Honestly, it's getting ridiculous and I am getting so frustrated. I am not getting emails back from alums, and all the online jobs I apply to just do not amount to anything. I have gone about 18 months with no income and it's scary.
Here's a bit of my background. Graduated in 2011 from Rutgers. I realized I wanted to get into banking too late (senior year) so I was out of the loop until then. I graduated and did a temp contract at one of the credit rating agencies. After that I was let go early and have had no income since the beginning of 2012. Around May in 2012 I was approached to join a start up research firm as a credit analyst. Founder is a wall street vet and I took the risk to join. I have learned a lot believe it or not. I have learn financial modeling, valuations, capital markets, etc. But now it withered away into almost nothing. Founder is on the road trying to raise capital and I said I am done unless you can establish salaries. There was a total of 15 of us, and we pumped out pretty good research. But it is very difficult to explain to someone your worth when you worked remotely in a nontraditional environment, and not get paid. I began applying and emailing a few months ago and it amounted to no interviews.
That brings me to today. Can anyone give some advice or at least ask me some more questions to understand my situation better and hopefully provide insight. I am interest in banking/advisory roles or equity research roles. I know it's cliche to say, but I do have a passion for this industry. I don't get bored from modeling all day and I can go on with this stuff all day w/o skipping a beat. People complain about 100 hr weeks, I would love to be worked that hard right about now.
Any advice would be appreciated.
LOL
But anyways, you should network with non alumni too. I am a complete nontarget and I cold emailed all of my contacts and got about a 25% response rate and have been through many informationals (which are extremely helpful even if there is no possible job with them), phone interviews, and a few superdays (not bragging by any means, I know this isn't much at all). Also, I have a 3.1, which is well below par, and as a non target, it has been a deal breaker for many people, but I have persisted.
Unfortunately, based on other WSO post I have seen, it sounds like your only option is go for a Masters (probably not enough experience for an MBA), which of course would not be ideal since you haven't had income in quite a while. Cold call EVERY boutique in your area. At this point, unpaid internships would probably be a bit rough given your situation.
Gluck!
Keep your head up and keep fighting for your dream. You'll get there!
Why not ask the Wall Street vet to introduce you to people. Seriously email everyone, regardless if they went to Rutgers or not and follow up if they don't respond in a week, email then another week following up if they don't respond try to get their number and call if you can't then move on to the next one and maybe revisit them later on.
I've been unemployed since July, and I've been thinking maybe of joining the military. They will pay back a small portion of my student debt which is attractive and maybe try from MBA after that.
it's a numbers game yo
Step one- eliminate 'can't' from your vocabulary
Get a masters, stat. Contact user TNA for guidance. At this point, you're just burning the candle at both ends.
At some point in time you will need to face reality and get a job outside of IB/research. 18 months without a job does not look good and you are digging yourself into a hole. Start thinking about an MBA or MFin to get you where you want to go. There may be an opportunity down the road but you need to start creating value for yourself.
Keep networking and maybe something will come but you really need to start getting some experience.
Are you on the phone cold-calling everyday? Are you following up on your cold-emails?
Have you considered taking an unpaid internship? Yes, I know it's tough, but sometimes, you have to grind it out just for the experience.
what i'm proposing isn't ideal, but it's what i'd do if i was in your shoes.
step one: pick up steady work. you need income to survive (unless you can bum off your parents, i guess), and going another 18 months without a paycheck isn't going to do you any good. if you can get something to cover your bills for the time being, even if it's not finance related, i'd do it. that being said, i'd try to look for something finance related, maybe something in a finance department of a corporation around wherever you live?
step two: keep hustling. hard. i know i said to pick up other work, but you should also remember your long-term goals. if you want to break in so badly that you're willing to put in time before/after your other job to network, research, study and perfect your pitch, then sooner or later, you're gonna get there.
in terms of other things you can do:
make sure to maintain that spreadsheet with your network contacts, so you can keep track of who you've emailed, cold-called, and networked with (and when you last reached out to them, what the response was, etc.). set goals for yourself, so that you stay motivated. when i was stressing for an internship, i aimed for 5 connections a week; 5 emails or phone calls to make new contacts or connect with old ones. even as a full-time student working 2 part time jobs, i hit that 5 people a week mark every week, and managed to get an internship!
don't be afraid to ask for a connection (e.g. if you hit it off with someone but there's nothing for you in their group or at their firm right now, ask if they have any recommendations of where else you might be a good fit, and see if they can hook you up with someone's info over there).
try tapping into your school's career services. i know my university allows young alumnus (graduated less than 3 years ago) to access the recruiting database, so you can still drop your resume and get contact info that way. all universities might not do this, but it's definitely worth a shot.
were you in any student organizations or fraternities? specifically any business/finance ones? i ask because i'm in a business frat, and i'd definitely leverage those connections as well. if any of your friends are in the financial services industry, they might know of a position open at their firm, or they might have some good contacts for you.
finally, in response to "People complain about 100 hr weeks, I would love to be worked that hard right about now." i'd say that you can be working that hard right now. in fact, if you want it as bad as you think/say you do, you should be. spend those 100 hours sending emails, cold-calling, using linked in, researching boutiques in your area, applying to every analyst program that could get you experience, and of course, studying your technicals.
best of luck!
Dude, realize that if you got some non profit job and camped out for a couple years you'd be better positioned for a good MBA program than you are now. Apply to masters programs and/or just start doing SOMETHING. All this blank space on your resume is going to get harder and harder to explain away as you go into two and three years of unemployment.
Just because you can't get the job you want right now does not mean that you be unemployed. It also doesn't mean you don't get it later. But you need to start doing something so that you have something to work off of.
How's the resume? Honestly, it can come down to how poorly you're presenting your experience on your resume. You may be selling yourself short without even realizing. I have seen kids with stellar credential get passed by because their resumes were "weak". Post it on WSO and have people rip it apart. If you still struggle then MSF.
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