Is An Investment Banker A Good Career Choice?
Is your dream job to become an investment banker? If yes, then you have undergone several factors that can work well in your favor if you follow them judiciously. If you want to become a successful investment banker, you have to know some of the crucial fundamental aspects of this career to succeed in this career path.
Frankly speaking, this career path demands attention to detail from the candidate who wants to become successful in this career. You cannot afford to miss your focus from your work at any point in time; otherwise, it can result in a massive disaster for the company.
What Is Investment Banking?
Investment banking is the process of raising capital for various firms. It can be done by issuing debt or selling equity. In this job profile, the person has to manage several other aspects like advisory, other corporate finance services.
Mostly, smaller firms do not have any specific investment banker. These roles are handled by the corporate finance department. However, it is expected from the investment banker that they must have a firm grasp of the investment climate and have perfect knowledge of the investment vehicle.
Whether a company must go for an IPO, or not, investment bankers are the critical contributors to the process. Therefore, maximizing the returns from the investment is the prime job role for them. An attempt must be taken to set the highest IPO possible.
Investment Banker Job Description And Key Responsibilities
Before you select it as your career choice, you need to be well aware of the job responsibilities of an investment banker. It will help you to boost your career in the right direction. Therefore, knowing the investment banker job description forms an essential part of your career development.
- An investment banker must develop many financial models for valuing debt and equity for acquisitions, mergers, and capital raising transactions.
- You need to perform various types of valuation methods like precedents, DCF, and comparable companies.
- An investment banker must develop recommendations for private equity transactions, product offerings, mergers, acquisitions, and valuations.
- You must prepare and view your materials, including the investment memorandum, pitch books, and management presentations.
- To expand the business, they have to develop relationships between new and existing clients.
- They have to create due diligence, analysis, research, and proper documentation of any kind of live transaction.
- Creating the perfect presentations for the client portfolios is another essential job role of an investment banker.
- An investment banker must have an affinity towards the relevant news, current events, and critical issues.
- You must have an affinity towards relevant news, current events, and critical issues. Only then can you consider yourself to be the best fit for this job profile.
Without knowing their job description, if you invest your time and effort in gaining a career in this profile, you are simply reducing the chances of your career development.
What Are The Skills And Traits Of Investment Banker?
There are specific skills and traits of an investment banker that one must follow at their end while you want to develop your career in the correct direction. An interviewer will look through specific skills and knowledge from a candidate applying for the position. Some of these are as follows:-
- Willingness to work for an extremely long duration of time (80+ per week).
- Must maintain proper attention to detail.
- They must be great team players.
- They must be excellent people to handle PowerPoint, Word, and Excel.
- The candidate must possess a strong knowledge of accounting and finance.
- The financial modeling skills of that person must be of the excellent category.
- Understanding world market economics is an essential part of their job profile as it can affect the financial structure of any business.
What Are The Possible Investment Banker Career Progression Graph?
The possible career progression of the investment banker can have if they pursue their career in that domain are as follows:-
- An associate.
- An Analyst.
- Vice President.
- Managing Director.
If you want to continue your career as an investment banker, you must know the hierarchy of positions that they must maintain to develop their business. In most cases, the undergraduates are also recruited under two years of the analyst training scheme.
Therefore, the junior analyst job of an investment banker is quite enticing. However, an analyst must complete an MBA in this field to understand various dimensions.
What Are The Investment Banker Degree One Should Possess At Their End?
For becoming an investment banker, one should possess certain degrees and specialties in their job profile to make things work in their favor. In addition, there are specific relevant skills, degrees, and knowledge to improve their learning in the right direction.
- You must hold a degree in MBA or equivalent training, work-related experience, and education.
- From a target school or equivalent, one must possess a bachelor’s degree for the Analyst position.
- Three to more years of experience is required for gaining an associate position in finance and business-related background.
- You must have the ability to work in a fast-paced, team-based working environment that requires minimal supervision.
- You must have a working knowledge of deal closing and sound deal structuring principles.
- Vital networking and communication skills are required.
- Practical financial modeling skills are necessary for developing your business.
Depending on the financial requirement, you have to prepare your financial planning to develop your business in the right direction. Therefore, proven proficiency, especially for VBA and Microsoft Excel, is required.
What Is The Investment Banker Salary?
Most of the candidates today have this common question: What is the salary scale of an investment banker? You need to go through the slabs of their salary with all the required designations to understand the prospect of this field.
Salary Range Of An Investment Banker
Title | Total Remuneration | Base Salary |
Analyst | $125-$200k | $85-$100K |
Associate | $180-$250K | $100-$120K |
Vice President | $220-$400K | $120-$150K |
Managing Director | $500K -$10M+ | $300-$1M |
Final Take Away
Hence, if you want to become an investment banker, you need to know the above criteria and qualifications you need to cross pass to excel in this career. You cannot make your choices in grey while developing your business in the right direction. So work out the plans in the correct order to achieve your objectives in the best possible ways. Before selecting a career, you must cross-check the facts first to jump to any sort of conclusion.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1. Is It Worth Being An Investment Banker?
Being an investment banker one should be aware as it is now one of the best paying jobs in the market available today.
2. Is There Any Demand For Investment Bankers?
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics has declared that the demand for investment bankers will increase by 10% starting from 2014-2024.
3. Which Field Is The Best For The Investment Banker?
MBA and CFA certifications are essential for becoming an investment banker. It can help you to achieve your objectives better.
4. Is Investment Banker A Dying Industry?
Investment banker jobs are not dead in the global market. You need to make your choices in the right direction to achieve your goals.
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