often feels like they either want to follow the rest of the crowd and only apply for the most attractive and highest paying roles which also tend to be front office roles which are the most competitive and toughest to break into or they don't have a clue which areas they're interested in and so they end up with a scaton approach where they're applying for any and every division that's open to receiving applications the only thing is they're doing
so with generic CVS and cover letters which ends up getting them nowhere in this video I'm going to talk to you through some of the key areas and factors that you should think about before considering doubling down on breaking into a specific division of an investment bank or sector within the industry I'll touch on the following so skills and strengths career goals and long-term growth personality fit and workstyle work life balance compensation and incentives interest in market trends and industry news Learning and Development opportunities client Focus versus technical Focus divisional culture and environment and exit
opportuni transferable skills and Mobility so let's start off with skills and strengths so breaking into banking requires taking a strategic and tactical approach in order to maximize your chances of success as such breaking into the industry is all about playing to your strengths why well because it's highly competitive and extremely difficult to get a foot into the industry especially given the limited time frame within which you have to apply to firms and although it's not impossible it is extremely difficult to try and master a bunch of new skills in such a short period of time
and so it makes sense to focus on your existing key strengths and core skills so what I suggest you do and this is what I did when I was in your shoes is identify three to five of your most developed or currently being developed skills for me these were public speaking presentation skills interpersonal skills so communication and listening commercial awareness and teamwork these were the core five areas that I felt most accomplished and strongest in and so at the time if I was ever asked by an interviewer whether I had any of these skills I
would have found it extremely easy and straight forward to talk at length about them about how I have the given skill I could use multiple examples from Academia work and life experiences to talk about how I've developed the skill why I enjoyed developing it and why I think it's valuable and makes me suitable for the role I'm applying for in this case it was sales roles rather than technical roles therefore I would recommend you to identify your strongest 3 to five skills uh as they'll make life a lot easier when it comes to deciding on
the roles or the divisions that are more suitable for you after all each division and business within the world of banking and finance requires something different from its potential employees for example in sales and trading you're expected to be exceptional at working under pressure and have a high level of markets knowledge whilst on the investment banking or equity research side you're expected to know you're where on Excel to create Financial models and having analytical skills are likely to play a part as you'll be analyzing the financial data of the companies that you're analyzing so focusing
on identifying your key skills and strengths and figuring out which divisions or roles are more suitable for you is very important next we've got career goals and long-term growth so whenever you have some time it's important to kind of do this exercise it's worth mapping out your long-term career goals this can be quite a tricky exercise especially early on in your career but be bold and highly ambitious once done try and see how each division aligns with your long-term career goals if you want to learn about the specific divisions check out career guides. for example
if you want to become a portfolio manager or work at a hedge fund making lots of money managing portfolios then it would make sense to start off in areas such as asset management or trading in contrast if you know you'd like to be building a book of clients and helping bring Revenue to the business from a sales perspective then it makes sense to consider sales roles in either asset management or private wealth management last but not least if you know you want to eventually break into private equity for example then it might make more sense
to focus on breaking into Investment Banking first do a few years there build up your experience in merges and Acquisitions Capital raising Etc before you go on to move into a private Equity Firm and then prepare yourself for a move at the right time what you want to do is research typical career paths within each division and then identify if they're aligned with your own expectations around career growth and development next we've got personality fit and workstyle so you want to figure out whether you're the type of person who would either prefer to be sat
at desk all day concentrating and focusing on doing intense deep work or if you'd much rather prefer to have a day that's got a variety of meetings client interactions and pictures and networking social events that kind of stuff assessing your own working style and preference is important when it comes to identifying the career path that's suitable for you the last thing you want is to enter a division or role where the expectations of the work day and environment are the complete opposite of your own expectations all right work life balance so you need to be
realistic about the hours you're willing to work especially early on in your career where you're going to have the most energy working in the world of finance and banking isn't your typical 95 and so you can expect to earn more than your typical 95 how however there are differences in working hours across the different areas of finance and across the different divisions of an investment Bank the most notable difference is the difference between the front office so the divisions that are contributing to the bottom line making money and the back office if you're not willing
to work 12 to 18 hour shifts for the first few years of your career even on weekends then for the first few years of your career you might not want to consider doing front office work alternatively it might make more sense to focus on applying to roles within the back or middle office where the typical hours can be from 9 to 12 hours a day which are a lot shorter than working in the front office compensation and incentives so compensation packages and expectations will vary and differ from division to division from firm to firm from
seniority level to seniority level and from role to role that's very important at the early stages of your professional careers all you really need to know is that the front office compensates its employees more handsomely in terms of base salary and bonuses compared to the back office however the higher pay will come at a cost of more pressurized working environments higher expect expectations longer working hours poorer work life balance and in general a lot more stress therefore it's worth figuring out whether you're willing to work hard to earn lots or if you're happy earning less
by not working in one of the more popular divisions that likely has better exit opportunities and room for growth and development within the industry interest in market trends and industry news so are you someone who thoroughly enjoys keeping up to date with world news and what's going on in the financial markets I'm talking to those of you who are naturally interested in economics and the pulse of the financial markets if this is you then areas such as sales and trading Asset Management equity research and Investment Banking would be suitable areas for you to consider a
