Ms. Sonya Hooja is one of the Founder-Director at Imarticus Learning. Sonya has an extensive experience in strategy development and project management across diverse industries such as financial services, education, public sector and pharmaceuticals. She has been associated with Accenture (Management Consulting), Affiliated Computer Services (ACS) and the erstwhile Lehman Brothers. Sonya has an MBA from INSEAD.In this article, Sonya Hooja, Director, Imarticus Learning talks about the key advantages in careers in Investment Banking.
A career in investment banking is a highly sought after option by most top brass graduates in universities across the world as it is known to be a lucrative, rewarding field where one gets plenty of opportunities to interact with the top investors in the world, work in a highly challenging, stimulating environment and close deals that can impact the workings of major economies across the world.
Here’s summarizing some of the major advantages of a career in investment banking.
1) Be ready for a challenging professional life: When considering a career in investment banking, a person should consider his skills and abilities in the following areas: mathematical and accounting skills, the ability to monitor and analyze the market, organizational skills, people skills, sales skills, and the ability to communicate well. A person should also take into consideration that, while the rewards of being an investment banker are many, it is a highly competitive and intense occupation that requires long hours and a willingness to travel.
2) An opportunity to work with some of the most talented people in the country: Investment banks attract top candidates from the best schools all over the world. This means that your peers will be smart, highly ambitious, and from very diverse backgrounds. This provides for a healthy, competitive work environment, which will only help you, sharpen your skills faster.
4) Job satisfaction:A career in investment banking can be very rewarding as candidates can experience the joy of making a visible impact on the economy. It’s an exciting job, where you are expected to be on your toes, innovate, manage risk and take decisions that affect profitability of large organizations. Globally, a lot of surveys point to the fact that despite the long hours, investment bankers rate job satisfaction at an average of 8 on 10.
5)Exposure to Global markets: Typically most Investment banks are globally integrated across major financial centers like New York, London, Singapore, Hong Kong & Tokyo. India is uniquely positioned to cater to these markets, which have diverse range of products &services. When you join an investment banking firm you would be interacting with various stakeholders thereby helping you to understand various cultures. This industry prides over the cross border mobility opportunities. There are likely to be investment bankers coming up with new ways to make money as long as there is a market economy, while the rest of us marvel at how they manage to do it.