神仙尚且如此,那么我们这样的凡人想进中金,你需要做什么样的努力呢?
从上一期采访的几位同学的总结中不难看出,中金喜欢的候选人是有极大的共性的:
· 背景极为强悍(清北复交留学生)
· 实习经历颇为丰富(还都是Big name)
· 令人印象深刻的记忆点(创过业等)
作为海归的最佳“归处”,中金,或者说以中金为首的顶级券商、外资投行等的竞争是极为激烈的!
如果你想进中金,从现在开始,该做哪些准备?
1.心理准备
求职的过程就是在不断地找寻自我的过程,所以如果你想要进入顶级券商,首先应该静下心来想想自己的这个决定是否真“Follow Your Heart”。
你可以尝试着问自己以下这几个问题:
· 我真的对金融、银行、证券行业感兴趣吗?有多感兴趣?
· 是什么动力驱使我一定要进入券商?
· 我对这个行业了解吗?我适合做这个行业吗?我会擅长做好券商要求的工作吗?
· 顶级券商是我唯一的选择吗?还有没有其他的途径或者方法实现我的抱负和职业目标?
· 我在券商工作几年后的职业规划是什么?还有什么其它的出路?
千万不要用“我很羡慕券商人的Lifestyle”,或者“券商就是赚钱多”这些片面的想法去指导自己做决定。当然这些都是事实,但是这不一定适用于所有人。
你应该有更Specific的理由去证明和说服你的面试官“Why do I apply for an Investment Banking job”以及“How will I fit into this position / environment”。
另外要说明一点的是,这个准备的阶段要越早开始越好。原因之一是券商的招人趋向于年轻化;另一个原因是申请通道开放得越来越早。
如果你大四秋招才开始准备申请的话,已经被远远甩开几条街了,成功获得DreamOffer的几率也是微乎其微。
2.知识准备
第一方面是专业知识的储备
由于内部职能部门众多、体系繁杂,券商对于一个Candidate的在金融、财务、经济、商业等方面的知识面的广度和深度都是有很高的要求的。
举一些具体的例子:在面试IBD部门时,对于EV/EBITDA Ratio,DCF Valuation,LBO Model这些会计和金融相关的最基本的Technical InterviewQuestions必须张口就能回答上来;
在面试PE部门时,需要对新兴行业和公司层面的动态时刻关注,保持对商业社会的敏感度,并且能够对某个IPO或者M&A案例提出自己的见解、分析和阐述。
由于在你的申请过程的各个环节中,这些知识点多多少少都会被以各种形式被考察到,这就需要你在准备阶段尽量做到全面覆盖不留死角, 而这个过程又是没有捷径可以走的,只能花时间和精力踏踏实实去做Research并且反复练习、积累和沉淀。
第二方面是对行业和公司的了解
你要做的准备就是去好好浏览目标公司的官网,争取对其发展历史、企业文化、组织架构、未来趋势等各个方面有全面的了解;
另一方面是去了解公司近期的Major Deals、股价表现以及CSR活动等等反映公司经营状况和社会反响的方方面面;
有时候面试官甚至会希望你能够站在管理层的角度试着回答一些公司发展战略方向的问题,这就需要你时常关注行业和公司的动态。
建议大家平时多关注WSJ,Bloomberg,FT,Reuters,FinanceAsia,以及国内的财经、21世纪经济报道、投资界这些国内外主流媒体的网站和公众号。
如果你想做得更好,也尽量去了解一些热门行业比如TMT、Healthcare、Education、Machine Learning的大事件和发展趋势,目的是保持自己对商业社会和资本市场的敏感度以及培养自己主动思考和勤于思考的习惯,否则就算你进入了投行也会难以在每天高压和信息量爆炸的环境中生存。
3.技能准备
还是那句话,看自己适合什么或者擅长什么,然后争取把自己的优势最大化,我们总是认为应该向优秀的全面的人看齐,补充自己的短板,却往往忽略了自己身上最闪亮的优势和成就,而这反而造成了自我受限。
然而实际情况是,扬长避短才应该是应对券商申请的简历、笔试、面试等各个关卡最为有效的指导思想和方法。
我们来看看顶级投行和咨询公司、四大会计师事务所以及众多Fortune 500公司对一个申请人的基本素质和职业素养的要求:
Leadership, Teamwork, Problem Solving, TimeManagement, Pressure Handling, Communication, etc.
这些Soft Skills从以下的Typical Behavioral Question List就能显而易见,而对这部分准备的建议是每个问题准备至少三个事例或者小故事证明你的观点:
Typical Behavioral Question List
※Teamwork
Describe your most successful effort in promotingteamwork with within a group and how your teammates responded.
※Leadership
Tell me about a time you led a group or team.
※Analytical & Problem-solving Skills
Tell me about a time when you used your analyticalskills to solve a problem
※Creativity
Describe a situation where you have thought of a new acreative way of dealing with a problem.
※Communication
1. Tell me about atime when you successfully“sold”an idea to a group of classmates or co-workers, or to a supervisor.
2. Describe asituation where you felt you had not communicated well.
How did you handle the situation?
※Negotiation
What negotiation successes are you most proud of ?
※Conflict Handling
Tell me about a time you had to deal with a difficultperson (or had to resolve a conflict with another person).How did you handlethe situation?
※Initiation & Follow –through
Tell me about a time you took the initiative or wentabove and beyond on a project or task
※Criticism Handling
Describe a situation when your work or one of yourideas was criticized. How did you respond?
※Self-motivation
Give an example of a time when you needed to motivateyourself to do something. What was the outcome?
※Challenge Handling
Describe a time when you encountered an especiallydifficult project.
What did you do and what was the result?
※Adaptability/Flexibility
Tell me about a situation where you had to adjustquickly to a significant change at school or work. How did the change affectyou ? What did you do?
※Priority
Describe the last time when you had to juggle severalthings at once. How did you manage the multiple demands and what was theresult?
※Stress Handling
Give me an example of a stressful situation and howdid you handle it?
※Deadline
Give me an example of a time when you missed adeadline. How did you handle it?
※Ethical Dilemma
Have you ever been faced with an ethical dilemma? Ifso , how did you handle the situation?
※Accomplishment
What do you consider to be your greatest personal orschool related accomplishment and what steps have you taken to achieve it?
※Motivate Others
Tell me about a time when you had to motivate a team.
※Decision Making
Describe the process you typically follow to makedecision about a plan of action.
※Failure
Tell me about a time when you failed or made a mistakeand how did you handle it?
※Goals Setting
Describe a goal that you have set for yourself in thelast year. What steps did you take to work towards that goal? What was theoutcome?
※Pressure Handling
Describe a situation in which you initially thought youcould easily handle alone, and soon realized you were in over your head. Whatdid you do?
※Weakness & Drawback
1. What’s yourbiggest weakness?
2. What’s the mostdifficult about working with you?
※Strengths
What are your strengths?
※Goal & Plan
Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
你在面试中要做的就是努力展现出你处理问题的思路以及你的博学,让面试官觉得你的视野(Vision)在大多数人之上,感到你是一个有趣的人,以及最为重要的,让别人相信你来券商是双方坚信正确的选择。
这里值得注意的是,千万不要不懂装懂,不知道答案的话可以问对方一些其它信息,让对方感受到你的思维逻辑的多面性,然后从对的思路上试着回答,如果实在不知道就直接承认并且告诉对方你会Try to figure out after this interview。
总结来看,能进顶级券商的同学,背景大抵如下:
如果按照上面的表格不断修炼自己,相信你也可以成为一个“神仙”,加油吧,努力的少年!