Investment banking is one of the hottest careers available right now. It offers high salaries and an exciting career dealing with corporate acquisitions and mergers. Investment bankers help corporations and companies raise funds for different opportunities and walk them through dealings with other companies. Becoming a successful investment banker involves a fundamental and intimate knowledge of financial systems and products, operational challenges, and regulatory requirements.
If you are thinking about making the transition to investment banking, you might be wondering about the value of the multitude of investment banking courses available and their impact on your career. These courses come in all shapes and forms, and you have to check their offerings in order to match it to your expectations. Here are a few things you must keep in mind when going for investment banking training. One of the first things you will want to check is if the course you are interested in is an investment banking certification. Not all investment banking courses give you a certification, and not all of the certified ones are industry recognized. Some of the courses will prepare you to take industry certification exams, but you need to make sure that it is an exam that is valid or recognized in the region you want to work.
Make sure that you research the tutors as they are very important in regards to what you learn. Ideally, they should be industry experts and should provide knowledge that they are familiar with. Once you know the instructor, you will be able to understand the scope and direction of the course. Some courses provide general knowledge about investment banking while other courses focus on exploring concepts in detail.
Now that you know what to look for in investment banking courses, you need to understand how they can help your career. One of the most important things a course will give you is finance related knowledge. Depending on your previous knowledge and the course you pick, you will learn concepts of business valuations, debt securities, capital markets, cash equities, money markets, derivatives markets, and deal structuring.
A good course will incorporate experiential learning through live case studies along with classroom training. This will give you the ability to apply all the concepts you have learned and made you a more valuable employee.
One of the most important things your course should cover is the interview process and how to ace it. Apart from knowing your concepts, you should also stay up to date with financial news and corporations. A good course will conduct mock interviews and give you valuable feedback on how to improve your interviewing skills. A major hurdle most interested candidates face is the interview portion where they find themselves unable to convey why they are good hires.
The bottom line is that there are plenty of courses and opportunities to improve your knowledge available to those interested in investment banking. It is important that you do your due diligence and research these courses and the companies that offer the course. Do not fall for any claims of 100% placements. These courses are viewed as something that adds value to an already strong CV, and you should focus on your primary education first before looking into a certification course in investment banking.
