Business's growth hormone is money. A typical I-banker's assignment is to get money on the best terms. Are you willing to work into the wee hours and do lots of traveling to get a company the best deal on the money? You don't raise the dough by calling a few banks and saying, "Hi, will you lend us some dough?" Here's how investment bankers work: A growing private company needs more money. Should it go public? Issue bonds? Spin off a division? Get bought out? You do complex calculations to help the company come up with an answer. Let's say the company decides to go public and issue stock. You attempt to price it right. Then you hand off the project to a different kind of I-banker -- the salesperson -- who attempts to convince banks, mutual fund, and pension fund managers to buy your stock or bond offering. To sell requires more than a slick tongue, but that helps.
Most I-bankers are first hired with just a bachelor's degree (in any field, as long as it's from a designer-label college at which you got good grades). Your first job is an analyst, a number cruncher. You usually need an MBA before making the big bucks. A couple of years as an I-banking analyst is usually a ticket to top-name MBA programs. But I'm talking full years. In The Fast Track, Mariam Naficy writes, "The amount you'll work in investment banking cannot be overstated. One analyst reported that he bought 50 pairs of underwear because he had no time to do laundry."
In part thanks to movies like The Bonfire of the Vanities, many people believe that investment bankers do absolutely nothing for the world. The reality is that their job is to help companies raise money so that they can bring a better product to market. Even media-reviled investment banker Michael Milken, by raising money for MCI as an investment banker, was key to making the telecommunications industry more competitive, and in turn, lowering all our phone bills. Before deregulation, you were paying 40 cents per long-distance minute. Now, you pay 5 to 10 cents. Thank an investment banker. The most sought-after jobs are at "bulge bracket" firms such as Goldman Sachs, but the fastest-growing segment is mid- to large-sized traditional banks, which are now allowed to participate in investment banking. Careers in Finance: www.careers-in-finance.com/ib.htm . Ohio State U's finance portal: http://www.cob.ohio-state.edu/~fin/overview.htm . Mariam Naficy's book, Fast Track.
http://www.martynemko.com/articles/cool-careers-excerpt_id1504
