Didn't land any OCR interviews at all
Hey monkeys,
My school just finished with majority of it's OCR cycle - at least for FO finance/consulting/trading jobs. I didn't land any interviews save for 1 with a prop trading firm, but I have no inclination to go into the trading world. Got burned.
I have a 3.7 in a hard sciences major and good leadership experience and an interesting summer job last year (not finance related though.) I networked quite a bit but it didn't seem to change much with regards to getting interviews. (Go to UChicago/Northwestern)
Being international doesn't help with searching for jobs at MM/local PE firms. To what level do banks not like to deal with visa sponsorship? (and how much could that have limited my chances?)
Any suggestions/ideas? More info below
I know my resume/cover letter were proof read by many BB/IBD analysts/vp's and I tailored each one to the specific job I applied to.
I'm at a loss to where to go from here. It's hard to keep your head up when the kid with with a 3.3 in econ got the job because his frat bro/dad's best friend interviewed him.
Thanks a lot.






Sorry to hear man. MM /
Sorry to hear man. MM / regional firms are out because they won't be able to sponsor your visa, am I correct? Wish I could help, sounds like you did pretty much everything you could have and the luck just wasn't on your side.
Unfortunately this market is just that bad. Is there any way you could apply to positions in your home country and go home for the summer? Just thinking if you lived near a large international city might have the opportunity to gain some relevant experience. Keep your head up.
Sorry to hear. A bunch of my
Sorry to hear. A bunch of my buddies with great backgrounds are getting killed too. Not a good environment to be looking for finance gigs.
I have heard that a lot of
I have heard that a lot of banks dont like to deal with visa sponsorship and that might have limited your chances. I agree with above that finding something in your home country could be easiest route for right now. Find some finance work that can counter the "interesting" job you had last summer.
"Now watch this drive." -W.
Sorry to hear about your bad
Sorry to hear about your bad luck, man. One thing: bitching about the 3.3 Econ guy who got the hookup isn't going to make an interview land on your lap and chances are if he didn't interview you still wouldn't have been picked. I know it sucks but that's the world we live in: some people have the breaks. Can't change it, so no use in bitching.
I also know you go to Northwestern, no way would a UChicago SCIENCE major come here and bitch about getting beat out by a "frat bro". ;)
Keep your head up though. Look for something in your home region/country. It doesn't have to be IBD/consulting, just something relevant that you would be able to talk about in an interview setting. It's never too late to break in.
^ Agreed with SECfinance.
^ Agreed with SECfinance. I've had to learn the hard way not to bitch and compare myself to others. It is what it is; don't throw salt on another person's game.
I'm in the same position as you (sans the Visa situation). Worst comes to worst, I'll do an unpaid summer internship, which will eat up a lot of my non-existent $.
I am a 3.3 econ frat bro and
I am a 3.3 econ frat bro and I have no idea why you think it is easier to land interviews with that background. I have actually found it to be significantly more difficult. I think there are like 2 guys from my frat who I've ever met who work in banking and the upper-middle class background that most frat guys come from doesn't spawn limitless connections.
Should've gone to Columbia,
Should've gone to Columbia, bro.
Obviously, I kid. Serious advice:
1. look for opportunities for this summer in your country
2. delay graduation by a year
3. prep like crazy for SA 2014
4. ???
5. PROFIT
SECfinance wrote: Sorry to
Sorry to hear about your bad luck, man. One thing: bitching about the 3.3 Econ guy who got the hookup isn't going to make an interview land on your lap and chances are if he didn't interview you still wouldn't have been picked. I know it sucks but that's the world we live in: some people have the breaks. Can't change it, so no use in bitching.
I also know you go to Northwestern, no way would a UChicago SCIENCE major come here and bitch about getting beat out by a "frat bro". ;)
Keep your head up though. Look for something in your home region/country. It doesn't have to be IBD/consulting, just something relevant that you would be able to talk about in an interview setting. It's never too late to break in.
UChicago, majored in econ here. The thing is that not many hard sciences (physics/chem) majors here do finance; there's almost a perception that hard science majors are not really interested in IBD (true to some extent) and only apply just to test out the waters.
