Hi all, I'm a rising senior at a non target but well respected state flagship. With a 3.3 and pretty much no work experience, am I competitive for any decent corporate job? I'm asking because I'm deciding whether or not to delay my graduation for internship, or just straight up applying for fldps. Thanks!
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I'd say it depends on which fldps you're applying to. For instance, J&J FLDP is quite competitive, and they usually fill up the spots for co-ops and/or interns, which makes it even more competitive for the Fall applicants that don't have co-op/internship experience with J&J.
I'm not aiming for Chevron/GE/Walmart/J&J caliber. Say the lower 250s... Do I have a shot at those, or should I delay graduation/go for masters? I have had 2 internships that are non-legit and somewhat dubious in value, and am doing 1 internship, and have 3.3. Im expecting a cumgpa of 3.5 by the end of this semester.
Do I have a shot?
I'd say maybe. Without any sort of corp fin experience it puts you at a disadvantage.
Haha maybe sounds worrying still. Since you work in CF yourself, maybe you have reviewed resumes and seen what kind of candidates get in? Thanks.
Well, If I was you, I wouldn't jump to any conclusions by just listening to people's answers here. Just keep applying, and if you happen to get an interview, you pass the initial stage of the interview process. You just have to do very well in the interview by explaining what you did in your internships and what you learned from it. It can be anything...but it'd be great if you can somehow link it to finance.
If you don't get an interview at all...not even one...I'd say delay your graduation.
The program I did was at a F50 and the stated GPA cutoff was 3.2. That's not to say people with sub-3.2s didn't get accepted, so if I were you I'd spend the time and apply. What will be important is your demonstrated leadership experience (from ECs) and internship experience.
The program I did was at a F50 and the stated GPA cutoff was 3.2. That's not to say people with sub-3.2s didn't get accepted, so if I were you I'd spend the time and apply. What will be important is your demonstrated leadership experience (from ECs) and internship experience.
Does your internship experience have to be a legit brand name structured program? I have a bunch of unofficial internships.
What do you mean by "unofficial"? A lot of people that make it into the program I did have some type of corporate finance internship, but not always related to my company's industry. I had PWM and hedge fund internships but still made it.
So I know this thread is focusing on University Recruiting for fldps but what about for post-university/experienced hires for F500 FLDP's?
Definitely apply and network. It will also depend on how good of an interviewer you are and your ability to demonstrate real interest. Plenty of people get decent FLDP positions without perfectly relevant experience. Obviously, it helps to have better experience, but it's not impossible by any means.
Have spent my entire career within various F100s and have frequently assisted with recruiting (interviews and phone screens, alongside the occasional campus job fair), both for my specific dept. and our talent sourcing for a rotational program. Hopefully I can give you some insight.
Generally, when looking at undergrads, our baseline assumption is that they don't know anything. So we'll split the resumes 4 ways:
1) Candidates from our target schools who also have good to great internship experience. In these cases, we're alot more amenable to a low-ish GPA assuming they've done well in Accounting classes (or anything finance related) and have some familiarity with popular software suites. We also know that should we extend them an offer, we won't have to worry about losing them to some 'prestigious' service firm partly due to that low-ish GPA. We'll lose some talented kids to Big 4 firms certainly, but when you're looking at potential Accountants it's unavoidable. Side note: I used to love recruiting at BYU. Damn near entire program is made up of dedicated Accounting kids. It was easy pickings.
2) Academic stars. Work experience isn't ideal, but so long as they demonstrate they've got the intellectual horsepower and passion, we'll take a shot on them. Kids who get As in multivariable calculus can easily be taught how to prepare a forecast. The onus in these cases shifts to them to prove their interest and passion both in the field and our company
3) Networked referrals. Assuming the person making the referral has a good employee record and hasn't sent us anyone braindead in previous attempts, we'll almost always grant at least a phone screen in these cases. Makes our job much easier. I remember one guy who cleaned up on the referral bonus program at year end because in one quarter he'd sent us 6 top performers (3 were undergrad hires). Company ended up placing a cap on the program. It got so ridiculous that my boss would have us call him to see if he knew of anyone else interested in coming aboard to save us some time and headaches.
4) HR system: these are the folks who apply online from non-target schools, and recent graduates from anywhere. HR mostly screens the applications beforehand, so what we get are then the best remaining ones. Depending on where the candidate was located, we'd conduct a phone screen. This one wasn't quite as fruitful, but would come in handy for any last minute additions we needed to make. You'd be surprised how many new hires fail their background checks. I could tell stories all day about their reactions once we notify them. I suppose it's another reason why I like those BYU candidates so much.
There were of course other ways to get in, but for 85% of our candidates in any hiring cycle these were the 4 that bore us the most fruit. In your case I'd strongly consider networking my way in while submitting apps across the board. Hope this helps!
Interesting. I actually managed to get some interviews for solid fldps, but I'm worried about the last part you said. I am honest with my resume, but I have a few internships that are unpaid/unregistered/no paperwork (so no W2 and no HR records). I have references/bosses there who will vouch for me. How will you look upon that in a background check?
