This file contains a description of a current Citi employee and description of the employee experience through a set of questions and answers. It's intense, challenging, and interesting. By definition, working in M&A means that you are involved in some of the most important strategic decisions CEOs make in the course of their tenure, and those decisions directly impact both the strategic focus of the company as well as its stock price. It is also by definition an advisory business where competitive advantage is defined by giving clients the best advice over time. It requires you to constantly learn new things, and to have opinions.

]]> They are extremely talented, but they are also FUN. You spend so much time at work in investment banking, it is critical to really like the people you work with. Citi is the type of place where nerf balls occasionally fly across banking floors at 2 AM. People here take their work seriously, but they don't take themselves too seriously.

]]> I had an amazing summer at Citi. Even though the summer program only lasted twelve weeks, I got such a good introduction to investment banking, to the firm, and to the people who work here that it seemed like a risk to go anywhere else full-time. I decided to interview at two other places just to make sure I was making the right decision for full-time; I could not find a place where I fit better than at Citi.

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Name: Sara Schwerin

Title: Director

Education: Wharton School of Pennsylvania (MBA); Dickinson College (undergrad)

Program: Investment Banking

Level: associate

Region: North America

If asked about your career at a dinner party, how would you describe it?: It's intense, challenging, and interesting. By definition, working in M&A means that you are involved in some of the most important strategic decisions CEOs make in the course of their tenure, and those decisions directly impact both the strategic focus of the company as well as its stock price. It is also by definition an advisory business where competitive advantage is defined by giving clients the best advice over time. It requires you to constantly learn new things, and to have opinions.
How would you describe your team and the people you work with?: They are extremely talented, but they are also FUN. You spend so much time at work in investment banking, it is critical to really like the people you work with. Citi is the type of place where nerf balls occasionally fly across banking floors at 2 AM. People here take their work seriously, but they don't take themselves too seriously.
How did your summer internship help you make the decision to pursue a career at Citi?: I had an amazing summer at Citi. Even though the summer program only lasted twelve weeks, I got such a good introduction to investment banking, to the firm, and to the people who work here that it seemed like a risk to go anywhere else full-time. I decided to interview at two other places just to make sure I was making the right decision for full-time; I could not find a place where I fit better than at Citi.

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