Tuesday, July 26, 2005

Inve$tment banking

The Office of Career Services had another event this afternoon, this time it was a panel of recent alumni from various industries. One student who graduated this past May got an investment banking offer from Wachovia Securities in Charlotte. He said that the investment banking deals you'd be working on in Charlotte will be much smaller, more "middle market," as opposed to firms in New York City. You also will not make as much money, but when you factor in the lower cost of living, less number of hours, and the more family-friendly attitude, "we kick their ass."

Afterwards, a bunch of us stayed behind to talk to him. He said that the industry is very cyclical, and banks tend to over-hire during good times and over-fire during bad. This past year the offers (I assume these numbers are for firms out of Charlotte) have been around $95,000 base and a bonus structure that can easily double that.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Abdallah,  
It seems like investment banking is the hot thing.    Are there any other areas that alumni have shared with regard to careers?  Do most people know the path they will take upon graduation?
and by the way...Abdallah is Swahili for Servant of God...

Anonymous said...

From what I have heard from some of the upperclassmen and alums that have spoken to us at these forums, most folks seem to think they know what they want to do when they graduate. But these plans often change. I have also heard someone else say today that historically, the field that most MBAs want to go into (example, e-commerce five years ago, real estate today) is often the sector that is the most likely to decline in the near future.