career in if on the other hand uh the thought of financial markets sounds like a chore and it bores you then your efforts of breaking into the industry might be better suited to a division that doesn't require you to religiously stay up to date these divisions could include operations technology Finance Human Resources Etc Learning and Development opportunities all right one piece of advice I'd like to give students and graduates is to focus on careers not where they will earn the most but where they're going to learn the most in the first decade of your career
it's better to focus on career opportunities that provide extremely unique and steep learning curves because being able to learn and develop as much as possible and as often as possible will enable you to unlock new opportunities see the world differently and think in a way that continues to enable you to grow and develop this will benefit you over the longterm and naturally unlock higher pay packages and opportunities as time goes on the alternative is to enter into roles where the learning curve is flat and your work feels mundane repetitive and boring in this case even
if the pay is great your development and career opportunities are going to be stagnant and will likely lead to limited long-term career growth and opportunities over time client Focus versus technical Focus this is a good one ask yourself whether you prefer client focused work so sales client relationship management investor relations private banking Etc or technical focused works of Technology quantitative research trading building Financial models this kind of thing client Centric careers require individuals who find relationship building socializing networking presenting and communicating easy to do on the other hand technical Centric careers require less of the
soft skills that client Focus role might benefit from but a high level of hard skills and Technical knowledge such as technical Acumen problem solving capabilities attention to detail building Financial models Etc understanding which type of career is suitable for you based on your existing skills is extremely important when it comes to applications and interviews so for example having the self-awareness to apply for the roles that make sense for you will result in being interviewed by people in these roles as a result you're more likely to connect with them and build rapport with them because you're
both likely to share similar interests and skills on the other hand if you're more suitable for a client facing role like sales and client relationship management but you end up applying for highly technical roles for whatever reason you might not be able to impress or build the rapport with the highly technical employee interviewing you because your technical skills aren't up to the level expected for such roles or compared to other candidates that they they've interviewed therefore take the time to really consider and identify whether you're more suitable for and whether you would enjoy client focused
or technical focused careers and then apply accordingly division culture and working environment so you might not know this but within the same bulge bracket Investment Bank you can expect to see different cultures across the different divisions for example the working environment in the investment banking division is typically one that might reflect a quiet day and night studying at the University Library ahead of a big exam everyone's kind of doubt in and focused concentrating on building or reviewing Financial models or client presentations in contrast the working environment on the trading floor is completely different it's the
complete opposite you've got people shouting across the room to each other tons of phones constantly ringing lots of background noise conversations and interactions going on which you might either love to work around or you might hate it because it makes concentrating extremely difficult in addition the culture across divisions can be quite different too for example since the trading flaw is quite individualistic fast-paced pressurized intense and cutr it makes sense for it to be an environment with a competitive element a competitive culture and nature whereas in asset management or operations the working environment is a lot
less pressurized a lot less fast-paced and conducive to a more collaborative and teamworking or team oriented working culture so that's something to be aware of last but not least we've got exit opportunities transferable skills and Mobility so spending time in any career is going to equip you with a different toolkit of personal and professional skills Banking and finance is no different spending time in the investment banking division will create a different version of you versus if you spend time in the world of asset management or on the trading floor or in campus recruitment within the
human resources team this is why it's worth thinking about the potential exit opportunities transferable skills and the mobility you can expect to unlock and develop after spending a few years in the roles you hope to break into first you want to look back on your long-term career goals and identify whether the roles you're considering applying to will increase the likelihood of securing your desired roles later on typically front office roles tend to have the best exit opportunities across the world of finance and outside of the industry too this is because uh they're kind of seen
as a training ground where Junior professionals embark on an extremely steep learning curve and uh develop highly sought after skills both soft skills and hard skills and these are in demand from a range of different Industries second you want to assess the transferable skills you're going to master having spent a few years in a given role and whether these will be useful for the roles and career opportunities you want to pursue in the next 3 to 5 years and third you want to keep in mind potential Mobility opportunities so let's say you want to eventually
work in the front office division but are struggling to kind of secure any any offers and break in right now in this case mind you this is very common it would make sense to try and break into operations or risk management in the back or middle office since they work closely with the front office divisions the key thing here is that you're focusing on opportunities where the mobility potential makes sense like there's a natural route to move into the front office for example there's a clear pathway to move from oper operations or risk management into
the front office if you're able to prove yourself with solid performance and consistently rank in the top quarter out for your end of your reviews people are always leaving in the front office opportunities are coming from different places people get up and go to different companies move around and naturally seats open up for you to apply to internal Mobility is a big part of hiring for almost every bulge bracket Investment Bank and so positioning yourself accordingly and having the patience and maturity to take a long-term view can work wonders taking into consideration all of the
above skills and strengths career goals and long-term growth personality fit and workstyle work life balance compensation and incentives interest in market trends and industry news Learning and Development opportunities client Focus versus technical Focus division culture and environment and exit opportunities transferable skills and Mobility will give you a clearer understanding of which divisions best align with your personal and professional Ambitions try to balance your interests strengths and lifestyle preferences in order to find the perfect division for you to break in and Fring thanks for making it to the end of the video hopefully that was useful
I'll see you in the next one
