Programmes
- Insight day / insight evening
- A short event (a few hours to a day) introducing first-year students to a firm. Low commitment, often the very first step.
- Spring week UK, first years
- A one-week programme over the Easter break for first-year students. The most important early opportunity — strong performers are fast-tracked to summer internships.
- Summer internship
- An 8–10 week paid internship, usually in your penultimate year. The main route into a graduate job — treat it as a long interview.
- Off-cycle internship
- A longer internship (3–6 months) that opens whenever a team needs cover, outside the normal calendar. A great alternative route.
- Industrial placement / placement year
- A year-long internship, usually as part of a degree ("sandwich year").
- Graduate scheme / analyst programme
- The full-time entry-level job, often a structured 1–3 year programme with training and rotations.
- Conversion
- Being offered a full-time graduate role off the back of your internship. Most graduate hires come this way.
Types of firm
- Bulge bracket "BB"
- The largest global investment banks (e.g. Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley). Big brand, big intake.
- Elite boutique "EB"
- Smaller, prestigious advisory firms focused on M&A and restructuring (e.g. Evercore, Lazard). Smaller intake, often very competitive.
- Middle market
- Firms serving mid-sized companies — a step below bulge brackets in deal size, still excellent experience.
- Buy-side
- Firms that invest money — asset managers, hedge funds, private equity. They "buy" investments.
- Sell-side
- Banks that advise, raise capital and trade for clients. They "sell" services and securities. Most internships start here.
- Big 4
- The four largest accounting/professional-services firms (Deloitte, PwC, EY, KPMG) — audit, tax, consulting and deals.
Divisions & roles
- Investment banking (IBD) M&A, ECM, DCM
- Advising companies on raising money and buying/selling businesses. Known for long hours and strong exit options.
- Sales & trading (S&T) "Markets"
- Buying and selling financial products for clients and the firm. Fast-paced, market-driven.
- Asset management
- Managing investment funds on behalf of clients over the long term.
- Private equity (PE)
- Investing in (and improving) private companies, then selling them for a profit. Usually hires people with prior banking experience.
- Hedge fund
- A fund using a wide range of strategies to make returns in any market. Often highly quantitative.
- Equity research (ER)
- Analysing companies and publishing buy/sell recommendations on their shares.
- Quant
- Short for "quantitative" — roles using heavy maths, statistics and coding (e.g. quant trading, quant research).
The process
- Rolling basis
- Applications are reviewed as they arrive and spots fill up before the official deadline. Translation: apply early.
- Cover letter
- A short letter explaining why you want the role and firm, and why you're a fit. Tailor it to each application.
- Written answers
- Short free-text questions in the application form ("Why this firm?", "Why this division?"). Often matter more than the cover letter.
- Psychometric / aptitude tests
- Timed online tests of numerical, verbal and logical reasoning. The format is learnable with practice.
- Situational judgement test (SJT)
- A test asking how you'd respond to workplace scenarios — checking your judgement and fit.
- Video interview HireVue
- A one-way recorded interview: you read a question and record your answer. No live interviewer.
- Assessment centre (AC)
- A half/full day combining interviews, a group exercise and sometimes a case or presentation. Often the final round.
- Superday US term
- The US equivalent of a final-round assessment centre — a day of back-to-back interviews.
- Case study
- A business problem you analyse and present, used to see how you think rather than what you already know.
- Competency / behavioural interview
- Questions about past experiences ("Tell me about a time you…") to assess skills like teamwork and leadership.
- Assessment / video game-based test
- Short games (e.g. Pymetrics) measuring traits like risk-taking and attention. There's no "winning" — just be consistent.
Words you'll hear
- Commercial awareness
- Knowing what's happening in business and markets, and being able to form a view. Built by reading the news regularly.
- Networking / coffee chat
- An informal conversation (often virtual) with someone at a firm to learn and build a connection. Normal and encouraged.
- Target / non-target school
- "Target" universities are ones firms recruit heavily from. Coming from a non-target is a headwind you can beat — not a wall.
- Penultimate year
- The second-to-last year of your degree — when most summer internships are aimed.
- Diversity / access programme
- Schemes specifically supporting under-represented or lower-income applicants. Well worth seeking out — they exist to help you.
- Spring into / insight into
- Branded names firms give their first-year programmes — they're spring weeks/insight days under a different label.
- Numerate degree
- A maths-heavy subject. Helpful for some roles but not required for most — plenty of hires study humanities.