Do you have to be innately talented to go into top finance jobs?

<p>It seems that a lot of people are really focused on getting into IB or VC or consulting as business majors. For those kinds of jobs, do you have to be just a "natural"? Is it something that is unlearned and either you have it or you don't? People have commented on the "ideal" person who would be most suited for Investment Banking, so it seems that a huge part of it is natural talent. So, is it something that if you are just "not the type" then you will be guaranteed to be a failure? I'm curious to know what you guys saw in yourself that either made you turn away or continue to pursue a career in finance. </p>

<p>Another thing I was curious about is how people label some others as a "failed investment banker" or a "failed venture capitalist." Does that imply that "failed bankers" are stuck with horrible, extremely low paying jobs not worth the time and money invested to get there in the first place?</p>

<p>It helps to be talented, but I would say hard work is just as important, if not more so. No matter how smart you are, the job applications, interview prep (case, behavioral), interviews, etc. are a pain in the butt and take some serious dedication</p>

<p>Here’s the thing - it’s not about having “it” or not - breaking into IB and MC is based on: 1) school - BIG #1 here, 2) GPA, 3) internship experience, 4) relevant coursework, 5) getting yourself out there and networking.</p>

<p>Although some people are blessed in the networking department, it definitely is not essential - those “chosen” ones are chosen based on the above criteria for interviews, and then based on interview performance for the hire - not some sort of indefinable quality. </p>

<p>That said, if you come from a complete non-target school, then it definitely harder. In this case, there is definitely a quality that is absolutely essential to break in in addition to the GPA, coursework, internships, networking, etc - the quality, however, is not indefinable, in fact, it is quite simply summarized in a word - drive. You’ll definitely encounter many hurdles as a non-target student, so you need to suck it up and really push through anything and everything. Of course, a bit of luck never hurt anyone either.</p>

<p>PM me if you have other questions</p>

<p>IBanker</p>

<p>You have to be smart!</p>

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<p>hahaha do you know what people do in IB and consulting? We make powerpoints and write memos. If you think that requires “natural” talent you’re gonna be in for a huge surprise. All you need to be is hard working and willing to learn. </p>

<p>VC and trading is a bit different, and one could argue that to be the very best in those fields requires some innate skills/instincts. For the most part, however, it can all be learned on the job.</p>

<p>I disagree, I think you do need a natural tolerance level. You need to be able to change that pie graph 200 times a day and also not flip out and beat your superior with an excel sheet when the vp makes you triple check check a draft and then send you 3 more emails to check 3 more times.</p>

<p>Getting into IB as an analyst is not terribly hard. To advance beyond 2 years require different skill sets that set superstars and average stars apart.</p>

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<p>haha too true…so much for the glamour of working on wall st.</p>

<p>Really? That is quite interesting. People seem to consider these sorts of jobs to be almost as rare/hard to get into as being a rock star. </p>

<p>astonmartinDBS and commentcomment–what you two said about how a lot of it can be learned on the job, it still seems that enough people are talking about “raw talent” and being “born with it” that I’m still a bit curious. Is it really just having a natural tolerance plus a strong work ethic? I’ve always thought that to be in this profession you’d have to be the most eloquent, most charismatic person ever, on top of many other things. Could someone completely incompetent become skilled through working hard or will there always be a limit on his or her success because they just weren’t “cut out for the job”?</p>

<p>For those of you who are doing IB or something similar, what did you major in at college? Not all schools offer an undergrad program for business, much less a concentrated degree like you would find at a grad program. Where do you start if you want to move down a similar path?</p>

<p>well…being socially inept will probably hold you back a bit</p>

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<p>hahah wow that makes me feel good. No it’s not as hard as becoming a rock star, nor do you need to be “the most eloquent, most charismatic person ever.” You do realize you’ll be sitting in front of the computer building powerpoints and spreadsheets 95% of the time right?</p>

<p>Honestly, I’m not sure where you’re getting all this information. Breaking into banking is not that hard especially if you go to a top target school like Wharton, Harvard, Princeton, etc. Banks hire thousands of students every year and they seem to love filling the classes with stupid frat boys and sports jocks</p>

<p>I see…maybe there is a misconception about what banking is really like. I think some of my friends have the conception that working in investment banking means frequent 80 hour weeks, and intense competition between coworkers, all of which are insanely smart. There’s also a conception that when you are a newly hired person, your every move is watched. If you fail, it stays with you forever, and isn’t a “learning experience” like maybe in another job. Fail once too many, and no one wants to work for you and eventually you’ll get the boot. That’s mainly how I’ve come to see it, probably because of how glamorous working in banking and Wall Street seems.</p>

<p>As for top target schools, are you mainly talking about graduate programs? I’ll be an undergrad soon, but haven’t gained admission into Harvard or Penn… I also thought about going to an out of state public school. Settled on Berkeley, most likely–is their undergrad program what you might consider somewhat of a target?</p>

<p>So what would be good undergrad majors for IB if business isn’t offered? Also what are some top target schools?</p>

<p>Some well-represented undergrad majors in that case would be econ, math, stats or any legitimate combinations of these that you can pull off. Target schools would be all the Ivies, Duke, Stanford, Ross at Umich, UVA, NYU and a few others. Personally, I think there is a certain kind of personality trait or nature that I’ve found common among all bankers that I’ve met so far, which is enough to generate a stereotypical image in my head but not clear enough to articulate the attributes of one.</p>

<p>Ah, so most target schools are not public schools? Does Haas belong on the list of target schools? How about Notre Dame? From the rankings that US News puts up, it puts Haas pretty high, though I’m not quite sure how accurate those rankings are. Also, businessweek puts Notre Dame at number one, which may be pushing it, because it seems like Wharton is the best. But if Businessweek and US News puts Notre Dame and Haas pretty high up, surely they belong somewhere on the target schools list?</p>

<p>Target schools are the ones which the investment banks go to recruit year after year. They have been doing this for years and they feel the students from these schools are the type of workers they value. They don’t look at rankings every year and make their recruitment decisions by the “flavor of the year” by publishers.</p>

<p>Thus, even if a magazine ranks Wharton #10, banks are still going there to recruit a significant number of students.</p>

<p>Haas is a target school.</p>