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25 Best Investment Banks to Work for in 2022
Today, we're excited to release our 2022 Banking 25, a ranking of the best investment banking firms to work for in North America. The ranking is based on a survey of more than 3,600 banking...
Editor's Picks
16 Behavioral Interview Questions Big 4 Firms Ask—and How to Answer Them
Why Fintech Is Growing So Fast and How to Break Into This White-Hot Industry
Fintech Disruptors Poised to Thrive (and Hire) Post-Covid
Q&A with Morgan Stanley Business Service Officer Lesley Pickens
Investment Banking
25 Best Investment Banks to Work for in 2021
Today, we're thrilled to release our 2021 Banking 25, a ranking of the best investment banking firms to work for in North America. The ranking is based on a survey of more than 3,000 banking professionals.
The State of Gender Equality on Wall Street in 4 Charts
Each year, Vault surveys thousands of investment banking professionals, asking them to rate their firms in several workplace categories. Today, on Women's Equality Day—which commemorates the passing of the 19th Amendment, giving women the right to vote—we took a close look at the differences between how male and female professionals rated their firms in our annual Banking Survey over the past decade.
The Most LGBTQ-Friendly Firm on Wall Street
It's hard to believe that, last week, in 27 U.S. states, it was legal to fire employees solely based on their sexual orientation—if they they were gay, bisexual, or transgender.
Which Wall Street Firms Are Best for Racial and Ethnic Diversity?
This past fall, Vault surveyed more than 3,000 investment banking professionals. We asked them to rate and comment on their firms’ benefits, compensation, culture, hours, and training, among other workplace factors.
3 Tips for Students from D.J. D-Sol (a.k.a. Goldman Sachs Co-COO David Solomon)
In a recent Exchanges at Goldman Sachs podcast, Goldman president and co-COO David Solomon offers some rather helpful advice for college students. Solomon, who in addition to his Goldman duties spins music in Miami and the Bahamas under the stage name D.J.
Q&A with Harris Williams Investment Banking Associate Bethel Hailemichael
Bethel Hailemichael is an associate in the Healthcare & Life Sciences Group at Harris Williams, a global investment bank specializing in M&A advisory services. Since March, Bethel has been working remotely from his home in the Church Hill neighborhood of Richmond, Virginia, the firm’s headquarters.
Q&A With Rose-Gaëlle Belinga, a Morgan Stanley Technology Associate
Rose-Gaëlle (“R-G”) Belinga is a Technology Associate in the Global Expiry System group at Morgan Stanley. R-G recently spoke with Vault about how she landed an internship and full-time position with Morgan Stanley, the best aspects of working for the firm, and the advice she has for students looking to pursue a career with a top financial services firm.
13 Difficult Interview Questions Top Wall Street Firms Are Asking Now
Last week, we released our latest Vault Banking 50, a ranking of the best investment banks to work for. Our rankings are based on a survey of 2,800 banking professionals, who were asked to rate firms other than their own in terms of prestige and to rate their own firm in various workplace categories, including culture, hours, training, compensation, and more.
Is Sales & Trading the Right Career for You? A Discussion with 7 Morgan Stanley S&T Professionals
Sales and trading careers are among the most dynamic, exciting, challenging, and rewarding. And there’s perhaps no better place to pursue a sales and trading career than New York-based global financial services giant Morgan Stanley—which offers a wide range of S&T roles, for all types of backgrounds and skillsets.
Accounting
50 Best Accounting Firms for 2022
Today, we release our annual Accounting 50, a ranking of the best accounting firms to work for. The ranking is based on a survey of approximately 11,400 accounting professionals, who were asked to rate their firms in several workplace categories, including business outlook, compensation, culture, hours, training, overall satisfaction, and work/life balance.
16 Behavioral Interview Questions Big 4 Firms Ask—and How to Answer Them
This past winter, we surveyed approximately 11,400 accounting professionals, asking them to tell us what it’s like to work for their firms. We asked about culture, compensation, hours, training, work/life balance, diversity, and business outlook.
The Right Mindset for Interview Success
What you believe shapes the way you act. This means your beliefs about interviewing will influence how you prepare for and perform in interviews.
19 Behavioral Interview Questions Big 4 Firms Are Asking Now
On Tuesday, April 14th, we’ll be releasing the new Accounting 50, our annual ranking of the best accounting firms to work for. This year, the rankings are based on a survey of more than 10,000 accounting professionals.
How PwC Is Leading the Tech Revolution in Professional Services
Business is evolving through technical innovation, and PwC, one of the leading professional services firms, is at the forefront of digital upskilling. PwC’s clients range from large global multinationals to small- and medium-sized organizations, which seek out the firm to help improve their business processes, transform their organizations, and implement technologies needed to run their business.
