Mental Preparation

I WANT THE "YES" AND DON'T CARE
ABOUT ANYTHING ELSE

Job hunting at investment banks is not a popularity contest. You will ultimately receive anywhere from twenty to forty No's for every "Yes, we will interview you". When you get a "No" think about this diagram that I found in
What Color is Your Parachute?, a book that I strongly recommend you read:

NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO YES

It is this "Yes" that you want. You know that you have what investment banks are searching for and that you can convey it if they would only interview you. Use volume on your side. Get through as many No's as possible to get to the Yes's while working to turn those No's to Yes's. Knock loudly to be heard.

GENERATING VOLUME

Even though you want a steady stream of resumes leaving your house destined for investment banks, you do not want to mass-mail a computer-generated cover letter and resume to every investment bank on the face of the earth. Instead, you need to customize each cover letter to each investment bank to reflect the needs of the particular bank. Sometimes you may want to also customize your resume, but the chances of entering errors and the pain of keeping up with different versions suggests that it would be better to customize the cover letter.

Expect to eventually be able to pump out a ready-to-mail envelope containing a cover letter and resume every thirty to forty minutes. A quick calculation tells you that covering 100 investment banks will require about 60 hours of your time. Realistically, this breaks down to at least one month of solid work just to initially contact your first batch of investment banks, after you have gathered your company research.

If perceiving the process as a game was the first key then hardcore persistence is the second key to success in job hunting at investment banks. There is a fine line between persistence and being a pain in the neck. As long as you are conscious that there is a difference and you are polite, you won't be a pain in the neck to anyone while doing your job hunting.

Your goal is to keep throwing a huge net until you catch one interview. Once you have this interview then concentrate on turning it into a second interview then a third interview and then a job offer. The main point is to continue casting your net for first interviews while working on the second and third interviews. Of course, when you have the interviews in hand, over-prepare for them.

THE LONG-TERM EFFECT

The one thing I hope you gain from your job search, regardless of the outcome, is to become action-oriented and an optimist. I’ve noticed since graduating that when I think to myself, "I’ve always wondered what doing blank would be like", I find out by doing it. It is truly the best way to approach life. A prominent reporter once said in an interview that the most valuable lesson she’s learned is to attack your fears from straight on. Once you confront your fears and do what you want, it then becomes easier to achieve even greater goals. The movers and the shakers of the world did not suddenly wake up one day and achieve everything at once. It’s just you don’t hear about their early struggles and lesser achievements.

Resolve to be great now – this moment, today, and put your heart into it beginning now. Build a task list that spans backwards from the point of achieving your goal to this moment. Make each task in your list a small, definable goal such as "Tuesday - Draft a quick resume and review it with Mr. Smith". It may be a sudden change and your friends and family may question your new behavior, but ultimately they will admire your laser focus to succeed. There really is no gradual shift to this kind of mindset in regards to outward appearances. You just have to run through the motions first and changes in your personality and outlook will follow. Finally, it goes without saying that the harder you push yourself, inevitably the harder your failures will be. Just constantly focus on your goals and keep going. Good luck and kick some ass!