Summer Analyst Review

My role as an M&A Summer Analyst encompassed analyzing financial markets, making a valuation on a company, updating market slides and more. The main quantitative tasks involved modelling on excel and the creation of financial statements valuation models such as LBOs and DCFs. The main qualitative tasks involved rephrasing of sentences and summarizing complex financial concepts into simple overviews.

New skills i learned were attention to detail and endurance of working long hours. Furthermore, I learned how to model on excel by creating valuation models, excel shortcuts, how to review a model and how to make sure a model flows with different scenarios in order to provide the best overview to the client.

I was given the normal amount of responsibility, meaning i worked on tasks related to clients and i was able to attend non-deal meetings with clients. I am happy with the amount of responsibility and it provided me a good exposure to the daily tasks of an M&A analyst

I received a lot of guidance from my team, they reviewed my intern project and helped me understand any issues with slides I worked on. Especially, my team took the time to explain me things which i really appreciated and they emphasized communication and cooperation within the team which i enjoyed.

Good culture and people are very kind and likeable. I enjoyed working with everyone and it was always positive. Sometimes my team did not speak as much which made it difficult to socialise in the beginning, however this became better the more time i spent with my team which i really enjoyed.

I enjoyed my placement in my team however the placement process was confusing and difficult to navigate through due to team politics and necessary steps. Overall i believe the process could be improved by bringing more clarity and a better final selection process for the teams, to make sure everyone involved had a clear outcome.

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Make sure to have your CV stick out, make sure to relate to Japan somehow or to ensure that you have unique strengths tailored to your CV. Another advice would be to positively relate with the entire team during the interview process to make sure everyone likes your company and attitude.