Exit Resume

Q1: What are the most important soft and hard skills that you have learned from your time in finance?

A1: Soft skill would be managing people, building relationships, and networking. I would also include being able to exercise good judgement in decision making. Hard skill would be financial modelling and understanding the value creation drivers when acquiring a business.

Q2: What did you wish you knew about investment banking/private equity when you were my age?

A2: It’s a grind everywhere, but important to find a place where you like/respect the people. Working with the smartest investors will make you better in the long run, even if it means less comp.

Q3: What is the best piece of advice that you received about work?

A3: Bet on yourself and knowledge compounds – spend the first decade of your career learning as much as you can, so you are best positioned for an outsized outcome on the back end.

Q4: What strategies do you employ in order to maintain a work-life balance in intense work environments?

A4: Need to work on compartmentalizing the mental stress – focus on work while working, and work on shutting off when you aren’t. Easier said than done, but tendency to always feel like you are “on” in this profession.

Q5: What are the most challenging aspects of working in finance?

A5: Hours and the lack of work-life balance – a lot of sacrifice is required to excel over the long-term and stay in the profession vs. burning out after a couple years in banking/PE.

Who Do I Want To Become?

Employer Interview

Post-Interview Student Reflection

My goal with my interview questions was to get a better understanding of what kinds of skills I needed to develop, as well as to gather some advice on career decisions I would have to make. Raj’s responses about skills makes a lot of sense: I saw Raj constantly chat with different intermediaries, and many of the tasks I was given were as a result or for the purpose of working with a number of different stakeholders.

I have not had the chance to apply the hard skills he has mentioned, and though they are intimidating, I am excited to learn the more technical aspects of finance. Raj also provided a number of points to assist my post-graduation decisions, specifically to prioritize my learning and skill set above anything else. This was surprising to me because I had often heard in the past that income (or “comp”) is more important than anything else, but Raj really pushed to choose to work with good investors over earning more.

Finally, I really appreciated his advice on how to manage the day-to-day of such an intense job. I will try to apply his advice on shutting off my mind when I need to and development resilience.