Investment Banking Recruiting Secrets of the Top 1%

Want to know the secret for turning an average interview answer to a stellar one? One word: FLOW. When you are being interviewed, think of yourself as a STORYTELLER. If you had a story that was choppy and didn't flow, do you think your audience would stay engaged? I know that sounds easier said than done, so how do you actually create more FLOW in your answers? Listen to this podcast to hear the a...

Oftentimes students begin building their resume by doing internships with less glamorous responsibilities. Sourcing leads and compiling lists in Excel may not seem as sexy as saying you build an LBO model all by yourself. However, even in these instances, it’s important to frame your experiences well during your interviews to demonstrate what you’ve achieved and learned. If you’ve done little "rea...

Our student Bruce came to us as a recent graduate, juggling a full time job during the week and two security shifts on the weekend. He had gone to a non-target school with only 500 students, and had missed any chances of getting internships or relevant experience as an undergrad. Determined to break into investment banking, he joined our program and squeezed any available free time available to pr...

It's no secret that breaking into investment banking is extremely competitive. With thousands of applicants every year, bulge brackets and elite boutiques have around a 1% acceptance rate and even middle markets only accept around 3-5% of applicants. Knowing this, it's important to stay motivated even through rejections... it's part of the process! Listen to this podcast to hear about the importan...

Everyone knows how important networking is for the investment banking recruiting process. However, many students make the mistake of only networking with junior bankers (analysts and associates), because they don't know what to talk about with senior bankers (VPs and up). Given senior bankers have way more influence than junior bankers, it's important to learn what types of questions you should as...

Our student Leonardo came to us as a community college transfer without any finance experience. With so much information out there, he was unsure about joining our program initially but eventually decided to take the plunge. After joining, we quickly worked on building his resume, finding him relevant experience, and teaching him how to leverage his network and alumni connections. Hear how despite...

Summer 2024 recruiting has been going on for months, and many banks have already started to give out offers… A lot of sophomores are wondering if it's too late now if they haven't gotten an offer yet. While it's late for a certain group of banks, there are definitely still other really solid opportunities that are available. Hear this podcast to get advice on the current 2024 recruiting season and...

As offers continue to be given out for the summer 2024 recruiting process, one of the most common questions we keep getting from our students is... If I have another firm that I want more than the one I just got an offer from, can I continue to interview and renege on this offer if needed? This is a controversial topic and different people will tell you different things about what's right or wrong...

Our student Avi went to a non-target school and only realized he wanted to do banking in the second half of his sophomore year. With no alumni to reach out to and no background in finance, he was lost in the process. After joining WSMM, our program helped him build a support system throughout his recruiting process and taught him how to network with hundreds of bankers. Hear how he made it to ever...

If you're an underclassman looking to beef up your resume with relevant internships, or just an upperclassman who's recruiting very late in the recruiting timeline... Then you're probably currently targeting regional boutique banks. How should you go about networking with these smaller firms? Is there anything you can do if they turn you down? Watch this video to learn how networking and recruitin...

When you're sending out networking emails, how important is it for you to customize each email that you send? Is it better to use the same email template and blast it out to as many people as possible? Or is it better to personalize every single email in hopes of maximizing your response rate? Of course, the answer is " it depends" - but we do tend to lean more towards one over the other. Hear thi...

Our student Louisa came to us her junior year looking for help with full time recruiting. She had just recruited for junior summer internships on her own, but was only able to get into a middle market bank. After hearing her peers recommend WSMM, she decided to reach out. Soon our coaches were helping her work on her behaviorals and navigate the networking process. Hear her talk about how she impr...

After months of prepping you thought you finally nailed your investment banking interview and…you’re waitlisted. What now? Is that practically a no or is there any way to still even get the offer? A lot of factors will determine your potential candidacy, but you may still have a chance. Hear this podcast where we advise our student on some strategies to maximize his chances even after being waitli...

Most students don’t know that they want to pursue investment banking right when they enter college… Yet the recruiting timeline is only getting earlier and earlier every year (starting about halfway through sophomore year). So if you find yourself being late to the recruiting timeline (which is completely normal), have you completely missed your opportunity? Is it time to say bye to an investment...

Our client Tristan came to us in July, AFTER he had already graduated from college. To make matters worse, he had just a 3.0 GPA, from a non-target school. His mom thought our program was a scam, but he trusted his gut and did it anyway. By October, he had a full-time investment banking offer from a middle market bank. Hear him talk about how he overcame seemingly impossible odds. Book a Virtual C...

In recent years, technology investment banking and buyside roles (tech PE, growth equity, venture capital) have become some of the most sought after opportunities for students looking to break into finance. While the technical interviews for these roles used to be pretty vanilla, things have changed with the rise of the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) business model. Now if you're interviewing for a...

How many times have you gotten to the end of a networking call with an investment banker, hoping to get a referral out of them but only getting some generic advice instead? It's one of the most frustrating feelings ever, because you just spent 30 minutes talking to them with anticipation and hope, and in the end it just feels like a huge waste of time. So are there things you can do to prevent thi...

Our student Jason didn't realize he wanted to do IB until the summer before junior year. After interviewing with 10-11 banks, he ended up getting just one middle market offer for his junior summer internship. Not satisfied, he decided to enroll in WSMM to take his interviewing skills to the next level in preparation for full-time recruiting, ultimately securing an elite boutique offer from just th...

If you're interviewing for a specific industry coverage group, some industries have additional technical concepts you'll need to learn that are specific to that industry. Examples include, natural resources / oil & gas, real estate, financial institutions, and more recently - technology (or more specifically software). These concepts are typically not covered in the standard interview guides that...

If you're interviewing for a specific coverage group and not a generalist program, there are some additional interview questions you'll have to prepare for. Specifically, there are industry specific questions around trends and deals you've been following in the space. Want to see what the preparation looks like for one of our students who has an interview coming up with one of the top technology i...

Victor is one of the most committed clients we've ever had. He landed a junior summer internship from a non-target state school that only places 4-5 students into investment banking each year (out of 8,250+). And he did all of this without having a ton of relevant finance experience. Hear him talk about how he did this despite the odds being stacked against him, and how we helped him accomplish hi...

When it comes to investment banking technical interviews, three statement questions are the most basic and almost guaranteed in any interview. It’s not just about recognizing the line items, but connecting them and showing how changes flow through the Income Statement, Cash Flow Statement, and Balance Sheet. Sometimes not all the information will be given to you and you will also need to recognize...

With investment banks opening their applications earlier and earlier every year, it's important to stay on top of the recruiting timeline if you want to land the best offers. One of the most common questions we've been getting from students is "Should I apply right away or wait until I've added more experience to my resume?" This can be tricky to figure out and as usual... the actual answer is som...

If you're hoping to land a top offer in investment banking, you should be prepared to answer M&A technical questions. This is especially true if you're recruiting for elite boutiques, which are primarily M&A advisory shops. And this doesn't mean just memorizing the formula for accretion/dilution... anyone can do that. Understanding the strategic rationale and key drivers behind accretion and dilut...

Our client Rahul was caught off guard by the accelerated summer internship recruiting process but secured a small regional boutique offer. Not satisfied, he came to us for help with the full-time recruiting process, which was going to be even harder given the number of jobs available. He gives a ton of advice on what he did to end up with a much better offer, so make sure you check it out! Book a...