Becoming an investment banker is not a piece of cake. Investment banking requires intellects with strong quantitative horsepower. They need to have extensive domain knowledge in finance, mathematics, financial modeling skills, and economics. Clearly, a career in the finance domain can be rewarding and lucrative with fat paychecks and a lush life. But besides the luxury and the posh life that investment bankers live, their career can demand high pressure and can be nerve-wracking at times.
In today’s world, investment bankers are critical for both companies and communities looking to raise capital for funding. As an investment banking professional the expert will need to underwrite securities, help corporations go through some of the most toughest businesses processes like mergers, acquisitions and even initial public offerings.
This job role is ideal for candidates having a bachelor’s degree in accounting, math and any other banking related background. However, having an investment banking certificate will provide a solid foundation for an investment banking career.
At the entry level
It is quite challenging to get into an investment banking career at an entry level. Well, if you’ve just graduated, it is recommended that you consider taking an internship program from an investment banking firm. Internships are proven valuable as the candidates get trained and also gain experience that is preferred by companies these days. Being a fresher with no internship experience can be a lot more challenging as organizations expect their employee to have working knowledge. Internships give you an edge over other fresher candidates. If your internship goes really well, you might be lucky enough to even get hired as a full-time employee by the same firm. Even if you don’t get hired by them, you still have endless opportunities out there in the market.
As a beginner, you might be hired to work as an analyst. Most firms provide a good amount of training once hired. Having said, one gets the opportunity to learn the basic skills that is required. Most probably, you’ll be required to pull data, work a little on financial models and managing client relations as well.
Once you’re done with your bachelor’s program, you may immediately start of your career as an investment banking professional.
At an advanced level – Certifications
Having a bachelor’s degree will help one land a job at an entry level, however if you’re planning on moving ahead in your career it is important that you have an investment banking certificate. If you’re looking to stay ahead of others in this competitive job market, then certificates are highly recommended. Having a degree might be applicable but not sufficient to advance in an investment banking career.
Getting a job in an investment banking certainly needs a specific skill set, much of what the current industries are looking to hire for. An investment banking job is an incredible career with high salary compensation. One gets the opportunity to work in field such as corporate finance, equity capital markets, and debt capital markets etc.
