Been struggling since the year started, OCR did not go well, post-OCR did not go well, landed a few interviews through networking, but I feel these first round calls were merely out of courtesy as I did not move further along (though i am not discounting another probably cause which is simply fault of my own, better competition, etc).
What I have been doing:
- Networking/coffee chats with Alum on linkedin
- Applying cold/warm on bb/mm/boutique websites
I was originally seeking an IB opportunity, but have since been seeking anything finance related without success.
Still optimistic through these stressful times as I believe I am on the right track, but any advice, perhaps who to target, how to target or what else I can be doing is much appreciated.
what's your follow up look like. say I interviewed you, how would you have closed the meeting?
what do you do immediately after the meeting?
it's now 3 weeks later, what do you do?
what's your "story?" if I were to ask you "why finance?" what would you say?
assuming you're doing all of this right, take a day off every once in a while. hit it hard 5 or 6 days of the week and goof off the other day. it's important to reward yourself for good behavior to keep your mood up. nothing worthwhile will happen at the speed at which you want it, be patient and keep on hustlin.
not sure if this is what u mean by followup, but normally I ask for a business card and say something along the lines of "thanks again for taking the time to meet with me today" and followup either that evening or the next morning/afternoon with a thank you e-mail. in terms of final questions/closing i normally ask about their experiences with the company/etc, but ive been thinking about asking if there are any concerns that i could acknowledge.. seeing as i never get feedback from them as to why i didnt move on.
immediately after interviews i write the thank you e-mails and set them as drafts so that everythings fresh in the head and i can just throw in their email and hit send. If there are any questions that stumped me (i.e. the first time i was actually asked "why finance"), i will jot them down and try to answer them in various forms.
My "story" is along the lines of the following: chose to attend an undergraduate bschool -> attended various club meetings and sat in on higher level courses, really liked what i saw in the finance courses/clubs -> took 2 boutique IB internships over s/j summers -> looking to leverage past experience/education into a fulltime opportunity at x bank because y.
why finance: 2-fold: "finance is complex and challenging, the questions are easy to pose but difficult to answer. answers can be affected by anything ranging from politics to global news and i love how its all interrelated." "the people id be working with are great motivations.. blah blah blah"
and yah, it has been challenging to stay positive with both blatant and passive rejections coming from all the firms, but i buy myself a pint of ice cream like a little girl every friday to cheer myself up.
the main thing I see is that you leave it open ended. if this is job interviews we're talking about always ask "when do you expect to have a decision made by?" "when will you be communicating outcomes to potential candidates?" "when will you be finished interviewing all candidates?" something like that. if they say "1 week" follow up in exactly 2 weeks. if they say 3 weeks, follow up in exactly 4. if they say "no friggin idea" reply with "do you think it'd be alright if I called in 2 weeks just to see where I stand?" and no one will say no.
if informational interview, the last question should always be "what advice would you give someone in my shoes who wants ____ job?" you can ask this to guys who you have no shot at getting a job from and people who you think would hire you, you'll be surprised at the answers you get. when I was doing what you're doing, I've had guys pick up the phone and call someone telling them to interview me, I've had guys tell me a list of all sorts of unattainable things I'd have to do to become competitive (like getting into HBS), and everything in between.
I'm sure you gave a truncated version of your story and why finance but if you have a specific moment or event that caused the light bulb to go off, say that. it could be something as simple as "my golf coach was a banker and he was the nicest guy in the world" or "I always wondered what all the fuss about wall street was in high school until ______ and then I found out what these companies did and it really excited me."
other than the first 2 paragraphs I wrote, you are doing the right things, just keep at it, perhaps call on a mentor and ask for advice (they may know you better), and the ultimate best thing to do is ask that mentor some tough questions. if I was striking out in interviews I'd ask that person a few things, knowing I might not like the answer:
-how's my handshake? -how's my presentation: hygiene, attire, posture, voice, eye contact, etc? -how are my social skills in public? -am I awkward? -what intangible things could I improve upon?
I'm picturing a guy who used to work here who was a Yale grad, had everything going for him on the resume, until you met him. complete social klutz, awkward to be around, didn't bring a lot of the right kind of energy (enthusiastic sure, but just very very awkward). I'm not assuming you're this guy, but I truly believe everyone could improve upon things like this, even if they're minor.
you might not like the answers if they're negative, but the best always want to get better, never forget that.
Not sure if others agree with my opinion, but if I were interviewing you and you said this for why IB I'd probably lean towards thinking you don't really know what your job will entail....at a very high level what you say is fair, but for an IB analyst your job won't really be affected by this sort of stuff too much - at least not like someone in S&T would be affected etc.
Similar for BO/MO work etc - politics and global news aren't going to have a tremendous effect on your day to day work.
Just a small part of the whole picture, but I'd personally tailor my why finance answer more towards the actual jobs you're interviewing for (or at the very least, be a little more specific - your answer is nice sounding but extremely 'fluffy')
Keep it going. Don't ever top fighting. it's tough--I know.
By the way I appreciate your name.
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