How to Write a Finance Cover Letter That Gets Interviews

What is going on people welcome back to another video by the end of this video You're gonna know how to structure your cover letter for spring weeks internships and grad schemes to a more detailed deeper level Compared to what you've previously been taught or heard So we all know for cover letters for investment banks finance firms for spring weeks internships and grad schemes You should touch on the three key paragraphs. Why the firm why the division and why you but no one really tells you How to structure each of those paragraphs In further detail and so this is what i've realized in the community that I help finance fast track And essentially a lot of people don't know how to write it How what to include inside each of those paragraphs? So what i've done in this video and i'll walk you through it in a second Is i've broken down why the firm how do you break that down? What do you talk about why the division how do you break that down? What do you talk about and then why you want to include so without any further ado? Let's get straight into it. So why the firm? This I always tell students and graduates candidates, you know The more specific you can be the better right and the more affiliations you can include the better but if you want to go to the next deeper level you want to Make it specific but also align it with your own personal story align it to your own personal interests So if you can talk lots If you can talk about the firm in as much detail as possible and make it specific to the firm And tie in your own interest or your own story into that section It just makes the cover letter a lot more stronger and less likely to get rejected So what you want to do when we say why the firm free you want to break? Use this method like for interview questions throughout in general in life Oftentimes when you're given a task or a question it can seem quite daunting, but if you break it into three Points or signpost three different areas. It makes things a lot easier. So for the why the firm question I encourage you to break it up into these three points Uh core values or core principles So every single firm every single bank every single organization is going to have these core values that they stand by Um, some firms have 14 core values some firms have five you need to find those core values and then what you do you pick one core value or principle and Ideally one that actually aligns with your own interests and you touch on that So whatever I have pick one value or principle from the firm's website or you know mission page And show how you've lived it so show some previous experience in your own life, whether that be from Academia or the world of work or university projects, etc. And how you've displayed that value so example Your emphasis on integrity mirrors my own approach as shown when I and then you give your own example So that will immediately be one or two sentences by the time you do all these you have five to seven sentences And that's an entire paragraph And then that's the why the firm section of your cover letter sorted And so what typically for all students and graduates off is they know they need to talk about why the firm but they don't know What exactly to talk about? So this breaks it down the second thing you want to talk about Is name drop someone if you've got a connection that you've spoken to who works at the firm or you've read Um a blog post or an article or you've seen a post or something on the website of the firm That an employee highlighted then you can quote that in your in your cover letter Always try and name drop someone because it builds a connection between you and the firm So if you can do that, great Reference a specific person a talk a quote or a conversation that you had with someone through a linkedin catch-up In-person meeting whatever it might be when I spoke with Joel blogs at the morgan stanley diversity event they described And then they described something unique about the firm that you want to highlight Which reinforced my interest in applying to your summer internship program, you know There's so many different ways you can take this um And then the third thing is commercial point unique to the firm So this shows, you know when you're answering why this firm why you're interested in this firm You're not thinking about the division just yet That's the next paragraph the at the firm level is The brand like morgan stanley or goldman sachs or jp morgan as a whole why are you interested in them in that company as a whole? So this is where you come kind of try and bring a commercial point to it a recent acquisition Um or a recent deal or a recent hire at a senior level a recent policy, um, you know Lots of different ways to take this something that makes the this firm's work stand out. So example Your role as an advisor. This is actually a division specific example But you get what I mean if you're doing why the firm make it firm specific your role as an advisor on the twitter Acquisition by elon musk illustrates the kind of complex market shaping work. I want to be a part of um Or you know right now or for the last year or so a few years Goldman sachs has this whole thing about one goldman sachs where although they've got lots of different divisions They they want to see themselves as just one goldman sachs and all the different divisions collaborate and help each other out So on and so forth so things like that that you can find specific to the firm that will help you So that's why the firm then it comes to why are you interested in this division? so, um Also, if you want to check out the community that I run, oh check out this link here uh school.com slash finance hyphen fast hyphen track Um in there, basically, it's the fastest way to break into the industry um All right. Why the division? Break into the break it into three points. So similar story division specific insight from a connection or own or an employee So your name dropping someone? Talk about the working environment deal team dynamics early responsibility. So on and so forth Good thing is a lot of this stuff Like yes, it's going to differ from firm to firm But once you do this exercise once or twice, you're going to find your flow You're going to be like, ah, I know how to write this next bit. I know what to do The first few times you do it is the hardest it requires the most mental capacity and thinking but after that it gets easier So then it makes life easy when it comes to applying to 20 30 40 roles um, so for example speaking with joe blogs A and also whenever you name drop someone mention their title speaking with joe blogs And an associate in the asset management division They confirmed the collaborative high responsibility environment They confirmed the collaborative high responsibility environment that I excel in This is attractive to me as xyz, you know It just basically you spoke to someone at the firm in the division And they mentioned something that was attractive to you as a result. This is a place that you want to apply to and work in simple commercial point once again, so name drop and then commercial Reference a notable deal transaction investment or project so your work on and then you mentioned a specific deal or transaction so for blackrock recently, for example your acquisition of hps Investment partners, so they recently acquired a private credit Investment firm demonstrated the division's ability to and then you talk about the impact in this case You know black blackrock is a huge one of is the world's largest asset manager And yet they're still investing in acquiring other managers specifically in this case in the private credit space So even though blackrock is so huge They're still focused and they're they are showing a longer term focus in the private credit space, which is attractive For xyz reasons which aligns with my interests in private credit markets or in private credit investing Easy way to find something specific for this commercial point For each firm there's tons