Jake’s insights into securing an investment banking analyst role with Stifel

We recently caught up with Jake about how he secured an investment banking analyst role with Stifel, his top tips for the application process and how Bright Network helped him secure the role

What stood out to you about Stifel?

Stifel works in the mid market so they do deals of less than a billion. That told me it’s a smaller company so I’d get more exposure to the whole process. If you’re at a larger bank, you can feel like a small cog in a large machine. I definitely prefer the mid market environments.

How did you make your application stand out?

I went to Bath university and they have a placement year scheme which was part of my degree. I did my placement at HSBC. This made me stand out as I had some prior experience to talk about compared to other candidates. In the interview process, I was trying to be as human as possible. I’d had lots of practice at interviews before this!

What part of the application process did you find the most challenging?

It was difficult to differentiate myself in CVs and cover letters because everyone looks the same. That was the hardest hurdle for me and once I got past that, I could get my personality across. Whilst it’s hard to differentiate yourself, there’s always a risk of doing this too much and making yourself look like you’re not right for the role.

How did Bright Network help you secure this role?

I did Internship Experience UK with Bright Network in the Investment Banking stream. This helped me understand the basics and it was informative and useful. I’ve also applied to many roles through Bright Network.

Did you get any feedback in the past that helped you with your application?

I did get lots of feedback in the past. I think it’s important to take on the most relevant pieces of feedback, but not to change every time someone tells you you’re doing something wrong because you might be changing a lot! I got some advice from the careers service at the University of Bath and they helped me shape my CV and cover letters. For investment banking, your cover letter needs to be pristine and they taught me how to do that. 

I was also lucky enough to speak to some of the recruiters for jobs I didn’t secure before the one with Stifel. They gave me some great feedback which I took onboard. As hard as rejections are, you have to learn from them and take something positive out of them.

What top three tips would you give Bright Network members looking to follow in your footsteps?

1. Differentiate yourself. Find something unique that picks you out of a crowd. This doesn’t have to be academic and could be a hobby you’ve got or something you’ve done.
2. If you get past the CV and cover letter stage, try to be as human as you can. You might feel nervous, but it’s important to get your personality across and show them why they should want to work with you. Try to connect with people and pick up on aspects of their personality to talk about.
3. Don’t be disheartened by rejection. I must have applied to around 60 companies and got to interview in around 10 of them and got to the second stages in 3 or 4. You just have to keep going.