I keep reading that in order to get a job you have to "do the job", that is, know the potential employer's working method and try to figure out a way to improve it. Then go sell yourself directly to a manager. That sounds nice, but it raises some questions. For example, if I'm a recently graduated physics Ph. D. with no previous experience in quantitative analysis, with some knowledge of finance and C++ skills, how may I come up with a smarter approach than that of those who have been in the business for years? I could be told: if you lack the experience, just go ahead with the usual method of mailing a bunch of CV's to every headhunter you find and wait for interviews. That sounds like buying a lottery ticket. Just in case the bulb will light... Is there any list of IB's in London from which I could start my research about how do they do what they do? Thanks.

Cziffie,Not to suggest you're clueless, but you got to send a resume not a CV. Make a real effort to make yourself marketable. If you don't know how, go find some job listings and make your resume fit their desires. Once y ou've done that, make a nice generic cover letter which you can fine-tune later. Then, ask your connections to help you get interviews. Then you can go to headhunters, all of whom are trying to fill the same jobs, so that they can send your resume to the jobs posted on monster.com. Once you've done that, you can send your resume & cover letter yourself to the jobs posted on the job boards, so that the IB's will have multiple copies of your resume in case they lose one of them.

Thanks, Zonk, that was very helpful. I think I'm sort of clueless at the moment, since I didn't know there was a difference between CV and resume.

hmm, maybe it's one of those USA vs England things. In the US, a CV only refers to the academic-type resume with lists of degrees, talks, publications, etc. If you send that for a nonacademic job here, it's like carrying a "I live in an ivory tower" sign and you won't get interviews.

I could be told: if you lack the experience, just go ahead with the usual method of mailing a bunch of CV's to every headhunter you find and wait for interviews. That sounds like buying a lottery ticket. Nearly.It's like being given some tickets, since the cost is very low. The game theory for getting first job is very different than for subsequent ones.As HH I will have to tell you that the ratio of people to jobs is not in your favour at all for any given job.You're being hired on what they think they can turn you into, not what you are, so again there is a difference. Since you've been an academic, you're basically saying"Here are N really clever things I've done. Only N/6 have any relevance to finance, but the other n/5 mean that I can pick up the things you want me to understand very quickly".Of course the N/6 set here is not the same for all employers, so it follows that you need more than one CV. Emphasise different things for each employer. Ideally they should be optimised for each firm ,but that's close to impossible. Fact is that a lot of entry level people go through a single point for a large chunk of the bank. So what looks good to the Credit people is less good for the global analytics team, and how would you find out who is going to make that judgement ? Even two managers in the same area will look at the same CV differently.Some managers like things where you explictly say how keen you are, others think them naff.