Some companies are stricter than others, especially at the entry level. My first 2 companies only cared to match job titles and dates, whereas my last one would go into greater detail and ding you over the most minor inconsistency. Luck of the draw when it comes to this. Just make sure the contact info for your references is up to date and you haven't exaggerated your responsibilities too much. And once you get hired get rid of anything that can't be independently corroborated by a 3rd party verification firm. The stakes get alot higher beyond entry level.
What Grind said is spot on. Also, you present your shit poorly. What matters with internships is that you can talk about them like you did something valuable, even if you didn't necessarily have the greatest experience. You have to have picked up something while you were working.
There's no reason not to apply for FT jobs right now. Give it a shot and if it doesn't pan out, you can always ask if they'd be willing to give you an internship for the summer to show what you've got.
From what it sounds like, your resume is very mediocre. That means two things: you better interview damn well and you better have a strong understanding of the fundamentals of finance/accounting (I'm assuming you have a degree in 1 or both of those). Also, is your major GPA higher than your cumulative? It might be worth putting that on there if it is significantly higher.
A lot of companies are already recruiting. In fact you may have missed a lot of the larger companies. That's okay, there are still opportunities out there and you'll have more in the spring.
Things to do:
1) Get your cumulative GPA over 3.5. If you end up not getting it up there, if you have an econ/fin/acct degree, make sure your in-major GPA is over 3.5
2) Get an internship for whoever doing whatever you can related to accounting, finance, etc. Preferably accounting.
3) Get your shit together. Figure out how you're going to spin your experiences on your resume and make sure your resume is perfect
4) Know your resume backwards and forwards, and you damn well better start doing interview prep.
5) Talk to friends / family and see if they know anyone doing what you're doing. Reach out to alumni. Shit like that will help you get your foot in the door.
Fortune 50 FLDP Recruiting (Originally Posted: 07/07/2014)
I am heavily interested in corporate finance and an FLDP program at a large corporation seems like a great place to start. I just had a question about the recruiting/admittance for these programs. If I am going to a top 10 undergraduate business school, can I expect these programs to recruit on my campus? Also, how competitive/selective are these programs to get into? Thanks!
Thank you. I'm really too busy nowadays so I don't have much time to apply for many internships.
You say preferably accounting, however I am not an accounting major. How much does that hurt for corpfin? If it's a huge negative, then I can always add accounting as a double major and graduate late.
You also say that recruiting is over for larger companies. Since I've got nothing at the moment, what are my prospects looking like for next summer? I really hope that once I get less busy (Late Oct./November), I'll still have time to apply and interview for decent internships or FT..
That's not what I said. I said preferably find an accounting-related internship. The company will be upfront about what they want, finance/accounting/economics are acceptable for probably 90% of the programs out there. I also did not say recruiting is over for larger companies. I saw they have started recruiting and you may have missed some of the larger ones.
And why are you so busy? Nothing you have said leads me to believe you are too busy to get an internship. You're not working. Any club/EC involvement takes a backseat to getting a job. Your schoolwork should, AT MOST, take 60 hours per week - and that's assuming you'll have a 4.0 for the semester and you're taking over 15 credits. All that leads me to assume is you're not really serious about putting in the time it'll take to get the job you want.
If you're "heavily" interested at a top 10 undergraduate business program, I doubt you'll have much of a problem. Just don't be a social misfit and get decent grades and you'll have no problem getting these jobs.
fldps recruit on campuses all over the country. But they won't recruit at every campus and CF recruiting does tend to be more regional than banking. West Coast companies don't generally recruit east coast schools and vice versa quite as much. There are obviously some exceptions to that rule. And they are competitive, but if you are going to a top school and doing decently you'll be fine.
If there's a company you want to work at that doesn't recruit at your school, apply online. The school name will stick out to HR and hopefully you have a strong GPA. F50 programs are selective, probably roughly equivalent to Big 4 in requirements, but recruiting fewer students
Okay thanks. Also, do these programs act as internships or post graduation jobs or both?
In addition to what the others have said, I would add that if there is a company you're interested that does not recruit on your campus, it is 100% worth it to check to see if you can find any alumni from your school who work there (or have worked there) in order for them to put you in touch with the recruiter(s) for their FLDP program. I did this with a ton of success when I was recruiting, and now that I've been at a F500 firm for a couple of years, I love it when I hear from students looking to get their feet in the door.
I did a F50 FLP program a few years back, and the company mainly recruits on the east coast and is headquartered in that region. But, I've seen people get in from many different schools across the country - just a higher % are from the target schools.
I used to hire candidates interested in CF and FLDP and I can tell you that although we had specific target schools, anyone who applied from a top 25-ish program got a look. FWIW, roughly half of my hires came from referrals (much easier on my time), so make sure to network/reach out to alumni, though I imagine a top 10 program will draw a huge swath of recruiters
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