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As the very name implies, a job in M&A involves advising client companies on mergers (where two companies join business and emerge as one) and acquisitions (where one firm purchases part or all of another).

A number of different organizations take part in the M&A market. The largest investment banks normally advise on and facilitate M&A deals worth $100 million or more. Smaller deals are more often handled by advisory boutiques or by the Big Four (or other) accounting firms.

Careers in M&A are fairly straightforward. You begin with a standard investment analyst job for three years, then move up to associate for three years, then move on to become vice president, director and managing director, though the job titles can vary depending on which bank you've built your career in. Most M&A careers have a focus on an individual sector, such as consumer, financials, oil and gas, technology, media and telecommunications.

Senior M&A bankers tend to spend more time building relationships with potential clients and winning new business. Historically, M&A has required mainly advising clients on possible target companies and the dynamics of an M&A deal. These days, senior deal originators in investment banks are more often relationship builders who advise clients on many of the large range of products offered by their employer along with the financing needed for a deal, not just the deal itself.

Junior analyst jobs in M&A revolve around spreadsheets, marketing documents and financial models. Junior M&A bankers seldom go to client meetings. Instead, they are responsible for evaluating the financial information of target companies and composing pitch books. These are marketing documents that banks use to sell their products and outline details of which companies a client should be purchasing or which it should be selling to.

Though analysts are the lowest ranked of M&A positions, the associates above them are also fairly low down on the scale. The main difference is that M&A associates have slightly increased responsibility for transactions and projects. They can also delegate some work to junior analysts.