How investment banking, markets and finance careers actually work, in New York, London and continental Europe, written by an academy that has trained people for them since its first in-person programs in Verbier.
Original guides. Both markets. Dated, reviewed, and written from inside the work.
Banks hire from a short list of universities because it is cheap, not because it is accurate. The route in from outside the list, in the United States and in Europe.
Getting a first role in investment banking: who gets hired, when, and what the process asks of you, in New York, London and continental Europe.
When investment banks recruit interns and analysts in the United States, the United Kingdom and continental Europe, stage by stage, with the differences that catch international applicants out.
The question types in investment banking interviews, with original examples and answer structures: your story, motivation, accounting and valuation technicals, deals and markets, brainteasers, and the assessment centres used in London and Europe.
The markets the usual guides skip: Switzerland, the spring-week system, and the off-cycle internships that are the real door into continental banking.
A guide to finance careers in Switzerland: the shape of the Zürich and Geneva markets, where the entry roles are, how internships and graduate hiring work, the language and work-permit rules, and what makes Swiss applications different.
What spring insight weeks are, who is eligible, when applications open and close, how the selection process works, how a spring week converts into a summer internship, and the routes for students who do not get one.
A guide to off-cycle internships at investment banks in Europe: what they are, where they exist, who does them, how they are recruited, how they convert into full-time offers, the rules that differ by country, and the risks of the internship chain.
The technical core of the job, explained with worked examples on fictional companies.
20 alumni are quoted in these articles, in their own words. They wrote about their own experience on the Academy's blog between 2008 and 2015: why they came, what the weeks were like, and where they went next. Three that speak to breaking in and what followed:
Although I was used to working hard as a Mathematics major and Business Administration minor at the University of Florida,it was a different, more theoretical kind of work…
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I learned not only technical materials but I learned how to think like a banker and fit in with this elite community. I also met some truly amazing…
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As I entered my senior year at Duke, I was very interested in interviewing for jobs in the finance industry, but as a history and religion major, I…
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Insights are written by Swiss Finance Academy and reviewed by its faculty: practitioners from bulge bracket investment banks and hedge fund practice, chosen for industry experience rather than academic standing.
Every article is written from scratch, dated, and reviewed again when practice moves. Where an alumnus is quoted, the words are theirs, as written on the Academy's alumni site.
Insights articles are educational. They are not investment, legal, tax, immigration or career advice, and they are not an offer or solicitation of any security. Recruiting practices change from year to year and differ between employers; confirm dates, eligibility and process on each employer's own careers page. Companies and figures in worked examples are fictional. Alumni describe their own experiences; no outcome is guaranteed.