 Welcome back to our series on breaking into investment banking. In our previous video, we took a look at the different routes which are available to you if you're trying to break into investment banking given your specific circumstances. So how old you are, the type of experience you have, your background, as well as how you can best prepare to break into investment banking. So covering interview questions, resume, etc, etc. In this video, however, we are going to take a look at one specific question, which I always get. And that is, how do I break into investment banking without previous work experience? And the reality is a lot of candidates breaking into investment banking without previous work experience. And it's a lot easier than what you might think. Because although work experience is a soft requirement, it's not a hard requirement. You don't need it to break into investment banking. So in this video, we are going to take a look at who can break into investment banking without work experience, who needs work experience. And more importantly, how do you go about getting work experience easily? So before we start discussing who needs experience and those who don't need experience in order to break into investment banking, let me just take a step back and explain why you don't need work experience in order to break into investment banking or why you don't need relevant experience in order to break into investment banking. And it's no requirement for two reasons. Now the first one, some bankers may disagree with me on this, but this is just my personal experience, because I started out as an intern and then I was promoted to become a full-time analyst. And I know that the job of an intern is no way near what a full-time analyst is responsible for. So whenever you're going to go for some internship at any investment bank, whether a board bracket bank, middle market bank, boutique bank, you are not going to be in charge of any deliverables. You are not going to be in charge of building financial models. Sure, you're going to assist on it. You're not going to be in charge of building marketing materials, IMs, pitch books. You're going to assist on it. You're going to get some experience building some slides. You're not going to get exposure to handling client queries. You're not going to get exposure to anything which is major. So the reality is the only type of benefit that some interns get is just learning about the lifestyle of investment banking, learning what they're responsible for, learning about everything that you need to know to make a judgment of whether or not investment banking is for you. You're not going to get real experience. Now, I know not everyone's experience is going to be the same. Some are going to get a lot more live deal experience than others, but on average, most interns, they're just going to be assisting on deliverables. They're not going to be in charge of anything. So whenever you're interviewing with an investment banker, they know this. They know that even though you might have multiple internships in investment banking, it doesn't really mean much. It doesn't mean that you're automatically better than someone who doesn't have any work experience in investment banking. It means that you have a very good idea, a very good understanding of the investment banking lifestyle, culture and environment. But it doesn't mean that you are going to be a better investment banker than someone who doesn't already have that experience. So now let's move on to the second reason why previous investment banking experience is not a requirement. And that is every single year, we find a lot of non-finance candidates applying to investment banking and a lot of them are great in terms of meeting the seven basic requirements. Now these candidates are not from a finance background. They might have studied engineering, law, literature theory, Kim Kardashian theory, whatever they might have studied. But they're great candidates because they are high achievers, they have good grades, they participated in a lot of extracurricular activities, held leadership positions. And most importantly, they know how to pass the interviews. They know how to answer technical questions. If you answer all the questions correctly during your interviews, you are going to get the job. If you do not pass the interview, you're going to fail. You're never going to get the job. So because of that, a lot of non-finance candidates break into investment banking. So in essence, investment banking work experience is a bonus. It's a huge bonus, but it doesn't automatically make you a better candidate than someone without experience. So now let's talk about the candidates who can apply into investment banking without work experience. So for those that does not need work experience in order to break into investment banking, they are the candidates that overachieve on all seven of the basic requirements in order to break into investment banking. Now remember in my previous video where we spoke about the seven minimum requirements or the seven entry criteria? Candidates that does not need work experience are those that overachieve on every single one of them. And as a quick recap, remember that we have a track record of winning, good grades, extracurricular activities, interest in investment banking, intellectual capacity, technical knowledge and communication skills. Now what I mean by overachieving on these requirements, I don't just mean someone with a 4.0 GPA, someone that received a certificate for doing good work. I mean someone that attended an elite university, 4.0 GPA, top of his or her classes, volunteers at every single society there is, saved 70 dolphins, climbed Mount Everest, bungee jumped on the moon, whatever it may be. I mean a candidate that overachieves on everything. And those are the kind of candidates that can break into investment banking without work experience because they can justify their achievements as an equal substitution of that work experience. And like I've already mentioned, work experience, especially at some internships, they're not really that credible in terms of giving you a lot of exposure, it's more of a lifestyle understanding. So the most important thing is being able to demonstrate that you can