How hard it really is to get your 1st "big boy" job
I really don't want to come off as pessimistic but with all of the back office bashing and "prestige" rankings it seems as though people are forgetting about just how hard it actually is to get in most jobs that require a BA or BS degree. It's a little presumptuous for people with no full time experience acting like they "MUST GET IN GS TMT" or else they will be screwed for life.
I thought I'd mention someone who went to Harvard, graduated with honors, and still didn't get hired in banking at GS: Lloyd Blankfein. He was just like many us looking to get in finance. He didn't have a md dad or come from a hnw family and actually lived in the projects. After being dinged at goldman he went to law school and was a lawyer before coming back to goldman and the rest is history.
Look at any stats on applicants and hires for any investment bank and it's quite staggering how difficult it is. Any BB SA application you see on linkedin will probably have at least 200-300 other applicants. Not to say it can't happen to you because obviously people will get hired every year (I try to read a couple of the wso success stories every week), but by no means is it the end-all-be-all if you don't get in. There are so many reasons why you couldn't get the job and hiring isn't always an exact science. I'm sure just about everyone has been denied a job at least once.
So what? Do the work or shut up. No body cares how hard you tried.
ITT: OP officially announces his retirement from the IBD rat race. One less to worry about!
s.
OP I hate to be that guy, but you are drinking some real strong kool-aid if you think you're just gonna hop on over to Asset Management or that it will be any easier to break in than IBD. AM jobs, especially out of college, are even harder to land than BB IBD.
You need top grades, top school, legit buyside internships and a demonstrated interest / experience investing to just get interviews. When I was interviewing and doing FT OCR at a top target, I progressed to several IBD superdays because my resume screamed banking. While I received an equal amount of AM first rounds as I did IBD, I got ZERO AM superdays simply because of my banking experience. These shops are looking for VERY specific candidates, not just banking monkeys who are happy churn away in excel 90 hours a week.
I also find it semi-hilarious how deluded you are in thinking you're just going to hop on over to Fidelity or BlackRock once you get "some experience". Do you know how hard it is to get a job at those shops? You will be recruiting into a smaller pool than banking against some of the most talented investors in the world with quantifiable experience and track records, who came from Ivys with top grades.
Your statements scream that you no chance to break in anywhere, and you need to reevaluate your attitude and how bad you want it:
"...but I think AM is more of what fits me. I've been wanting to start on the CFA for a while and think equities is my calling."
That is a losing, entitled mindset and is going to bury you before you even get a chance. You wouldn't mind ER or HF? Who would?? Candidates like you are a joke and need to start taking accountability for your failures and change approaches, or stop trying, but for the love of God please stop whining and making excuses.