How investment banking recruitment works in London
Investment banks in London hire most of their junior staff through a ladder of programmes, not through single job adverts. Each rung is a way onto the next one. If you understand the ladder, the adverts start to make sense.
The ladder
- Spring week. A short programme, usually a week, early in a degree. You see the bank from the inside. At many banks a good spring week leads to an interview for the summer internship, or straight to an offer of one.
- Summer internship. Eight to ten weeks, usually taken in the summer before your final year. This is the main door. You do real work in a team, and at the end the bank decides whether to offer you a full-time job.
- Off-cycle internship. An internship outside the summer, often three to six months. Common for students on courses with a gap between terms, for master's students, and for recent graduates.
- Placement year. A year in work in the middle of a degree, for students whose course includes one.
- Graduate analyst. The full-time job. Many of these jobs go to people who were summer interns the year before, so fewer are advertised than the intake suggests.
See what is open at each rung in spring weeks, summer internships, off-cycle internships and placement years, and graduate jobs.
When it happens
The timetable runs about a year ahead of the job. Applications for a summer internship usually open in the summer or autumn of the year before. Many banks read applications as they arrive and fill places as they go, which is called rolling recruitment. A programme can be full well before its stated closing date.
So the date that matters is the day an advert opens, not the day it closes. Apply early in the window.
What the application involves
Banks differ, and each advert states its own steps. The usual stages are these.
- The form. Your CV, your grades, and one or more written questions such as why this bank and why this division.
- Online tests. Numerical, logical or situational tests, taken at home.
- A recorded video interview. You answer set questions to a camera, with a time limit.
- Final interviews. Often several in one day, with people from the team. Some banks call this an assessment centre or a superday, and may add a group exercise or a case study.
Divisions are different jobs
"Investment banking" on an advert can mean the whole bank or one division of it. The main divisions you will see are these.
- Investment banking division. Advising companies on mergers and on raising money. Long projects, small teams, clients.
- Markets, also called sales and trading. Buying and selling securities for clients and making prices. The day follows the market's hours.
- Research. Writing on companies, sectors or economies for the bank's clients.
- Asset and wealth management. Investing money for clients.
- Risk, operations and technology. The functions that keep the bank running and inside its limits.
You usually apply to one division, sometimes to one team inside it. The work, the hours and the interviews differ between them, so read which one the advert names. The briefing on each job here says which division and team the advert is for, where the advert states it.
What banks ask for
Each advert states its own requirements, and they are the only ones that count for that advert. Most state the year of study or graduation date they want, and the right to work in the UK. Many state a minimum degree class. Few require a finance degree.