achieve, that you have a history of achieving, that you are a candidate with the proven track record of being a good investor banker, that you have the criteria, the characteristics of good investor bankers. Those are the most important things that you need to demonstrate if you don't have previous work experience. So let's go through this. For the first one, having a track record, you need to have a clear track record of achieving. Again, attending one of the best business schools or universities in the country, winning multiple awards, multiple accolades in whatever field. Again, it doesn't have to be academic, it can be professional, it can be sports related, it can be scholarships, it can be whatever it is. But as long as you have the clear track record of achieving, grades need us to say you need to have really good grades. And I don't just mean 4.0 GPA, I mean Dean's List, top of your class, first class degree, honours and again top 10%ile of candidates. Those are the kind of grades that I'm talking about for candidates that can break into investor banking without work experience. Then extracurricular activities, and I don't just mean being a member of 500 societies, that doesn't mean anything. We need you to be in a position of leadership. We need you to be the president of the economic society, the treasury or the vice president of the investment society, or whatever it may be. The more position of leadership you have, it means that the more you can handle, the more you can juggle. Then interest in investment banking and technical knowledge, and I've grouped these two for very good reasons. When you go into investment banking, you're going to learn about the different products and services, the different divisions, the different roles and responsibilities of investment bankers, the role of a self-sale M&A versus a bar sale M&A, you learn all of this when you get work experience in investment banking. As well as for the technical knowledge, you are going to be surrounded by other investment bankers, which can coach you through how to answer these questions, as well as you getting some exposure to financial modeling. It's very important that you learn about all the different product services, responsibilities of bankers, as well as how to answer the technical questions. Regardless if you have experience or not, you are going to be tested on these. And the only way that you can get these two is by either working in investment banking for a long period of time, networking with investment bankers and having them coach you through all of this, or you can get our investment banking and recruitment guide. And we've created this to replicate 1000 hours of investment banking. It's designed to give you all the answers, advice and insights into the different products, services, roles, responsibilities, personality profiles, as well as all of the answers to the technical interview questions and behavioral questions, as well as to guide you through avoiding all the mistakes which bankers make when they first come in. And again, this is something else that as a quick note, it's one thing to break into investment banking, a whole different thing to stay into investment banking. So we also break down the common mistakes which people make and how you can avoid them, because some of these mistakes can get you fired. And we're going to show you exactly how to avoid them, or the tips and tricks which we've learned throughout our careers. And again, we have Liam, who's a VP. We also have other analysts and associates who have contributed to this guide. Then finally, with the communication. Now, communication is pretty easy. As long as you can coherently communicate and articulate yourself, that's fine. And again, these are the characteristics of candidates that can easily get an endless role, an internship without previous investment banking work experience. So now let's move on to candidates that does need work experience or those that do need work experience in order to break into investment banking. Now, I hesitate to use the word those that do need work experience, because some of these candidates can break into investment banking, but they will struggle. But I would much rather you dominate the interview processes that the recruitment cycle, then you're struggling. So if you are a candidate like this, like the one that we're about to go through, then I would highly recommend that you go out and get work experience immediately, because it will make the process so much easier. So again, these are based on the seven requirements of breaking into investment banking. The first one is having a clear track record of achieving. So if you don't have a clear track record of achieving so no scholarship, no sports awards, no awards at work, not attending an elite business school or an elite university, then that is something that we are going to start questioning you. So why didn't you go to a better school? Why didn't you perform well? Why didn't you get a scholarship? We are going to ask you a lot of questions. We are going to probe why you didn't achieve in these areas. So you need to have good answers for that. Second is grades. Now, this is a red flag. If you don't have good grades, by default it's a red flag because it means that you're not determined. It means that when the situation is not good for you, you're not going to perform well because the reality is anyone can perform well in a class which they like, with a professor which they like, in a group that they get along with. But how do they perform in a class which they don't like or with professors who they don't get along with? And in order for you to get a 4.0 GPA, a first class degree, it means that you are able to perform regardless of the situation, regardless of who you are working with, regardless of how stressed out you are, regardless of how hard the task may be. And we need someone back that can perform like that. So getting high grades is something that we look at regardless of whether you have experience or not. But nonetheless, we don't need you to have perfect grades. It's not something where you need to have a 4.0 GPA. Anything above a 3.5 or an upper second class degree in the UK, it's fine. It's acceptable as long as you can overachieve in other of the