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The global credit crunch has invariably made this one of the most challenging times to seek a job, extremely so in the investment banking industry. According to the US Bureau of Labour Statistics, the number of unemployed increased by 2.2 million between September 2007 and September 2008, and the September 2008 unemployment rate hit 6.1 percent – the highest level in five years. In the financial services industry alone, hard-hit by the subprime crisis, more than 111,000 people have lost their jobs through the first nine months of 2008.

However, for example, there are on average more than 3 million jobs available every month in the US. And you as a job seeker only need ONE. Even in a job market with 6.1% unemployment there is 93.9% employment.

So how do you get into the 93.9% of the employed population, more specifically into a front office Investment Banking Position?

1) DO NOT HAVE ANY TYPOS OR GRAMMAR ERRORS IN YOUR RESUME OR COVER LETTER.
As simple and trivial as it may sound, after years of interviewing candidates on behalf of investment banks, you would be surprised the number of CVs and cover letters that still have typos in them. There currently are more than three times as many job hunters as posted job openings. A flawed document is a 100% guarantee of your application being rejected automatically, no matter how good your profile is. Get friends to proof-read your CV/cover letters/application forms before submitting them or even better, seek professional help.

2) TARGET A SMALL SET OF OPENINGS (SAY 5 TOP TIER GLOBAL INVESTMENT BANKS) THAT YOU WOULD PICK OVER ANYTHING ELSE ANY TIME.
THIS IS YOUR PLAN A.
Spend time researching the roles, the companies and the sector. How do you see the challenges the banking sector is facing evolving over the next 12 months? How do your skills help the company face those challenges?
Draft a CV and a cover letter specially for each one of them. They will all be very similar (of course, there is only one you!) but make sure for every key skill in each role you answer the following questions:

a) What skills is the company looking for? This proves you have done your research.
b) Where did I develop these skills during my previous academic/professional experience? This shows you are the ideal candidate.
c) How can I prove it? This convinces the reader (with facts, not blanket statements) that you are the best candidate. Use the STAR technique:

S: What was the Situation?
T: What Tasks was I assigned?
A: What Actions did I perform?
R: What was the Result?

3) TARGET A LARGER SET OF OPENINGS (SAY 10 MID TIER INVESTMENT BANKS) YOU SEE YOURSELF WORKING IN.
THIS IS YOUR PLAN B.
Prepare a generic CV and cover letter. For example, if you are going for a Corporate Finance Analyst position you know any role will require good analytical/quantitative skills, ability to work under pressure and ability to work in a team. So write up a generic CV and cover letter that demonstrate how you are the best candidate with those skills.

4) GO OFF THE BEATEN TRACK.
Google less well-known finance houses and send speculative applications. For this you will use your generic CV and cover letter you drafted for 3). Some of them won’t even have a dedicated Recruitment Section, let alone an online application form. Yet they hired those working for them!
Fact: At least 50% of the people I have coached in the last couple of years have been offered their current job through speculative applications, i.e. applying for jobs that were not advertised.

5) NETWORK.
Make friends and keep in touch with previous university and work colleagues. Make a spreadsheet with an action plan of you emailing or calling them regularly. It does not need to be every week, not even every month. Once a quarter is fine unless you have anything specific to discuss. Just say “Hi, wanted to know how you job/course/whatever is going, etc”. Show you are genuinely interested in them and not just calling asking for a job.

This will not only help you find out about potential vacancies, but it may actually give you an idea/viewpoint in your job search you may not have thought about on your own. It may also help you identify things you are doing right and things you are doing wrong.

CONCLUSION
All in all, I would be lying if I was to say things will improve soon or that by the law of large numbers you will get a job, not any time soon in this climate. You may be out of a job for a LONG time. Remember, “The market can stay inefficient for longer than you can stay solvent”. These are in all likelihood the most difficult market conditions you will ever find yourself in.

Yet, a small number of people are still being hired, even in the top-tier Investment Banks that you read in the press are laying off staff. If you want to be one of the few lucky ones you need to make sure you step up your game to the highest level with persistence. The 2009 recruitment market will be about distinguishing the outstanding from the good candidates, and only the outstanding will succeed.

Agustin Valecillos is a Vice President at a top tier Investment bank focussing on Commodities and FX Structuring . He is also the Founder and CEO of a team of Investment Banking professionals who pride themselves in helping people jump-start their investment banking career in the financial services sector through an outstanding banking CV, cover letter and application form. For the latest techniques, visit http://www.helpmegetajob.co.uk.

Some of the most common banking interview questions for an investment banking interview include (some are a bit on the tough side but they DO come up very often, increasingly as a means of trimming down the candidate lists as the finance graduate job market gets harsher):

How many degrees (if any) are there in the angle between the hour and the minute hands of a clock when the time is a quarter past three?
[Typically asked during investment banking interviews for entry level investment banking graduate jobs]

Find the smallest positive integer that leaves a remainder of 1 when divided by 2, a remainder of 2 when divided by 3, a remainder of 3 when divided by 4, … and a remainder of 9 when divided by 10
[Typically asked during investment banking interviews for quantitative investment banking finance jobs]

Two standard options have exactly the same features, expect that one has long maturity, and the other has short maturity. Which one has the higher gamma?
[Typically asked during investment banking interviews for bank derivatives trading jobs]

How do you calculate an option’s delta?
[Typically asked during investment banking interviews for derivatives trading jobs]

When can hedging an options position make you take on more risk?
[Typically asked during investment banking interviews for trading jobs]

Are you better off using implied standard deviation or historical standard deviation to forecast volatility? Why?
[Typically asked during investment banking interviews for quantitative finance jobs]

Describe “duration” and “convexity”. Describe their properties and uses
[Typically asked during investment banking interviews for graduate investment banking jobs]

Two players A and B play a marble game. Each player has both a red and a blue marble. They present one marble to each other. If both present red, A wins $3. If both present blue, A wins $1. If the colours do not match, B wins $2.
Is it better to be A or B, or does it matter?
[Typically asked during investment banking interviews for quantitative finance or derivatives jobs]

How do you “value” yourself? Here “value” means in financial terms
[Typically asked during investment banking interviews for MBA finance jobs or experienced banking hires]

What distinguishes you from other candidates we might hire?
[Typically asked during investment banking interviews for graduate investment banking vacancies]

If you could go on a cross-country car trip with any three people, who would you choose? Why?
[Typically asked during investment banking interviews for corporate finance / mergers & acquisitions banking jobs]

Tell be about a stock you like or hate and why
[Asked by investment banking job interviewers for any accounting, finance or investment banking job!]

What is the difference between default and prepayment risk?
[Typically asked during investment banking interviews for credit jobs / risk management jobs]

How would you move mount Fuji?
[Typically asked during investment banking interviews for consulting jobs or graduate accounting jobs]

Estimate the annual car demand for car batteries
[Typically asked during investment banking interviews for corporate finance jobs, mergers & acquisition banking jobs or consulting jobs]

Agustin Valecillos is a Vice President at a top tier Investment bank focussing on Commodities and FX Structuring . He is also the Founder and CEO of a team of Investment Banking professionals who pride themselves in helping people jump-start their investment banking career in the financial services sector through an outstanding banking CV, cover letter and application form. For the latest techniques, visit http://www.helpmegetajob.co.uk.