How Top Accounting Firms Are Responding to the COVID-19 Pandemic
This week, along with releasing our new Accounting 50 Rankings, Vault published new profiles of the top accounting firms. In addition to employee feedback from our annual accounting survey, these profiles include information from firms on how they’re responding to the coronavirus pandemic with new initiatives such as remote-work policies, virtual interview policies, and internship and full-time hiring policies.
Celebrating Vault’s Top-Ranked Firms for LGBTQ+ Equity: Armanino, Bain, McKinsey, and Schellman
In honor of Pride Month, we’re highlighting some of our top-ranked employers for LGBTQ+ equity: Armanino, Bain & Company, McKinsey & Company, and Schellman. These employers are those that professionals rated the highest when it comes to recruiting, mentoring, supporting, and advancing LGBTQ+ individuals.
How Vault’s Top-Ranked Accounting Firm Is Responding to the COVID-19 Pandemic
PwC, the No. 1 ranked firm in the new Vault Accounting 50, has been an active corporate responder in the global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
Fintech
Fintech Disruptors Poised to Thrive (and Hire) Post-Covid
After four full quarters of Covid-19, some sectors have withered, while others have expanded. One sector that was growing before Covid and is still expanding is fintech.
How and Where to Find a Fintech Job in 2020
Vault recently spoke with Amy Zimmerman, Head of People Operations at Kabbage, a fintech firm that’s disrupting the small business loan industry. We asked Zimmerman about the current state of fintech and the prospects for job seekers in the industry in the coming year.
Why Fintech Is Growing So Fast and How to Break Into This White-Hot Industry
Brian Hamilton is the founder and CEO of One, a fintech startup that provides digital banking services to the shrinking U.S. middle class.
Q&A with the CEO of Ocrolus, a Fintech Firm Disrupting Document Analysis—and Hiring
Vault recently spoke with Sam Bobley, the founder and CEO of Ocrolus, a fintech firm whose technology quickly analyzes financial documents of any format or image quality with near-perfect accuracy. Vault recently spoke with Bobley about his firm, trends in fintech, the types of jobs available in the industry, and what job seekers can do to position themselves to get those jobs.
How AI Is Transforming Fintech—Plus, Where to Find the Great AI Roles
In the past few years, the most significant changes in the tech industry have occurred in fintech. Initially, fintech aimed to improve and automate banking services.
5 Automation Trends Impacting the Finance Industry and 10 Fintech Firms Driving Them
Finance firms, like many other firms, are increasingly using automation tools and programs to increase the speed and accuracy of their work processes. The reason why automation is so attractive is it helps employees to complete repetitive procedures more efficiently and to simplify complicated tasks.
Ace the Interview
The Big Post-Covid Interview Question and How to Answer It
For many people, the past year has been among the most difficult of their lives. But for others, including branding and marketing expert Vince Thompson, it’s been the exact opposite.
16 Behavioral Interview Questions Big 4 Firms Ask—and How to Answer Them
This past winter, we surveyed approximately 11,400 accounting professionals, asking them to tell us what it’s like to work for their firms. We asked about culture, compensation, hours, training, work/life balance, diversity, and business outlook.
3 Tricky Interview Questions and How to Answer Them
All interview questions are not created equally. Some only require you to provide basic information, while others require long answers and can be very hard to navigate.
How to Ace ‘Guesstimate’ Interview Questions
Guesstimates such as How many ping-pong balls fit in a 747? are among the most unnerving interview questions you can receive.
How to Dress for Video Interview Success
We got used to video interviews during the pandemic. They've become the norm, and it's a good bet they're here to stay.
The Right Mindset for Interview Success
What you believe shapes the way you act. This means your beliefs about interviewing will influence how you prepare for and perform in interviews.
'Why PE?' Answering the First Question in a Private Equity Interview
Imagine that your strong resume, work experience, and influential network lands you an interview at a prestigious private equity firm. Now what?
Acing the Toughest Interview Question: A Q&A with Career Coach Fran Berrick
"Tell me about yourself. " Many people would agree that those four words comprise the most challenging sentence you can hear in an interview.
How to Answer the “Where Do You See Yourself in Five Years?” Interview Question
The theory of relativity: Five years to a whippersnapper like me is a different length of time to someone, say, my mom’s age. To me, five years is basically a lifetime, while to my mom, it goes by in the blink of an eye since she’s done more five-year cycles than I have (though she’ll yell at me if I tell you how many).