requirements. So now let's take a look at extracurricular activities. So if you are just members of a couple of societies and you didn't actually hold any position of leadership, then you are going to need to have work experience in order to demonstrate the fact that you can juggle multiple things at once. And then number four, your interest in investment banking. You are going to get questioned, why do you want to be an investment banking when you don't have experience? What attracted you to investment banking? Why should I hire you with that investment banking experience? Can you tell me the difference between a self-seleminated deal versus a bi-seleminated deal? Can you tell me what is the role of an investment banker on a roadshow, on an IPO? Can you tell me about XYZ investment banking? You have to be able to answer all of these questions without hesitation. And you will get all of these answers by working in investment banking or by networking or again with our interview guide. But you have to be able to answer why do you want to be an investment banker? Why should I choose you without investment banking experience? What is the role of an investment banker in M&A, in capital markets, in average finance? What are the different product divisions, different services areas? You have to be able to answer all those questions because those are pretty much basic questions that they're willing to ask you. Then number five, no clear proof of working under pressure. If you cannot demonstrate that you are able to perform well under pressure, then that's a red flag because your work experience would substitute as an indication that you are able to work under pressure. During your investment banking internship, you will have a lot of tasks to do and you can substitute that experience to show and to demonstrate that you are someone that can work well under pressure. So if you don't have work experience, you have to be able to demonstrate that elsewhere. Then number six, technicals. Your interviews are going to be separated in behavioral questions and technicals. So technicals, you're going to get tested on accounting, finance, valuation modeling, M&A, LBO, economics and brain teasers. You have to be able to demonstrate technical mastery in order to break into investment banking regardless of your situation. We're not going to lower the entry criteria just because you're from a non-finance background, just because you don't have investment banking experience. We're not going to lower the boundary because otherwise we are going to suffer if we take you on. We are going to have to do more work for you regardless of your background, regardless of your situation. You are going to have to answer technical questions because that's an indication of you being interested in investment banking and you going out networking with investment bankers or you learning what investment bankers do on a daily basis, learning about financial modeling, learning what it takes to create a financial model and you can demonstrate all that by being able to answer the technical part of your interviews actually. And then finally, number seven, which is the communication. And again, communication is pretty simple. As long as you're able to clearly articulate yourself in a coherent manner, then that's fine. So now let's talk about how to get work experience and internships. And before we do that, do you see that subscribe sign, that subscribe button over there? It's pretty, right? Okay, I'm going to press it. Now it's your turn. Go on down there below. And oh, do you see that bell sign? It's pretty, isn't it? Okay, now press it as well. YouTube keeps telling me that over 80% of my audience are not subscribed. And as a result, I'm not getting ranked. So help the channel get ranked and subscribe and press the bell notification sign. There are a lot more videos coming out and the only way for you to actually see them is by pressing the subscribe button and the bell button. Okay, so now to move on to getting internships and work experience. Now, arguably one of the most common emails that I get about work experience is I'm finding it difficult to get work experience because I don't have previous work experience. I completely understand I've been there and we're going to talk about how to go around that in a while. So to begin with, investment banking internships are incredibly important because almost half the people that are on summer internships do get a returning full-time offer back. So it's really important that you do try to get on these summer internships and off-cycle internships, which as I've already mentioned, it's slightly harder to get into because you're not going to get the training. So they're going to expect that you already have some level of technical proficiency. Once the level of demand for off-cycle internships are slightly lower than summer internships because off-cycle internships take place during come time and not summer time. But if you don't get on a summer internship, it's okay. There are other areas which does provide relevant experience. Now, some bankers would disagree with me on this, but in my opinion, some of these areas provide better experience than investment banking. So for example, private equity. In private equity, you're going to learn detailed financial modeling, you're going to be surrounded with excellent investment bankers. And in private equity, the type of financial modeling that you're going to do is at a higher level. It's kind of like swimming with Michael Phelps when you're in private equity. And when you come back into investment banking, you're back in the kiddie pool. So the type of experience which you can get in private equity is arguably, in my opinion, a hell of a lot better than the one that you would get in investment banking. Now that said, that's just one area. Other areas which provide similar type of experience is corporate development. Because again, private equity and corporate development are both clients of investment banking. So you can get a lot of experience in corporate development and trade finance, valuation, but then there are other areas which also has a huge overlap of skills, equity research, hedge funds, and asset management. Now, in terms of hedge fund, make sure that it's a M&A