From the Back Cover
How to Be an Investment Banker
The competition for entry-level positions in the investment banking industry has never been more ferocious, or the recruitment process more rigorous. If you harbor a burning desire to break into the world of investment banking, you should know one thing up front: charm and a great GPA from a target school aren't enough to land you the job.
To attract the attention of recruiters and survive the gauntlet of the interview process, you'll need to be completely prepared to demonstrate a fine-grained knowledge of the investment banking industry. You'll need to be fully up on a range of core technical skills, from financial statement analysis to valuation and financial modeling. And you'll need to exhibit a firm grasp of the ins and outs of M&A and leveraged buyouts.
You'll also need to know exactly what to expect during the recruiting and interview process and how to present yourself as the kind of candidate they're looking for in every way.
It sounds like you need a friend in the business--somebody who's been there, done that, and is happy to share what he or she knows about getting in and getting ahead. Hopefully, that friend also will be a gifted teacher who knows exactly the kind of information you need to know and how to present it in a way that's easy to digest and hard to forget.
Good news: You have such a friend, and his name is Andrew Gutmann.
Creator of the popular website IBankingFAQ, and a veteran of the investment banking industry who's worked for some of the top shops on Wall Street, Andrew has spent the past several years as a career coach at Columbia Business School, where he helps prepare MBA students for the investment banking recruitment process, as well as for the job itself. Based on a course he developed for the Institute for Finance, and closely following its curriculum and format, How to Be an Investment Banker:
- Covers the full range of critical theoretical and practical knowledge
- Coaches you in the technical skills required of junior investment bankers
- Delivers priceless tips on how to prepare for an investment banking job search
- Fills you in on the fundamentals of accounting, finance, and financial statement analysis
- Gets you up to speed on valuation and financial modeling
- Provides detailed coverage of M&A and leveraged buyouts
- Walks you through the entire recruiting and interviewing process
- Contains over 150 real technical interview questions based on the content covered in the book to help readers prepare for their next investment banking interview. All answers are contained on a companion website
Don't assume that your personal charisma and your academic bona fides will be enough to wow the recruiters. Find out exactly what you need to know to prepare for and survive the rigors of the investment banking recruitment process, and let How to Be an Investment Banker be your ticket to a career in investment banking.
ANDREW GUTMANN is the creator of www.ibankingfaq.com, one of the most widely visited websites focused on the topic of investment banking. He has developed and taught finance and investment banking classes for a number of institutions, including the Institute for Finance, the firm that he founded. For the past five years, he has also been a career coach at Columbia Business School, where he advises and mentors MBA students interested in investment banking careers. Andrew is a former investment banker who has executed M&A and restructuring transactions for clients across a number of sectors. Andrew lives with his wife and daughter in New York City.