of stuff about every single firm on the news online on the internet You can use chat gpt or cloud or any ai Similarly if you want to find something for this division specific stuff or if you haven't connected with an employee and you want to just quote someone from a website or You know an employee look at youtube videos podcasts articles um recent releases or publications from the firm itself their research divisions typically publish tons of Research reports or buy hold sell recommendations So you can quote senior economists and researchers from the firm in those in this section of the cover letter So lots of different ways to go about it, but there's tons of stuff. You shouldn't struggle to find stuff To do this it looks it's easier than if than it looks And then future prospects vision so position yourself as forward-looking this, you know, there's lots of different things you could do you could So here we've got name drop we've got commercial point And then I like to do future prospects or future vision like show them you're forward-looking and you're looking to build a career there But you can add whatever you want. Just make it seem make it relevant to the division and make it interesting So position yourself as forward-looking example With so-and-so market trend reshaping the industry XYZ firm is uniquely positioned to capitalize and I want to be a part of that Be a part of driving that growth um, so in this case Let's you have to work backwards So start with the firm you're applying to and then you need to figure out what are their strengths. So each firm Is going to be stronger than other firms? In certain parts of the market like goldman sachs and jp morgan are great, but they're not the best at everything There's going to be niche firms. Like when you're when you're applying to smaller firms they're going to be specialists in a in a specific area whether it's esg, so environmental social governance investing or Charities or something else each firm is going to have a unique competitive advantage You need to find that so you can easily go to chat gpt and say let's say you're applying to a firm called XYZ investors. Yeah What is xyz investors competitive advantage in the market it operates in? List 5 or list 10 chat gpt will give you 5 or 10 responses Then pick one that you find interesting and then work backwards here So, you know, it's uniquely positioned to capitalize in or you know It's uniquely positioned given its strong competitive advantage in xyz space So then you work backwards. What does it mean for the future of this firm? Um, and then you just basically fill in the blanks. So it's very straightforward um With so-and-so market trend. So this market trend you're going to make it specific to the competitive advantage of the firm in question um And then that's that's literally you do that to one or two sentences for each and you've got your paragraph for why the division And then last but not least you talk about why you so why should the company? Or the person looking at your cover letter give you an interview. Why? What makes you different from other candidates? Here once again break it into three points Why three three is just easy to follow if you just if you don't break it into three You're just going to write you run the risk of writing a big paragraph with no structure. No flow. No You need to guide people. No one's going to look at your cover letter and read it word for weed word for word Sorry, they literally scan through it because there's tens of thousands of cover letters and applications to look through So everyone just scans through so you need to make it easy for the reader Um, that's why I say, you know 350 to 4450 words for your cover letter max Um, don't use the font too small. Don't go over a page 70 to 80 percent of a four pages fine and just make it easy to read not too much jargon Simple. All right break it into three points. So here you're not going to do like a name drop or Commercial point you're going to talk about your previous experiences So look at the job description and see what you know skills competencies that the job you're applying to Requires and then include some of those key competency skills like teamwork analytical skills attention to detail so on and so forth In the in this paragraph So relevant experiences and skills learned and then you back them by specific outcomes Remember the world of bank and finance is outcome driven. They care about results They don't care what you say you did they want to see If you actually got results, you know, don't just say something back it up with an example so example in so-and-so experience I Did this and got the result so be you know, you could talk about as part of the head of Recruit or recruiting head of events for the economic society I planned organized managed six events throughout the academic year these resulted in 84 growth in our social media profile whatever it is As a result, I developed communication skills teamwork skills marketing skills so on and so forth, you know That was that example can be improved But you know you get what I mean So use your previous experiences and this basically Is going to come from your cv Look through your cv look at your experiences find the best bullet points for the best or most relevant experiences And add them here and expand on them a bit more Then you've got so relevant experiences and skills learned then you've got relevant courses or qualifications or projects This is a good opportunity for you to show them that look. Yeah, i'm studying cfa talk about it or i've done this 30-day Investment banking specific challenge as part of finance fast track and this is what I learned Um, i've done the imc the investment management certificate. I'm i've done What else is there? fmva financial modeling and valuation or whatever valuation financial modeling investing courses anything that is finance specific courses certifications Programs that you've been a part of mention them here and then say what skills you developed simple Through so-and-so course I developed xyz skill Achieving this certification or this recognition And then last but not least motivations goals and aspirations Backed by concrete steps you've already taken. So this is important Anyone can just say they're driven or they want to start a career in the world of finance and banking, right? But the true question is can you back it up? Can you back it up by the actions you've taken? Don't don't just tell me what you're interested in show me That you've taken the steps if you're serious You would have done something to help you get towards your goal and the best candidates do things They they know where they want to go and they do things to help them get there And that's the surest way to show someone that you're serious so, you know i've committed to Reading the financial times every day or i've committed to taking on the cfa level one exam Reflecting my long-term goal of breaking into or contributing to the world of asset management or investment management I have committed to completing a financial modeling course Reflecting my long-term goal of contributing or learning about the world of mergers and acquisitions I have committed to managing my own personal portfolio reflecting my long-term goal of contributing to My developing my markets knowledge or investment portfolio management knowledge so on and so forth and You know these can all like these sentences you can tweak them change them They don't need to be word for word like this, but that's basically essentially how you break why you into three points now, um If you I will what i'll do i'll link this, uh resource in the first link in the video description And uh also inside it you like this. There's the why you there's the why the division There is the why the firm and then we've got an example jp morgan asset management cover letter example And we've got an example goldman sachs m&a investment banking division example So that will be linked below for you. Check it out, and i'll see you in the next video. Peace