hedge fund, so Merger-Abuschholz hedge fund, a long short equity, because those types of hedge funds, which will give you a lot of financial modeling exposure, as well as a lot of the equity investments. When you are looking at asset management firms as a way to get experience for investment banking, make sure that they have a lot of financial modeling as part of their investment process. Otherwise, you're not going to get any type of transferable or relevant skills to investment banking. Now, there is something that which has to be said. When it comes to getting experience in the investment side, so hedge fund, equity research, asset management, those are great areas to learn financial modeling, but the difference is those are market based, whereas private equity, investment banking, corporate development is transaction based and investment banking is transaction based. So the type of experience which you're going to get in PE and investment banking is you're going to get a look of lifestyle exposure. So you're going to see how your managing director picks up the phone, interacts with the client, controls the expectation. You're going to see how a VP delegates between the MD and the junior bankers. You're going to see how the associate manages the analysts, the type of work which they do. You won't get that type of experience in the investment side, in asset management, in hedge funds, because again, those are market driven. You're not going to see the lifestyle of investment banking. And as I already mentioned, in my honest opinion, the whole point of getting investment banking experience or internships is more so to learn about the lifestyle than to actually get exposure of actually doing the real work. If you're not getting that lifestyle experience, it's a significant drag. But that said, equity research, hedge fund, they still provide a lot of transferable skills in terms of building financial models. But if you can get experience at a transaction related role, it's a hell of a lot better. Now for candidates that are struggling to even get an internship, to even get work experience opportunities, then what you should do is not chase after paid internships or paid work experience. Try and volunteer. A lot of candidates have broken into investment banking by first volunteering at a firm, leveraging their volunteering experience to get on an internship, then using that internship experience to get on a full time and this role. It's a proven pathway. So if you're struggling to get paid internship, paid work experience, just volunteer for three months. Now I know some students are going to be categorically against this. I can almost see the comments on my page right now. But the reality is, if you have zero experience and no one wants to pay you to work for them, the only way for YouTube to get some shred of experience on your resume is by volunteering. And if you want to get into investment banking badly enough, it's a sacrifice which you're going to have to make. And it's not something that you're going to do for months on end, just three months. And try to make sure that you volunteer at a relevant field. So try to get experience at a M&A boutique, at a small private equity shop, at a hedge fund. Again, relevant area. The more relevant the role is, the easier it is for you to break into investment banking because you're going to learn about investment banking. So volunteering is by far an easy way to get your foot through the door if you're struggling to get anything. And in our investment banking, networking and recruitment guide, we have a database of over 10,000 investment banking boutiques which are ideal to get work experience at. So take a look at that. Now, some candidates, they discover that they want to break into investment banking maybe after they've graduated or just after they've recently graduated. So they missed out on internship application, off-cycle internship, what should they do? Now, in that case, I would recommend that you do a Masters. The whole point of a Masters isn't to actually learn more. Now, I have a Masters in Finance and Investment and a degree in Economics. The difference isn't that that steep. If anything, a Masters was just a way to just delay and from the workforce. And that's exactly the way you should view it. You should view doing a Masters as a second chance for applying into internships, off-cycle internships and getting more workplace opportunities. You doing a Masters after you've graduated gives you extra time to apply for all of the opportunities which you might have missed. That's it. That's how I view a Masters program. I don't really view it as additional knowledge which is going to be significantly better than your undergraduates. If anything, it's just a delay tactic which is going to help you to break into investment banking because it's going to allow you to get the necessary skills and work experience that you need in order to break in as well as beef up your resume if you go to a more prestigious university than your undergraduate. So in summary, candidates who overachieve on the seven requirements on the seven criteria which bankers look for in a candidate, they can pretty much break into investment banking without previous experience as long as they know how to answer technical questions and they know about all the product services roles and responsibilities of investment banking which they can easily get by networking with bankers or by reading our guide. Now, candidates who do not meet all of the requirements or who meet some but lack in others, it's preferable for you to go and get an internship and work experience in order to break into investment banking and the majority of you are in that category. Okay, so I'm just going to wrap up the video now and in our next video we are going to talk about how to break into investment banking if you're from a non-financed background and again, so join me for that. Don't forget to hit subscribe and the bell notification button to be updated and don't forget to check out other videos on this channel which we pretty much break down the interview questions and answers how to break into investment banking and various other areas which will help you to break into investment banking. So I'll see you in our next video.