How to get a job on Wall Street
At large banks, most entry-level investment banking jobs go to the bank’s own summer interns, and recruiting for those internships starts in the fall of sophomore year.
- Entry-level role
- Investment banking analyst
- Starting salary
- $100,000 to $110,000 base at the largest banks, plus a year-end bonus
- Recruiting starts
- Fall of sophomore year, for the junior-summer internship
Get your recruiting game plan
Answer a few questions about your school, year and goals. If it looks like a fit, you pick a time for a strategy session with our team.
Where our students have landed
The route from campus to Wall Street
Banks fill analyst classes more than a year before the start date. Most offers at large banks follow this sequence.
Freshman year
Get on the radar
Apply to early insight programs for freshmen. They’re often the first finance line on a resume, and where most students meet their first bankers.
Sophomore fall
Recruiting opens
Many banks start hiring for the junior-summer internship. Your resume, networking and technicals need to be ready before applications open.
Sophomore spring
Interviews and superdays
HireVue screens, first rounds and final-round superdays. Many elite boutiques and bulge brackets finish by sophomore summer, and middle-market banks often run into junior fall.
Junior summer
The summer analyst internship
About ten weeks on a deal team. Interns who do strong work get a full-time return offer.
Senior year
Full-time offer
Accept the return offer, or recruit for full-time analyst roles in the fall if you don’t have one yet.
Wall St
Analyst start date
Most analyst classes start the summer after graduation.
If you’re already past a stop, you can still recruit. Students have joined late with weak profiles and still landed at firms like J.P. Morgan.
Start your applicationWhat banks screen for, and how to get through
To get an entry-level investment banking job, you have to clear four screens.
Resume
Bankers spend 10 to 30 seconds on a resume. Yours needs relevant experience, banking formatting and results that read as numbers.
How we help: templates used by 2,500 students and unlimited revisions with a coach. If you don’t have relevant experience yet, we cover internship pathways and positioning.
Networking and referrals
Career fairs and info sessions tell you which banks recruit at your school. Most interviews come from referrals, which come from one-on-one conversations with bankers.
How we help: find bankers beyond your alumni list, write messages that get replies and turn calls into referrals. Many of our students talk to 80 to 100+ bankers in a cycle.
Technical interviews
Expect accounting, valuation, M&A and LBO questions, plus follow-ups that test whether you understand the material or memorized it.
How we help: 20 to 30 hours of technical training, flashcards and quizzes, plus a database of real interview questions from top banks.
Behavioral interviews
Expect why banking, why this bank and walk me through your resume. Superday interviewers give your story as much weight as your technicals.
How we help: one-on-one prep with someone who used to run hiring at a top investment bank, then private mock interviews and weekly group sessions.
Entry-level finance jobs on Wall Street
Most Wall Street careers start in one of these roles. Investment banking is the most common entry point and the usual path into private equity and hedge funds later.
Investment banking analyst
Builds financial models, valuation analysis and pitch materials for M&A deals, IPOs and debt financings. Analysts work on live deals from their first week.
First-year base salary at the largest banks runs $100,000 to $110,000 before bonus.
Sales and trading analyst
Works on a trading floor, covering clients and making markets in stocks, bonds and other products.
Equity research associate
Analyzes public companies in one industry and helps write the research the bank publishes on them.
Corporate banking analyst
Underwrites loans and manages lending relationships between the bank and its corporate clients.
Private equity and hedge funds
Most firms hire after two to three years in banking. A few run programs for undergraduates.
Max Adams
Head coach, Wall Street Mastermind
Max started his career in investment banking at Lazard and Qatalyst, two of the top tech banks on Wall Street, then moved into private equity, where he worked on about $75 billion of M&A deals. He earned an MBA from Stanford while working on a dual degree from Harvard.
He built Wall Street Mastermind around how banks make hiring decisions, a process he has seen from the inside.
Office hours are run by coaches from Lazard, Lehman Brothers, Moelis and BlackRock.
Common questions
Is this a job board or a recruiting agency?
No. Wall Street Mastermind is a recruiting coaching company. You apply to banks yourself, and we help you build the resume, network and interview skills that get you hired.
What is the salary for an entry-level investment banker?
At the largest banks, first-year analyst base salary runs $100,000 to $110,000, with a year-end bonus on top that depends on the bank, the group and your performance. Middle-market banks and smaller boutiques pay less.
Can I get an entry-level investment banking job without a finance degree?
Yes. Banks hire analysts from economics, engineering, liberal arts and other majors. You need to explain the technicals, show why you want the job and get referred. Students from non-target schools and career changers go through the same program.
Do finance career fairs lead to investment banking jobs?
They help you learn which banks recruit at your school and put names to faces. Most interviews come from referrals built through one-on-one networking, so follow up with the people you meet there.
I’m already a junior or senior. Is it too late?
No. Juniors can still recruit at banks that hire later in the cycle, and seniors and recent graduates can recruit for full-time analyst roles.
What happens after I apply?
You answer a few questions about your school, year and goals. If it looks like a fit, you pick a time for a strategy session, where we look at where you are on the route and lay out your plan.
Where are you on the route?
Answer a few questions and we’ll map your plan from there.
Start your application