Do You Have the Right Skills to Be an Investment Banker?

Having a career in investment banking is a goal and dream that many finance aspirants look forward to. It takes a lot of zeal and hard work to be working in any of the topmost investment banking firms in India. The prestige and the money earned attached to it brings more glamour to the career. However, it is very important to know that this career path, although has fruitful results at the end in terms of the payment, is a road of lots of thorns. Having just a knack for numbers is not going to suffice. You need to have the passion, aggressiveness, persuading power, and quick wit to become a successful investment banker. You need to have a lot of patience since you will be dealing with high profile clients who have invested a huge amount of money. Any bachelor’s degree holder in finance can get into it, given that they have the above-mentioned pre-requisites.

When you deal in investment banking, you deal with everything right from long only funds, mutual funds, shares, stock exchange, assets and liabilities of the clients etc. This is going to demand you to work for longer hours. To put it straight forward, a study has shown that an average investment banker working at higher position does not work less than 60 hours a week, which is around 12 hours a day in a five-day working week (although this is usually in the first few years of their job). As an investment banker, you will be needed to have all the ongoing market trends on your fingertips. To get into investment banking, you might also have to clear certain tests or exams as required by the investment banking company. This test is usually to testify that you possess the skills and knowledge required to become a successful investment banker.