GUEST COMMENT: How to leverage an offer from one bank to get another, better, one

Congratulations! So you finally have an offer through 10 weeks of hard worked summer internship or rounds and rounds of terrifying graduate interviews

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You may now want to stop and relax. Fine - particularly if your offer is already with a top tier bank, or you particularly like the people you're going to be working with. On the other hand, an offer from one bank can often be leveraged to get an offer from others. If you want to move to a better organisation before you've even started, here's how to do it.

Firstly, however, a word of caution. Remember that recruiting is a very delicate process and finance is a very small circle. Do not do anything that might damage your reputation; in particular, do not fake that you've got an offer.

1) Don't apply online; do pick up the phone

Some people still are under the illusion that applying online is the best way to get the attention of recruiters. With an offer in hand, the first thing to do is to pick up the phone and call the HR or your contacts at the "better" bank you wish to interview for. Plenty of people have done this before, so they'll know how to respond.

The phone conversation should be very precise and to the point. For example: "Hello, my name is xxx, a student from xxx university. I am calling to find out about potential fast track interview opportunities due to an exploding offer from xxx bank. This is for the xxx division."

2) Interviews will probably be more fit based rather than technical aptitude

If you're interviewing for a full time position, expect questions to be technical. However, if you've got a summer internship and converted offer under your belt, people interviewing will assume you can perform on the job. They'll want to establish whether they would like to work with you for 18 hours a day.

Have a great answer prepared about why you enjoyed the work in the summer with the bank that offered you a place but still wish to come to the bank you are interviewing with. A simple answer could simply be that you spoke with your friends who did their internship with the "better" bank and they all had a great experience, this factor coupled with the "better" bank argument should form a pretty good answer.

3) Don't be over-confident

There are a lot of very smart and talented hard working people in the world. Be humble that you have an offer and approach the interviews like a normal human being.

Being flexible with interview times is also a good thing. Since the offer you are holding is going to explode soon (usually 2 weeks), the HR will do their best to schedule the interviews according to the banker's schedule. Don't be surprised if you get a call at 10pm in the evening from a VP looking to have a quick 'off the record' chat; don't assume that you can relax because it isn't an official interview.

4) Don't talk pay

Even if you're holding 10 offers, stay away from salary negotiations. If you're going for an entry level job at a large organization, the pay is fixed globally. It's very unlikely you can negotiate a raise. Trying to do so will not go down very well.

The author is a student who has elicited multiple offers from investment banks on the back of a successful internship.