Monday, July 26, 2004

 
So you want to be on Wall Street…

Don't major in anything except finance, economics or accounting.

Make sure you graduate from a top tier school per Business Week. 

Skipping grad school until you get onboard at a bank is an option, but it's a catch 22.   Going to a top tier MBA, and breaking into IB (Investment banking)  immediately will result in treading in debt for a long long time.

The alternative is combing the desert of corporate finance for years, hoping to God a recruiter will come down out of the sky and bring you forth into the kingdom of a Morgan Stanley or Goldman.

Skip Corporate finace,  you might be passed up for the big bucks.

As a Wall Street financier, you will be hanging out at the same after work bars as your co-workers.  Initially you will find these places ridiculous, pretentious and probably below you.

However, as time goes on, as new deals come in the door and late nights become routine; a bar that frequents other grindstone number crunches like yourself will come in handy.

But a few tips:

Don't sleep with the bar staff. You need friends for the long haul at a watering hole with resources. You never know who at a bar like this will have heard a tip worth checking out (including whose job in open game at another firm). More jobs, deals, and promotions will occur here than any other place. 

Make sure the bar is at least 3 walking blocks from the job site and don't go for lunch.  You don't want to be seen drinking at lunch and of course and you don't want the perception that you are away from your desk and not working.

For all non-public lunches that involve:

Breaking up with a woman,
Sleeping with women who shouldn't be sleeping with you,
Firing your secretary,
Guys that were fired and want to talk,
or
Shady deals to beat the SEC,
Etc..

Designate another bar of your choosing. 

Again, don't make this bar too far from the office, but  make sure that no one knows it. It can be as nice or as crappy as your choose, but make sure it's quiet and tip the bar staff well.   This will be your library and sanctuary. You are paying to be left alone.

I would recommend a bar butI might be squealing on someone's sacred space.  Don't over think this one. It can be anywhere and doesn't have to be fancy. For example, a friend I knew took the upstairs bar of a TGIF on 50th Street and 7th Avenue for god sakes. Just avoid happy hour.

Now that you have your watering holes (One for yourself, one for business), make sure you know how to get out and relax when the work week concludes.

You will be working 80 hour weeks.
You will always be tired and ALWAYS stimulated.
You will need to know how to relax WITHOUT alcohol.
Get as far away from freakin' Manhattan as possible.

Love it or leave it, it's a drinking town, and you better know how to drink.

Good luck..

you'll make a great criminal if you can just hold your liquor..



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