I just returned from a very enjoyable two day introduction to Investment banking thing and man, it was hell of a fun. When I first stepped out of the Canary Wharf tube station, I was like WOW, this is the place I wanna work in. I guess it's because I haven't seen like skyscrappers in a long long time. It reminded me of City Hall and Shenton Way. And it was so cool how all the men were wearing their blazers, they just look really smart.
So, we got lots of chances to speak to representatives from the investment banks and I was assigned to Citigroup and Morgan Stanley. Excellent stuff man, we visited the banks, and it's just so nice and professional looking, saw the trading floor at Citigroup, damn exciting! And then we were talking to the people within the differnt divisions in IBanking, there is so much to learn, fixed income, equities, derivatives, private banking, hedge funds, global transaction services, risk management etc etc etc. And we were assigned to like do one case study on acquisition and another on trading and it was so fun! It was challenging but not to the extent that you can't understand what is given to you. And then we had to do a presentation after that, and the guys "forced" me to do our part of the presentation. Like halfway through the preparation for the presentation, they did the twistie and said they weren't going to present... ?!?! I was the only girl in the group lah... for both the acquisition and trading one, for some strange reason but it was okae, i still had a great time anyway. I've learnt so much more about Ibanking and i'm pretty sure that's where i'm heading. Private banking appeals to me, quite alot. But the thought of the competition scares me to no end. One of the guys i was speaking to said that there were close to a thousand appplications for Citigroup summer internship and they only took in 30 people. What is the precentage? 3%?!?!
More than ever, I want the job so badly! An internship next summer is so important to get graduate employment. And there is really alot of preparation to do and I've got alot of thinking to do as well. The "role models", as they're called, who guided us in the case studies really know their stuff and I want to be like them too, guess the "role model" title fits well. And the thought of working with people from all over the world excites me to no end. Everyone's from a differnt country! And these big banks have excellent graduate training programmes that will equip you with the necessary skills in the financial market. Good job, good prospects, it's an excellent starting point for fresh graduates. But boy is the competition tough.
This is the urging and push that I need to get my studying going abit. Cos I realize that we're in the 3rd week of holidays and I still haven't gotten much done. It's getting a little worrying. (cold sweat) I'm dreaming of big things now, dream dream dream...
On a side note, i met this Korean guy at the IB session and he really reminded me of Fulun! The look, the slight goofiness. He's really quite funny... his actions. Like he didn't want to return the Citigroup and Morgan Stanley security passes we were given... cos it had our names printed on it and it kinda looked like an Employee pass. Haha! And he was explaining to me about that uphill road ( but feel as if you are going downhill road). Interesting!
I'm starting to acquire a fondness for raw smoked salmon, especially when it's eaten with cheese and bagel. Yummy.
Just let me watch one more episode of Beautiful Life before i Attack my books tomorrow. Discipline Discipline Discipline! My favourite letters are A and D. Sorry for being so random. Haha!
