Build A Better Career

Why do you want to do investment banking?

You need a good answer for this one – because you’ll get it in every single interview.

But you probably have a poor idea of how to answer this one, at least if you’ve read other guides.

-You like learning.

-You like corporate finance.

-You need a fast pace to keep yourself entertained.

And if you want to sound exactly the same as everyone else, feel free to use these types of responses.

But if you want to succeed in interviews, you’ll have to be more memorable and give answers that make the other person actually like you.

There are two main ways you can do this: the “Big Picture” method and the “Slice of Life” method.

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 basic idea is: Background in One Field + Finance Experience = 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.

You can make up and modify your “long-term goals” as necessary to fit the situation – just make sure you’re consistent.

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.

With this method, you mention a specific person, story, or event in the beginning, and explain how your interest developed from that.

-You saw your parents day-trading when you were younger, so you then decided to start trading your own account, following the market, and doing a few investment internships.

-You had the opportunity to meet female executives at banks during a leadership retreat and that sparked your interest.

You can combine both of these methods as well, of course – just make sure that you tell a coherent story that doesn’t go on for 5 minutes.

Aim for a 20-30 second elevator pitch and you’ll be ahead of 90% of prospective bankers.

Riyan Richter writes about the career search process, how to successfully network, and how to break into the finance industry at Mergers … Inquisitions, the internet’s top website for investment banking and answering the why investment banking question in interviews.