<p>Okay, so I did some research and I now understand that the summer of my junior year I should be working as a summer analyst at the bank that I wish to be an analyst. </p>
<p>Hopefully someone here can help me with some question that have arisen in my mind:</p>
<p>-Before applying for a summer analyst position, is there any other unpaid position(s) that I could do at an investment bank to help build my resume?
-In general, what do these banks look for in a resume and what are some way to boost my resume?
-If the internship is offered in the summer of a student's junior year, how early should the student apply?
-Do students normally apply to just the bank they wish to work for, or do they apply to many banks as they would for a paid job?
-What is the next step after completion of the summer analyst program? </p>
<p>Also, any tips or suggestion for my career path would be very much appreciated!</p>
<p>Basically the deeper you can get it down your throat the more successful you will be.</p>
<p>To answer as many questions as I can:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Yes, there are unpaid internships that many people do prior to their junior year.
These generally consist of things like pwm at a BB, unpaid internship at a boutique, back office (operations or technology), finance division at a f500. Get creative. Some of these are fairly easy to get (bb pwm, internship at a boutique), others (back office or finance division) are more challenging as they rarely accept sophomores into their programs. You generally either need to be a minority or know someone.
The best way to get these is through networking.</p></li>
<li><p>What people look for depends on the person but generally, they are looking for someone who is smart, hardworking and easy to get along with. This generally means high gpa (works hard), elite university (smart) and interesting extracurricular s (fraternity president, d1 athlete, …). Previous experience also is extremely helpful.</p></li>
<li><p>Deadlines for junior year applications depend on when they recruit on your particular campus. Asking your career center is your best bet for this one. If they don’t recruit on your campus, asking the alums you talk to is your best bet. In general, they may start recruiting as early as October/November. </p></li>
<li><p>Apply to everywhere you would even consider working. It’s a numbers game. If you’re at a non-target, they may interview as many as 50 people per spot. </p></li>
<li><p>After your summer analyst position, a fair number of people receive full time offers. There is no exact percentage but barring a particularly bad downturn, the vast majority receive offers. Once you get the summer analyst position, it’s basically your job to lose.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>General tips: Have at least a general idea of what you actually want and know the difference between the various positions before proceeding any further.
Equity analyst, at least to me, implies an equity research analyst. </p>
<p>You say you’re looking for an equity analyst position at an investment bank.
Why sell side research, rather than buy side research (ex: at an asset management firm)?
If you can’t answer this question, or have no idea what the **** I’m talking about, time to do a hell of a lot of reading.</p>