How to move to more prestigious BB in HK after summer internship

Hi all, I am facing a problem and would really appreciate if anyone can help me out. I am a Chinese citizen studying at a non-target or semi-target (think non-ivy top 20) in the US. I just went through SA recruiting for APAC IBD internships. I got 4 super days but the results are pretty disappointing. I only secured an offer from Barclays and got waitlisted for the others. I am well aware that Barclays IBD is extremely weak in HK and really don't want to go there. However, it seems like it is the only option I have.

I was wondering what do you guys think are the best strategies for me to focus on? I am thinking about securing a FT at Barclays HK and at the same time try to network hard to get into other BB's FT IBD positions in HK. I heard that HK BB are cutting people so its gonna be hard to do so. Another thing I am considering is to network and internally transfer to Barclays in the US, which is in much better shape than HK. However, ppl say this is nearly impossible.

What do you guys think? Thanks in advance for any input.

 

Let me guess, you go to Emory?

Both of the options you mentioned are impossible. HK BBs don't do fulltime recruiting, so networking is useless, and as you've partly acknowledged yourself, it IS impossible to move to US Barclays.

Strategy is to be thankful that you even got an offer, and get that return offer.

 

Why do you want to move to a better BB anyways? exit opps in asia are very scattered and people move to buyside from all sorts of places (it comes down to you making the connection as an individual), if that's what you are concerned about.

If you want to move to a better BB just for the increased prestige, you can always lateral after a few years

 

I interned in HK this past summer at a top BB and can say for a fact that not a single person I know is able to recruit for HK FT (meaning that for some of my friends at GS/MS who didn't convert FT, they didn't get any looks by "worse" banks such as Barclays for FT)

I can only imagine it being even more impossible for SG since those offices are much smaller.

 

I would take your barcap offer any day.

No offer anywhere LOL. I feel like i am a complete joke rn. Really don't want to go back to doing consulting where the pay in HK is a tad lower than half of what IB pays.

 
Best Response

You got offers from Citi/BAML, whats all the bumping about? If its the moving up to GS/MS/JPM thing, it would be a much better use of your time to find and email people who are actually working there. Although I highly doubt even they would be able to give you a decisive answer. FT recruiting is rarely structured in the US where there are way more spots, so I could only guess how unstructured and volatile it would be in HK.

 

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