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那些关于投行你想知道的
离开前东家的时候，疯狂地找一切关于investment banking的书来读。这本书算是很有名气，虽然笔触有些夸张，但也因此十分有趣，和我在工作时候的经历也挺类似的。推荐。
Monkey business的作者在华尔街的一家投行里以associate的身份工作了痛不欲生的三年后终于离职，并写下了这本书。有很多东西是我知道的，所以不在这里赘述，只将自己比较在乎和喜欢的部分摘录下来。
投行中，比较初阶的职位是analyst和associate。
Analyst:
Spend two three years being mentally, emotionally, and physically abused, and for that benefit they will be well trained and extremely well compensated.
Associate:
Happier than analysts, since they have both the institutional backing and the ability to ease their own misery by heaping agony onto the analysts.
我最关注的是毕业生如何进到投行。在正式开始申请前会有presentations and cocktail parties:
There was a widely held misconception among the student body that going to the receptions and meeting the recruiters actually increased one’s chances of later being granted an interview, However, what really mattered was experience. To get the experience, you need to land a banking job during the summer between the first and second year of business school. And to get such opportunity, you need to send your resume to absolutely every bank.
interviews:
Self-pitching: “ I was an analyst at XX and I know that I will have to work long hours, but I am ready, willing and able. I will be able to hit the ground running and your firm is the one that I really want to work for. You guys have a great reputation and I would be honored to work for you. I am eager, able, and ready to work for you. I know the reputations of the firms because I worked on Wall Street before and I know that your firm is a good fit for me. I liked what I did as an analyst and really want to go back into investment banking as an associate for a premier firm like yours.”
Q1: when you worked at XX, did you like it?
A1: Yes, I liked my time at XX, I learned a lot and I want to continue in the investment banking business.
Q2: Why do you want to continue in the investment banking business? Is it the money or the challenge?
这个问题怎么回答都是错误的，因为没人会喜欢当一个analyst的感觉。可以回答：我不是很喜欢，但是我喜欢金融，我想花最多的时间在我喜欢的领域做到最好，投行能给我最多的历练机会，向最优秀的人学习。为此，我愿意忍受高压，私人生活的减少。
作者提到他当年去gs面试的那段也特别有趣：
The Goldman interviewers sat me at a long table. The 2 interviewers sat on either end and I sat in the middle. I couldn’t se both of them at the same time so I had to keep turning my head back and forth like I was at a tennis match. This was a real pain in the ass, and I knew that they had set the room up that way on purpose.
同时也提到高盛是一家特别看重团队合作的公司。
Q: Do you think you are a good analyst or an excellent analyst?
if you said good, then they will ask what your shortcomings are.
actually, gs is looking for the “ i was good, a team player, and always looking to improve myself” answer. and the key point of interview is that the process is a pressure game, and in order to succeed you ned to b a pressure player.
如果你没有在投行工作的经验，admit that you are ignorant to the ways of Wall Street but was willing and able to learn quickly.You could tell them that you had the tools but not the instructions. Naivety could be pitched as an advantage, a fresh perspective in a jaded investment banking world.
Q: why do you want to go into banking?
A: I like to work hard. I want to work a lot of hours. The way I see it, that’s about the quickest way to learn, and that’s what I want to do - learn this business. I don’t know much about it right now but I think I’d be good at it. I have done a lot of other shit, just never anything like this.
面试部分结束，真正成为banker之后，日常的工作又是什么呢？
Perform advisory work: make recommendations to companies on possible merger and acquisition candidates
Propose levered recapitalizations, stock buybacks, and other restructuring of a company’s shareholders as to whether an offer that has been made to purchase the company should be considered “fair” from a financial standpoint
Capital raising: act as middleman to help company sell its ownership interest or borrow money. Usually the investment banks go out ahead of time and find buyers for the company’s securities.
注：投行通常会通过pitch的方式来向客户推销自己。不同的banker做pitch的功力不同，效果也完全不一样。作者用了一句话来描写这种差异，特别有趣：“ Some managing directors light up the room when they’re making the pitch. Others go over about as well as Jesse Helms at a gay pride rally.”
Here is Jesse Helms lol：
错误的做pitch的方法是：” They read it aloud to the client like a kindergarten teacher at story time, physically unable to deviate from its sequence of pages. Watching these managing directors deliver a pitch was as painful as getting a steaming hot chocolate enema.”
此外，做pitch的时候，banker会带上一个capital markets group的人和他一起做pitch。“The capital markets guy always does the part of the pitch that focuses on the current state of the markets. It’s usually something that’s straight out of the morning’s Wall Street Journal, but if he’s a smooth talker it sounds like he’s a real expert.” Wow~这点值得好好学习。
基本上我所在意的点就是这些了。有一句话说的真是很对呀，这世上最不值钱的就是年轻人的野心和欲望了。投行的生活是可以很miserable，也可以很有趣。之前在投行工作的时候，我的同事中有2个就每天都很enjoy，也有一些人每天都痛不欲生。但是基本上熬过最初期的阶段，后期都是生活得越来越风光，越来越开心。所以呀，everything comes at a cost.
