Banker Personality

Posted something about a traders personality but I am also interested in the personality of a 'typical banker'.

I heard bankers are pretty rounded, well read (can talk about nearly anything in detail), sociable/personable but sharp and absorb new info quickly.

Is this true? What do you think about the bankers you have met/networked with/interviewed with/worked with?

Do some groups have a certain 'type' of banker vs others? Eg are people in TMT 'computer geniuses' or 'wiz kids' compared to a banker in healthcare? Are some more quantitative then others? Or is the mix completely different with no correlation?

 

I find people in marketing are more well-rounded than bankers, although that's a sweeping generalization :)

Maybe 50 person sample size for each group.

The people in marketing were generally more involved in sports, frats, parties, sex...

The athletic scholarship guys i've met from Cornell and Dartmouth tend to end up on Sales desks at Deutsche, Morgan Stanley etc..

IBD guys tend to be more on the tool side from my experience. Not very social, no interesting hobbies etc..

 
Tommy Too-toned:
I find people in marketing are more well-rounded than bankers, although that's a sweeping generalization :)

Maybe 50 person sample size for each group.

The people in marketing were generally more involved in sports, frats, parties, sex...

The athletic scholarship guys i've met from Cornell and Dartmouth tend to end up on Sales desks at Deutsche, Morgan Stanley etc..

IBD guys tend to be more on the tool side from my experience. Not very social, no interesting hobbies etc..

Wow, talk about sweeping generalizations.

I'll make one too for fun: perhaps the people in marketing are in marketing because they were so involved in sports, frats, parties, and sex?

MM IB -> Corporate Development -> Strategic Finance
 
SECfinance:
Tommy Too-toned:
I find people in marketing are more well-rounded than bankers, although that's a sweeping generalization :)

Maybe 50 person sample size for each group.

The people in marketing were generally more involved in sports, frats, parties, sex...

The athletic scholarship guys i've met from Cornell and Dartmouth tend to end up on Sales desks at Deutsche, Morgan Stanley etc..

IBD guys tend to be more on the tool side from my experience. Not very social, no interesting hobbies etc..

Wow, talk about sweeping generalizations.

I'll make one too for fun: perhaps the people in marketing are in marketing because they were so involved in sports, frats, parties, and sex?

I guess you have a point. It's a terrible thing to be involved in sports, frats, parties, and sex. Why would someone ever want to have sex anyways? Seems like a dumb thing to do when peoples' time could be spent updating excel models.

I'll let my friends in marketing know...I'm sure they won't mind taking a break from having sex to learn more about excel.

 
Best Response

What you are describing sounds more like a generalist investor to me than a banker, though I have never worked in banking. Investors in general (not bankers) are very well read / well rounded (in both quant and qual), able to grasp concepts and information very quickly, and basically have a better developed sense of what is going on in the world in general than 99.99% of the people out there. If you work in this business for a while (5+ years) it starts to become difficult to relate to the average person -- I don't mean that from an elitist perspective (although I'm sure I sound like a prick), just that you realize how narrow the majority of people are. The smartest and best educated people I have ever met are consistently investors (vs. doctors / lawyers / etc. -- other elite white collar professions). It's not even close.

Bankers are probably like that as well, though many do specialize in one industry / sector and are not generalists.

 

Bankers are not that social... Why is there such an emphasis on 'fit' questions then and they seek people who are social/outgoing/etc? To remind them of what they were? I hear bankers throw rugby balls at eachother, crack jokes and take any opportunity to leave the office and get a drink (IBD interns told me this).

I find it hard to believe they would hire someone who 'knew all the technicals' vs someone who was rounded. Just speaking from what I see amongst my peers - not representative of the entire banking population I agree.

 

at the junior level, i find bankers to be pretty nerdy. at the senior level, you have to be more socially adept if you want to foster client relationships and reel in deals.

but on both levels, bankers are obsessive and neurotic. trust me, i know ;)

Capitalist
 

I love my Bank of American personal banker. She has a lovely personality, very professional, and make it all about the customer.

Power and Money do not change men; they only unmask them
 

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