Investment Banking Summer Analyst Review

Work primarily carried out in PowerPoint. Creating a variety of presentations to serve various purposes, whether this is marketing to secure a client mandate, or producing presentations during a deal. A good example was conducting an M&A screening for a company, and creating a PowerPoint pitch book full of potential acquisition targets based on certain quantitative criteria. For each target we would provide a business overview, latest financials, geographic presence, and any recent corporate financial activity which they have been involved in.

I have learnt how to make PowerPoints look good. Whether it be formatting, alignment, content layout, or even colour, the internship has greatly developed my creative side. Who would have thought..! This PowerPoint upskill has also enhanced my attention to detail. Given the necessity for visual perfection in presentations, I have developed a sharp eye for anything seeming slightly off. I have also enhanced my understand of complex financial concepts, such as LBO valuation, and comparative valuation methods. I have learnt how to tie in these numerical metrics into a presentation without overburdening the page with numbers.

Yes. I held the pen on various draft presentations, including an early draft of an Information Memorandum. This enabled me to truly develop the skill I referenced before; PowerPoint making. Equally, I was also invited to attend various client meetings, including pitch to a FTSE 250 CEO and corporate team. This certainly wouldn't be the case everywhere. Of course, however, the extent to which an intern can take responsibility is limited, by virtue of their lack of training and ultimately experience.

I received ample amounts of support and guidance during my internship, and this started before the internship even begun... I had various team members reach out to me on LinkedIn and arrange calls to discuss the general gist of the work, and more so to just build a rapport. Moreover, I was provided with a 'buddy', namely a junior banker who would act as my informal port of call for any queries. This was an invaluable system.

From a social perspective, the office planned, hosted and set up various social events. These included team lunches, team dinners, team nights out... They were great events to get to know the team better, and have a good time. In the office, there felt a strong sense of camaraderie which made the late nights rather enjoyable. Yes, we worked hard, but doing so around energetic and fun colleagues makes it a great time to bond and form strong relationships.

Very much so. From the work side, I felt I was contributing from the very start, and the team were quick to get me involved on larger, more important things. You really do get as much responsibility as you warrant, which is rare. From the social side, the meals and drinks were a great laugh; I think especially after team changes during virtual working, it is ever more important to ensure the team is tight knit. I would certainly go back.

Yes

Go for it! Best piece of advice would be to get in contact with an employee, all of whom are incredibly friendly, and either meet for coffee or have a call. This is not only a great way to get to understand what the job entails, and whether it is for you or not, but also get your name known by those in the firm. This goes a long when faced with 1000's of similarly qualified candidates.