I've been a long-time reader of Mergers and Inquisitions (at least, I've read it since its start).
The guy who writes it ("The Inquisitor") has a couple of years experience in investment banking, but left the industry a while ago to pursue other interests. He writes most often on the process of getting a job in investment banking, what the life of a low-level investment banking scut-puppy is like, and so on. He's funny, seems to know his stuff, writes well, and links to this blog, so I couldn't ask for more.
A student of mine is going today to visit an alumni at a major investment bank. The alum is an Managing Director at the firm and has taken the student under his wing. He invited the student to spend the day at the bank, and is having him squired around by a couple of mid-level folks to help the student learn more about the firm and hone his pitch for when he gets his internship interview.
As part of his preparation, I had the student read all of M&I's posts. He also bought this guide the M&I blogger put together, titled Breaking into Wall Street: 200 Investment Banking Interviews and Answers. He had me look it over and give him my impressions. So here they are:
If you're trying to get a banking job (or even a job in investment management), buy this guide before you go on your interviews. Don't ask questions - just buy it. It lists quite a few technical questions (like "what are the three financial statements, and how do they link together?", or "when do you capitalize and when do you expense outlays?") along with clear, succinct answers. But more importantly, it spends a lot of time on how to put together a consistent, compelling "story" about yourself that will sell well with an Investment Bank (or at least, how to avoid saying things that will get you eliminated).
The biggest mistake most new applicants make is that they don't take the time to put together a consistent narrative about who they are and why it fits with the firm at which they're interviewing. This guide will help them to do thexactly that.
The only addition I'd like to see is a few pages on structuring a resume - what to do and what to avoid. I realize the author provides that service for a fee, and might be considering doing that as a separate guide. But putting this in the guide would make it even better. However, even with that shortfall, this guide is worth its cost many times over.
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Serious Nerd Humor
If you're a stats nerd, you might find this amusing. If not, just move along.
For more of the same, go to XKCD.
For more of the same, go to XKCD.
Interview With Baupost Group President Seth Klarman
Seth Klarman, is the president of Boston hedge fund the Baupost Group. He's known as one of the savviest value investors around, having earned a 26% average annual return over the last 26 years. In fact, he was asked to write the foreword to the latest edition of Graham and Dodd's classic "Value Investing."
Here's an interview he gave to the Harvard Business School Bulletin back in December. In it, he talks about why he's a value investor, target returns (he doesn't believe in them), the credit crisis, and much more.
Read it here
Here's an interview he gave to the Harvard Business School Bulletin back in December. In it, he talks about why he's a value investor, target returns (he doesn't believe in them), the credit crisis, and much more.
Read it here
40 Facts About Sleep
Here are some interesting sleep facts from the National Sleep Research Project. Since we're having a baby in April, this caught my eye:
HT: Craig Newmark
...a new baby typically results in 400-750 hours of lost sleep in the first year.Only that much?
HT: Craig Newmark
Update on The Unknown Son
So far, Unknown Son is recovering nicely from his surgery on Monday. It looks like he'll be getting his chest drainige tube out today. That means the only tube left in will be the IV that gives him fluids,
Last night he ate two small pancakes with peanut butter (a taste he got from his DaD), he even took a couple of short walks (about 50 feet). Today, we'll go for as many walks as he can handle.
In the meanwhile, there are always videos. For now, it's the Muppet Movie. What can I say - I believe in a classical education.
It'll still be a couple of days before he gets discharged, but for now - Wocka Wocka Wocka.
Updated 1:30 -- he just got the chest drainage tube out, and they've capped his IV (it was only giving a minimal amount of fluid, anyway). So, he might conceivably be home tomorrow. But we'll see.
Last night he ate two small pancakes with peanut butter (a taste he got from his DaD), he even took a couple of short walks (about 50 feet). Today, we'll go for as many walks as he can handle.
In the meanwhile, there are always videos. For now, it's the Muppet Movie. What can I say - I believe in a classical education.
It'll still be a couple of days before he gets discharged, but for now - Wocka Wocka Wocka.
Updated 1:30 -- he just got the chest drainage tube out, and they've capped his IV (it was only giving a minimal amount of fluid, anyway). So, he might conceivably be home tomorrow. But we'll see.
What Topics Do I Blog About The Most?
Here's a word cloud for Financial Rounds I made at Wordle (click on the image for a larger version).
For those who aren't familiar with a word cloud, it's a graphic representation of frequencies - the more often a word appears, the larger the word in the cloud.
Looks like I've been blogging a lot about the credit crisis --not all that surprising, when you stop to think about it.
For those who aren't familiar with a word cloud, it's a graphic representation of frequencies - the more often a word appears, the larger the word in the cloud.
Looks like I've been blogging a lot about the credit crisis --not all that surprising, when you stop to think about it.
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