I stumbled upon “The Making of an Investment Banker”, a talk given by Jim Donovan to the UVA school of law, which was posted to their YouTube channel.
I found the advice to be quite good, regardless of your chosen career path, investment banker or otherwise.
3 pieces of advice before starting your career / job:
Read the Wall Street Journal every day, no matter what. You should read 3 articles:
- one macro article, such as related to what the Fed is doing with interest rates, for example.
- one on a specific company that recently released earnings, or a specific transaction / acquisition.
- one op-ed
Become Familiar with the three financial statements (income statement, balance sheet, and statement of cash flows). Take a class in Financial Accounting.
In an interview, get the interviewer to talk about himself or herself. Ask open-ended questions. It’s human nature — everyone’s favorite conversation topic is themselves. The interviewer will enjoy the interview more if they get to talk about themselves, which will be good for you as a candidate. Ask why they decided to join the company, what interesting projects they have worked on at the company, etc.
6 pieces of advice once you get the job:
Find a role model based on merit. Find the person at your company that is the best at the job you have, who is ideally a few years ahead of you. You don’t have to have anything in common with them, or even like them. Model your behavior at work after them.
Make it clear to your supervisors / managers that there is no task too menial for you. You’re willing to do whatever it takes.
Take notes in your meetings and recap those notes with your boss occasionally. Write things down.
Working hard is more important than being able to schmooze, or being a good golfer.
Be super responsive early on. Don’t let emails / texts go unanswered for more than a few minutes.
Never stop learning. Your pace of learning should be constant even as you grow and become more senior.
6 pieces of advice for becoming great at your job:
Give your client the best advice for them even if it is contrary to your own interest.
Tell your client what to do. Its ok to give your client a list of options, but you should recommend one particular option as the expert, and be able to advocate why this option is the best. Take a position, don’t equivocate.
Embrace adversity. It makes you better. Build your own models, and resist the temptation to take shortcuts.
Master discipline. This could mean being physically fit, as well as not procrastinating and managing your time.
Excel on the merits. If you’re the best, you have more control over what you spend your time on.
Never ever give up. If you get a no, keep trying to find a way to make it happen.
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