Speaker: Kevin Lee
Describe an example of a training session and what you learned.
Kevin Lee: My favorite training sessions were the behavioral coaching sessions I had with the mean, I came from a nontarget school. So the career coaches, I would say didn't have the accessibility or knowledge of how to do industry specific behavioral training for, let's say a job at investment banking within a middle market or bulge bracket bank. I mean, had this knowledge and he shared this uh knowledge with me, but he tailored all my behavioral answers and took note of who I was as a person and really got to emphasize what made me unique as individual who was interviewing, which really separated me from, I would say my peers because behaviors at the end of the day is what separates you because everyone is supposed to basically know the technicals. And for those reasons, I really appreciated uh those sessions with the mean and how I became a stronger candidate uh through just careers.
Describe any financial modeling training you received and any materials shared.
Kevin Lee: The financial modeling exercises that I careers provided me with revolved around building out three statement operating models and running a DC F valuation. Uh This was really important for me because I received modeling tests within interviews that EIS careers placed me in. And up until the point of when I was going to take that modeling test, I was looking at practice templates and practice exercises that just careers was providing me with. And it really helped me hone my understanding of how to make a balance sheet balance, how to run a DC F valuation. And what ultimately did was allow me to practice my skills and really hone in on understanding where I might struggle where I'm really good at. And this allowed me to succeed within the interview room specifically, uh the modeling test portion.
Describe a "live deal" you have been able to work on during the internship.
Kevin Lee: So I worked on almost over 10 live deals when I was interning at Nova Capital. But my favorite one was when we were doing a capital raise or initial capital raise of 250 million for real estate provider on the continent of Africa that had $18 billion of assets under management. We were focusing on their uh market in South Africa because of the dilapidated electricity infrastructure. So they wanted to, the real estate provider, wanted to outfit all of their buildings with a solar energy. And in terms of my work on this project, I got to call investors uh source investors, but I also got to work on the pitch deck and do market research and write the executive summary. I also got to update the financial financial market after going to meetings such as assumptions around capital expenditure. And ultimately, I really enjoyed this live deal and all the other deals that they gave me because they worked in emerging markets and it always had an impact whether it be through impact surrounding energy and solar to um education.
Why do you believe the EGIS Careers Immersion Program is beneficial to aspiring finance professionals?
Kevin Lee: I genuinely believe that any aspiring finance professional should use each careers to kind of, I would say buff up the resume or just get new internship experience due to the fact that internships they place you in are, are pretty much exactly what you would need to open doors. Like for example, Nova Capital and all the deal experience I got from there allow me to work in transaction advisory after equity research. And now I'm at a hedge fund uh inter interning within the research department. And I wouldn't have done, I wouldn't have been able to do without building a firm foundation at Nova through their Deal experience and the deal experience that I got um really allowed me to hone and understand what people do in an investment bank, what happens within the deal, um What's important to a seller or buyer and ultimately through all these experiences, it also gave me a way to relate to other finance professionals and something to talk about within an interview room. So it's, it's honestly so important to take that first step and build a foundation
What materials did EGIS Careers offer you before the program start and during the program to enrich the experience?
Kevin Lee: Yeah, just career has definitely helped me try to get placed in any kind of uh interview that they put me in, whether it be understanding questions um that may be asked within the interview uh due to just create alumni, but also providing templates that career alumni have gotten from previous interviews. So ultimately, any kind of interview that I went into, I truly believe that I had a better uh competitive advantage than my peers. And I think whatever competitive advantage you can find um within this recruiting uh world, is it just, it's just very important. So if you can get that edge, I would say, definitely invest in yourself.
Any other tips/advice you'd like to share with prospective candidates?
Kevin Lee: One piece of advice that I would look to give to prospective candidates at just careers is to really understand that you have to invest in yourself. I built a foundation through I's careers by grabbing my first investment banking experience on my resume through them. And that allowed me to open up doors to my next experiences such as transaction, advisory, equity research, and ultimately a research role within the hedge fund. And I genuinely believe that it's really important to take small steps towards your goal.
