Wall Street Career Trek

In MBA, most student's top priority is to find their dream job. Each MBA program spends tons of effort on career service to make sure that their students get exposure to companies and job opportunities. Recently Haas hired a new recruiting assistant director, Nichole, to be out on the east coast to promote the Haas name in Wall Street. One of the key activity for Nichole is to organize a wall street investment banking career trek. Curious about one of the most high paying job post MBA - A Wall Street I-bankers, I joined the trip with the other 50 plus Haas students.

In total we visited 9 investment banks. The format of these company visits was pretty standardized: A brief introduction of the bank by a director, panel discussion which consists several associates from various groups and networking time where you get interact with the bankers at a more personal level. From these networking events you can clearly see who is more commited /aggressive than others: Some go from banker to bankers and trying to spot potential candidate for informational interviews, others stands by the refreshment area to relax. In the beginning I didn 't know what to ask these bankers. I imagine they have no life outside work, overachievers who enjoys constantly been challenged by greater responsibilities and exposure, and probably think they are better than everyone else because of their big fat bonus. But as I network more and more, I begin to see the meaning behind all these company visit : It's really just to get the banker's business cards, follow up with a " thank you" note , and hoping they will say yes for an informational interview.

Informational interviews are quite common in the US. It is one of the best way to gather information about what's happening in an occupation or an industry. For some industry, like investment banking, they are actually conducted in quite a formal way such that it's almost like pre-screening : If the banker likes you during the informational interview, he might push your resume through the first screening process. So the more informational interviews you do, the more bankers know who you are thus the more likely you will be invited for an interview. One banker revealed that he did a total of 60 informational interviews before he was offered a summer associate position at Lehman Brothers.

I think in Asia informational interview is much less common. As a result, people don't know what they are getting themselves into or don't know what to say/do during the real interview because they have limited exposure to the job they are targeting. As a result, most people probably just go into an industry where most of their friends go since that's what they know the most about. In my view this is not the most efficient process- both for the job seekers and the companies. My advice is that no matter what job you are targeting, try to know as much about it as possible BEFORE the real interview. Be proactiveand thick skin: call up your alumni network, weak-tie relationships and friends of friends. You 've worked so hard to get to where you are today. There is no reason why you don't deserve the job of your dream.