In the campus of Ivy League business schools, investment banking firms and global financial institutions regularly hold company presentations to introduce their firms and the open positions available where recruitment is being carried out. The content of these presentations inevitably provide a broad perspective in order for students to gain a better understanding of the industry and the business. In these events, students usually get the chance to ask questions about issues specific to the individual company and topics that interest them most.

　　Many students attend these presentations with a very casual attitude and without much preparation. The right approach is to get a schedule of these company presentations before hand, do some research using the resources from the placement office as well as the website. Think through issues that are pertinent to the company and write down questions and topics that can help you gain more insight and knowledge of the company, business and industry.

　　For example, the investment banking unit of Citigroup, Salomon Smith Barney, will be doing the presentation. You should first find out from either the placement office’s event coordinator or from the investment bank’s liaison person on what business divisions will be represented in the presentation. Read through the annual report, recent articles about Salomon Smith Barney and jot down questions about the specific business areas that interest you. For example, you have read about an equity offering in Asia with Salomon Smith Barney as the lead manager. You are interested in joining the Equity Capital Market (ECM) group. You can take this opportunity to find out the strength of their institutional distribution capability. You may also be interested to learn more about the cross-selling efforts of Citibank’s retail channels in the distribution of initial public offerings. Another example is Merrill Lynch’s presentation. You are interested to find out how the new measures to mitigate conflict of interests between investment research and investment-banking business are affecting the underwriting business. One more example may be how the Fair Disclosure (FD) rule affects the communication between research analysts and institutional clients.

　　In addition to learning, most people may not realize this is also a forum for these company’s representatives to “talent scout?outstanding students. If you come prepared with sufficient background knowledge, ask questions with depth and are able to engage these experienced professionals in meaningful conversations, you will naturally be noticed and perhaps identified as possible candidates for consideration.

　　You should find ways to make a favorable impression on them amidst the big crowd of students, get their business cards if possible and ask them about their business unit and office location. After the event, write to these company representatives that you have made a connection and express your specific area of interest. You may want to take note that the company representatives giving the career talk and presentation may not necessarily be on the campus recruitment team. However, you can rest assured that they will liaise with their colleagues who will be doing the on-campus recruitment on “impressive?students they have met.