To compensate, you have to really network, and I don't mean info sessions.
OP how exactly have you been networking? I suspect there might be something wrong with your method. You should be setting up informational interviews and then following up every now and then, but especially after the resume drop. When I went through FT recruiting, the vast majority of banks that I networked with wound up giving me interviews, and to be quite honest, my internship experience, GPA, and EC's were nowhere near stellar.
Also, nobody reads cover
Also, nobody reads cover letters.
^^^ OP probably overestimated
^^^ OP probably overestimated the value of majoring in a hard science degree, and didn't network as much as he should, especially considering you need visa sponsorship during this extremely tough recruiting season.
You can major in physics/math/EE. It only proves you are smart enough to do the job. As you probably already know, you don't need to be smart to be in IBD. You can train a monkey to do the work. It's more about attitude, personality and communication skills.
What can you do now?
1) extend graduation date by a semester or go for 1-2 year master program in Finance for new recruiting.
2) Given you are from a hard science background and you didn't have an IBD internship before, I have doubts that you will like the work. I had such an internship awhile ago and I felt my brain was atrophying from preparing pitchbooks. Anyway, maybe you want to look into trading, research, structuring, or risk.
3) Apply a finance job at your home country, especially if it is Asia Pacific (including Australia). It would be easier, you would have an advantage to compete (language, sub-culture, & family connection). I would assume your family is reasonably resourceful, since studying in US for foreigners isn't cheap. Maybe you can expand your family business or start your own business. Pull your head out of the sand, and look around. No need to pick up nickles in the US, when you have far more growth and opportunities at home. From personal experience, ROI of a lot of projects in those developing countries would blow your hair back, when you see the numbers and if you can get a piece of that.
Anyway, stop whining, be positive, be open-minded, look for your edge and get rich... who cares if you made your first 100 million from selling ice to Eskimos, prop trading, or doing M&A
Gambler Daily
I felt bad for you until you
I felt bad for you until you started whining and pulled the 3.3 Econ example out of your ass. Which is basically saying that everyone who made it here is a retard with connections and all of the "legit" candidates like yourself were pushed out. Blame yourself.
Under my tutelage, you will grow from boys to men. From men into gladiators. And from gladiators into SWANSONS.
oh dear, sorry to hear that.
oh dear, sorry to hear that. though i applaud 3.3 frat guys for maintaining 3.3.
3.3 is considered really good
3.3 is considered really good in Canada in some of the universities that grade deflate.
seedy underbelly
Should've gone to Columbia, bro.
Obviously, I kid. Serious advice:
1. look for opportunities for this summer in your country
2. delay graduation by a year
3. prep like crazy for SA 2014
4. ???
5. PROFIT
you and your hard-on for columbia.
Flake wrote: Which is
Which is basically saying that everyone who made it here is a retard with connections and all of the "legit" candidates like yourself were pushed out. Blame yourself.
Exactly. If you do not see where you can improve then you need not ask.
See my WSO blogs here.
A. If only 1 interview you
Hey sorry to hear my
Non finance internship is a
I am curious what a "Hard
These are my thoughts: Resume
Yeah I know connections is
If you want a good gig, you
melvvvar wrote: seedy
Don't really have anything to
Do you have any evidence
lamboguy wrote: Yeah I know
double post
First some background:
Your profile and stats are
lamboguy wrote: Yeah I know
gamenumbers wrote: Do you
seedy underbelly wrote: If
Quaneaser wrote: Don't really
^^ FT recruiting sucks at
seedy underbelly wrote: ^^ FT
Sexy_Like_Enrique
seedy underbelly
Sexy_Like_Enrique
timatom90 wrote: gamenumbers
if you strike out at IBD and
gamenumbers wrote: I think
Gambler Daily
Sexy_Like_Enrique
Quaneaser
lol @ enrique freaking out
whatwhatwhat wrote: lol @
agreed
you morons are
melvvvar wrote: you morons
Sexy_Like_Enrique
Buddy you probably got fucked