At this level, life starts to become exciting. The title of Vice President (VP) sounds grand, but don’t be deceived: VPs are plentiful at any large investment bank.
As a VP in corporate finance, you’ll manage the day-to-day affairs of the associates and analysts beneath you, and you’re more likely to have frequent contact with clients. If you work in sales, trading or research, you should have your own book of customers, more relaxed trading risk parameters, or your own list of companies to research.
You’ll typically be a VP for three years, but you could be here for much longer, as VP can become a bit of a sticking point. “For the first five years, it is very much year-on-year progression if you perform well,” says John Harker, head HR at Citigroup, “Once you make it to VP, however, further progression is not guaranteed. It depends upon a much greater number of variables than at analyst and associate level. These include working effectively with your peers and supporting the bank’s values.”
VPs who fail to progress at one bank tend to move to another one, where they can join at the next rank up – director or executive directors.
Once you reach Executive Director or Director level the top rungs of the ladder are within your grasp. Executive directors or directors (the titles are used interchangeably) are the right-hand men or women of the real potentates of the investment banking world – the managing directors. In corporate finance, executive directors help managing directors cope with the daily whims of client companies. In sales and trading they have bigger and more important clients to call, or even larger trades to place.
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