Banking career???

I have a general MBA with 0 years of work experience and I want to get into the field of investment banking. I hear that jobs are very competitive and the work is very intense. Can someone please tell me what I should be doing to get in (other than applying that is). Will having CFA accreditation hep me at all? Thanks.

I'm currently doing my MBA from Cardiff University, Wales, UK. The University itself is well known and recognised, but alas the MBA programme here is neither good not very well recognised. My future plan is to get a job, work for 4 years and then use my current GMAT score of 690 to apply to a good university in the states... The only problem for me is that 4 years of work experience, as I want to work in a banking form, and my chances of getting in look pretty bleak.

TO ADD TO what I said a day ago: saw your additional info. Actually if that is your plan, you can study and pass CFA, while working in one of the industries (that you'd want to go into when you join an investment bank - investment banking is dividened into product groups like M&A and industry groups - so that means you will not be able to work in product group when you first join but that's ok you got your foot in the door). Try to get a finance position in the company you join and know your job/the industry really well. With industrial expertise your opportunity will improve drastically as experienced hire.

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Firstly, the investment banking industry is divided into Bulge Brackets (BBs) and boutique shops. The BBs are , Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, and J. P. Morgan & Co., and Citigroup or Lehman Brothers. Especially in BB Corporate Finance, having a good business school pedigree is very important (think HBS and Wharton). Otherwise you better either have crazy high GPA or industrial experience in one particular area. Other smaller investment banks are a little better, but with the good ones like Lazard they aren't really any better in the requirements because the entire Wall Street only hires a certain number according to their need in one associate class (graduating MBAs get in as associates), and it goes up slightly in years when IPO/M&A are booming.

Apart from that, being a finance job, you need to be quantitative and know the market well. Undergrads applying for analyst positions can fumble a bit, but as MBA you really should be able to nail the technicals asked during interview. Make sure you have a grip on: probability theory, basic financial theories (efficient market, CAPM, valuation of firm, real options... the list goes on), accounting and economics. Some view towards market or particular products of interest is essential too. I don't have solid data on % hired from the applicant pool, but be advised that if you are not from the target schools (you'd know if you are, because they will come find you during campus recruiting) then it's very intense as they give huge preference to target school candidates.

In terms of hours, you definitely pull all nighters a lot (think 14-16 hr a day, weekend work) for corporate finance. Sales and trading and research is much better hour (S/T is market hour, research tend to be around 10-12 hours a day no weekends), but harder to get as they are usually smaller programs that tend to keep people (corporate finance is sometimes used as a good resume-builder for people to move onto other jobs like CFO at companies etc.).

CFA accreditation will help but you can only be a affiliate member who've passed the exams and not the full chartered CFA. The actual accreditation requires four years of relevant experience in the field (which you get after you get to keep that job for a while). so it's more like for experience hires than someone in your situation.

Why don't hire yourself or be your won boss by doing some business.