In investment banks, there are different levels and titles for employees within the organization. For credit risk management, and at many bulge brackets, you have four distinct levels.
Starting from the top down
- Managing Director
- Vice President
- Associate
- Analyst
The most senior role is normally a Managing Director. Of course there can be Partners which is an additional title added on with Managing Director and there can also be Directors and Heads of the group but these four are normally the ones you will encounter.
For the bulge bracket that I worked at, you are mostly teamed up with one senior and one junior person per team for any given project or credit/borrower/counterparty. The Managing Director and Vice President are considered the senior level members of the team and the Associate and Analyst are the junior.
How long it takes to become a Managing Director or Vice President is really dependent on your contribution to the department, the team and to the firm. Not everyone gets promoted to this level but from what I have also seen, many can find there way to becoming a Vice President, even if they are not the best or most talented at what they do.
For an Associate, you either are hired as one through past experience or out of grad school or you are promoted to the position after a couple of years as an analyst.
For most of you looking for interview prep, you will likely be interviewing for an analyst position or an associate position within credit risk or credit research. Rest assured that if you are new to credit analysis or risk management or even the debt side of finance, that you aren’t expected to know everything or much of anything.
Like most things, you learn more by doing and each firm and team, has ways of doing things that are a little unique to others. You eventually come up with the right way that works for you within the structure of the organization and what you are responsible for.
In terms of your interview for a credit analyst position, for whatever type of role, it is always important to remember that you want to be as prepared as possible but also let your personality and experience shine. This means do the work before hand and prep and practice.
Whether you are highly qualified or know very little, you can set yourself apart and give yourself an edge if you understand what interviewers are looking for. This is why understanding the role, the keywords and topics to focus on, and generally how to perform the tasks at a high level are important – so you can speak of these things and incorporate them into your answers.
If you are looking for more personalized or detailed interview prep and common interview questions for a credit analyst position or for credit risk management then check out some of the resources linked at the end of this article or some of the other links above.
Good luck with your prep and I hope you get multiple offers!
Resources:
- Common Interview Questions for Credit Analyst Interviews
- How To Conduct Credit Analysis
- What Is Important to a Credit Analyst?