Investment Banking Career Advice - Msc Course ?

[neb967]

Will doing a Masters in Invest Mgt help me to get into an Investment Bank (e.g.Goldman)?
I'm an undergraduate currently studying at Reading University, Henley Business School - doing my 3rd year work placement abroad in Brussels at Ingram Micro Inc. (finance dept). I'm predicted an Upper Second Class Honours Degree.

I speak 3 languages - English, French & German.

I am strongly considering doing the Investment Management Course on offer at the ICMA Centre in Reading, UK.

If successful I'd end up with:

CFA Level 1,
SII diploma,
ICMA IFID certificate.

With the 1 year work experience in accountancy, my languages abilities, and the subsequent qualifications from the Msc Course - would that put me in a decent position for applying to Banks like Goldmans, UBS, JPMorgan etc... ????

I feel my only weakness is my A-Level grades which amount to 300 UCAS pts. (BBC at A level with C at AS Level)

Would a good degree + Msc mark give me a good chance of getting into one of their graduate entry level positions ? I'd be about 23 years old once I had finished the Msc.

[Pauloz]

neb967

The story here is that you can avoid the A levels issues with a good track record in the industry. The other issues aren't as straightforward.

The Masters will definitely help, whatever you do in this area. The problem with this industry is that you're competing with professionals with a lot of experience, and skill sets really matter. You do have a potential winning combination, combining languages, which are very much in demand, with good qualifications, but experience really matters.

Who you've worked for, and what areas you're expertise covers, are the primary considerations. When going for jobs in this area, you can expect top level competition, and you need to do your homework. You can start now, checking out job criteria, and researching the people in the jobs you want. Their CVs are a good guide to what's wanted.

As you might have gathered, this means there's a time frame to consider, and these requirements will change, maybe a lot, over time. I write in the investment market, and the entire market is changing, rapidly. The crash has created new working models for investment, and while the basic skills still hold, currency of experience and skills is a big factor in employment.

There's another shot on the board for you, if you can do it: Internships. Some of these companies, and some UK majors, have internships which can give you the sort of current experience required, after your degree, or perhaps even concurrently.

You do obviously have the right direction in mind, and you've got some clear potentials with your languages, which are in big demand, particularly in the US. Success is going to boil down to performance. Whatever you do, do it well. It'll take a while to build the right CV, but it is doable.