Day in the Life
A Day in the Life of an Investment Banking Summer Analyst at
Below is an account of an 18-hour period in the life of an investment banking summer analyst; she works as a corporate finance generalist for Houlihan Lokey in New York. 7:30 AM: Wake up to the repetitive beeping of my alarm; immediately check my phone.
A Day in the Life of a Financial Services Actuary
You've probably noticed that software engineer consistently tops all those annual lists of best jobs in the world. Which may come as no surprise; we hear all the time that tech jobs are hot.
A Day in the Life of A Venture Capitalist
7:00 AM: Arrive at the office. 7:01 AM: Surf TechCrunch, NYTimes, WSJ, paying careful attention to the Marketplace coverage for your industry focus.
A Day in the Life of a Hedge Fund Investor Relations Executive
Wall Street used to be known as a "boys club," and media depictions of women in business didn't help. A decade ago New York Magazine was publishing stories like "Foxes of Wall Street," which rated women in finance by their looks.
A Day in the Life of an Investment Banking Associate at Harris Williams
Based in Richmond, Va. , Maury Nolen is a first-year associate in the Business Services Group at investment banking firm Harris Williams.
A Day in the Life of a Wall Street Analyst
Although not every investment banking analyst who works in corporate finance or M&A for a bank puts in 80 hours a week constantly throughout the year, many do just that. According to our most recent surveys 35 percent of corporate finance bankers say they work more than 80 hours per week, while 60 percent of M&A bankers say they work more than 80 hours each week.
A Day in the Life of an M&A Analyst at RBC Capital Markets
As part of our ongoing series "A Day in the Life," here's a typical 13-hour period in the day of a merger and acquisition analyst at RBC Capital Markets (which has been called "The Goldman of Canada" in our Banking Surveys), proving that it's possible to work in M&A and leave before midnight. This analyst works in RBCCM's Toronto office.
A Day in the Life of an Investment Banking Director at Baird
After slogging away as an analyst and associate, working 93-hour workweeks, making under a measly $247,000 per year, you finally make it to VP. And that's when the big bucks start rolling in.
A Day in the Life: Private Wealth Management Associate at a Major Banking Corporation
6:00 AM: Wake up. My day starts like a lot of other people's on Wall Street.
Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion
How to Be an Ally and Fight Racism at Work
In the wake of George Floyd's death, many people across the country (and the world) took to the streets to protest police brutality and systemic racism. Many people also took to social media and asked, "What can I do to help fight racism where I work?
The Difference Between How Black and White Professionals Rate Their Firms in Diversity
Each year, Vault surveys thousands of banking and accounting professionals, asking them to rate their firms in several workplace categories. These categories include compensation, benefits, hours, work/life balance, training, relationships with managers, promotion policies, and business outlook.
3 Ways Your Company’s Policies Are Hurting Diversity and Inclusion Efforts
If your company isn’t thinking about how to increase its diversity and inclusion right now, it might be asking for trouble down the road. Less engaged employees, lower productivity, losing talent to competitors, and even litigation are all serious risks.
3 Ways to Encourage Your Company to Hire More People of Color
The most successful companies know that having a diverse workforce, especially in their leadership teams, strengthens their organizations. They know that a diverse staff strengthens company culture, improves decision making and problem solving, and gives them access to a wider, more diverse customer base—who increasingly want to work with diverse and inclusive organizations.
Which Wall Street Firms Are Best for Racial and Ethnic Diversity?
This past fall, Vault surveyed more than 3,000 investment banking professionals. We asked them to rate and comment on their firms’ benefits, compensation, culture, hours, and training, among other workplace factors.
The State of Gender Equality on Wall Street in 4 Charts
Each year, Vault surveys thousands of investment banking professionals, asking them to rate their firms in several workplace categories. Today, on Women's Equality Day—which commemorates the passing of the 19th Amendment, giving women the right to vote—we took a close look at the differences between how male and female professionals rated their firms in our annual Banking Survey over the past decade.
The Most LGBTQ-Friendly Firm on Wall Street
It's hard to believe that, last week, in 27 U.S. states, it was legal to fire employees solely based on their sexual orientation—if they they were gay, bisexual, or transgender.
How to Tell If a Company Truly Values Diversity and Inclusion (or Is Just All Talk)
Employers talk a lot about diversity and inclusion. In fact, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a company that doesn’t say they’re diverse and inclusive.
Vault's Top-Ranked Accounting Firms for Women Celebrate Women's History Month
Increasing diversity for women and implementing benefits that help women build their careers has been a focus of the accounting industry for many years. Top accounting firms have long been leaders when it comes to generous maternity leave policies, flexible schedule policies, and work-from-home options.
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