A Message of Hope for Recent Graduates
hi wso, ive seen lots of 2025 graduates who struck out or did not get return offers freaking out, in addition to 2022-24 graduates who have been having a rough couple of years because of how bad the economy has been.
i want to let you know that there is hope for you all and share my story. some of you may have seen me post this in some comments, but i thought i might share it as a post as a message of hope to everyone who's working hard out there.
i was in a similar boat as yours once upon a time.
i grew up quite poor in rural america, with scarce resources and opportunity - with most of my childhood and high school friends either going down a dark road in life or dead, unloved and forgotten.
after grinding for many years in awful public schools, i was very fortunate that a non-ivy t20 target school (NOT my first choice, but still a great college) took a chance on me and gave a full ride, where an alum from a similar upbringing was generous enough to hook me up with an lmm pe buyside gig sophomore year and help me land an eb ibd gig junior year in a top group.
my target school is one where recruiting was good, but there were lots of nepos and trust fund babies, so i was absolutely on top of the world when i signed my eb ibd SA offer.
i will admit that i was definitely not ready for the eb my junior year, was likely the worst intern in the firm's history (probably still am), and, not surprisingly, i did not get a return offer, in addition to graduating into 08, with no job and my family unable to take care of me.
i was jobless for more than a year, working a series of odd jobs, from call center to tutoring to part-time teacher, and wandered across multiple LCOL cities, all of my failures crushing my soul like the entire weight of the world on my shoulders, before an lmm ibd took a chance on me.
the lmm ibd i worked at was a complete no-name in a lower tier city and management was both hostile and toxic. the founder was notorious in his industry for being hard to work with, and i worked on so many materials of deals that never came to be.
coming from my internship experiences, target school, and dysfunctional upbringing, i felt like i was flying so high up in the sky, so close to arriving at mount olympus, and then fell down to earth to work with a bunch of miserable peasants.
regardless, i put my head down, did my part not to rock the boat and do exactly what they told me without question, which allowed me to go unnoticed, before, after a long and grueling process of a year and multiple months, i was offered a better spot with an eb lateral position.
(by the way, i still do have nightmares about the lmm ibd shop.)
from the eb, i made it to mf pe, and then to a sm hf.
while the eb, mf pe, and sm hf were all worlds apart better than the lmm ibd, all of them shared the common factors of grueling levels of work, toxic and hostile co-workers and managers, as well as failed deals.
in retrospect, my experiences allowed me to develop myself to the point where i was able to succeed at better firms, while also balancing that with providing for my family and enjoying all the little things in life.
above all else, i was very fortunate to have experienced failure while i was a junior in college and as a fresh graduate in 08 because it made me understand the industry and office politics better.
hear me out: it is MUCH BETTER to fail early on than later, especially down the road when you have a family and people who depend on you.
yes, my years in IBD + PE were indeed demanding and i was very tired, but it was and still is a lot of fun. i still am very tired, but i have no complaints and im glad that i did it.
yes, my post-grad year working odd jobs while continuing to interview was mentally exhausting and soul crushing, but it was also a fun adventure and im glad i did it.
bottom line, i am beyond grateful to the universe to work in a career that has been the greatest learning experience for me and one that allowed me to break the cycle of intergenerational poverty that has run deep in my family for so long.
im also very fortunate that my kids will never have to experience the struggle that i grew up with.
today, i am a partner at the sm hf, working directly under one of the greatest investors of this generation, who i am proud to call both a mentor and a great friend. and i look back and smile on all my struggles, as each was instrumental to my great career. my wife and i have welcomed our 4th child and i would not be able to enjoy this amazing life without having gone through what i did. this is my American Dream!
there is no success without failure, so my advice is to NEVER GIVE UP!!!
invest in all sorts of modeling courses, read lots and lots of books, network aggressively, delay your gratifications, and take a refreshing nap or relaxing nature walk when the tough times get too suffocating to breathe, but NEVER GIVE UP!!! because your future self will thank you for it.
play the long game and do things today that your future self will thank you for, always.
congratulations on your graduations, and never let a rough start to your career, due to factors out of your control, have any basis on your self-worth.
i believe in all of you!
This is an inspiring and heartfelt message of resilience and hope for recent graduates. It highlights the importance of perseverance, learning from failure, and playing the long game in building a successful career. Here are the key takeaways from your story:
Failure is a Stepping Stone: Experiencing failure early in your career can be a blessing in disguise. It teaches valuable lessons about the industry, office politics, and personal growth, which can prepare you for future challenges.
Never Give Up: Persistence is crucial. Whether it's networking, improving your skills, or continuing to apply for opportunities, staying determined will eventually lead to success.
Invest in Yourself: Take courses, read extensively, and continuously improve your skills. These investments will pay off in the long run.
Balance and Self-Care: When times get tough, take a break, go for a walk, or find other ways to recharge. Mental health and well-being are essential for long-term success.
Gratitude and Perspective: Appreciate the journey, even the difficult parts. They shape who you are and prepare you for greater opportunities.
Play the Long Game: Focus on actions today that will benefit your future self. Delayed gratification and strategic planning are key to achieving long-term goals.
Your story is a testament to the power of resilience and hard work. It serves as a beacon of hope for those who may feel lost or discouraged, reminding them that setbacks are temporary and success is achievable with determination and effort. Thank you for sharing this uplifting message!
Sources: A Guide to Surviving the Recession for New Grads, A Guide to Surviving the Recession for New Grads, Life Goes On..., How I'll survive graduation and you will to, Unhappy at MBB
This is so dope. Hell yea. Never stop never give up never take no as an answer. We get one life, grab it by the fucking balls on hold on for dear life
everything you said here is spot on; because of this mindset, i not only met warren buffett personally, but also attended his last shareholder meeting earlier this month. i would never have imagined this at all back in 2008 when i graduated jobless and unable to move back home with my family.
never give up hope no matter how dark things seem, because you will have many other opportunities ahead of you, though you might not see them at the time.
Congratulations on keeping your head up, and thanks for posting this! If this is helpful to anyone, I am a 2024 grad with relatively good internships (M&A, Project Finance, Transaction Services) and still haven't landed a single interview for a full-time job. It is definitely hard to see through the tunnel after almost a year of applying and not a single phone call for an interview.
I also had a similar experience in an M&A boutique, everyone was super toxic, not only the management. Six months there felt like a never ending 6 years. But now I am thinking about reconnecting with them like a loser and asking if they are recruiting as the situation and the unstable market seem to be getting tougher by the day.
Anyway, keep it going, we don't know what tomorrow has in store for us.
Thanks for the helpful and encouraging post.
I’m ~3 years into IB now – but lately I’ve been questioning the long-term picture. The industry feels increasingly crowded, and it’s hard to ignore how quickly the broader landscape is shifting with AI, while the buy side continues to lose its appeal, accessibility, and relative lucrativeness.
I’m aggressively saving, stuck in this loop of work-gym-repeat, just trying to make sense of where this all leads. Optionality feels narrower. The long game feels murkier. And the idea of jumping off the finance track only to land in a ~$120K corporate role in a HCOL city doesn’t exactly offer peace of mind.
You've seen the full arc – '08, layoffs, dry markets, and then rebounds. So if you were in our shoes today, looking at this landscape, would you still go down this path?
And if the answer is yes – what kept you going when things felt this uncertain? What did you hold onto mentally that made the grind worth it?
Genuinely would greatly value your take.
Not just the macro view – but the internal one. The part that kept your head straight when it all felt fragile....
for me, it was all about breaking the cycle of intergenerational poverty in my family.
at first, i began my college career as a math major, but due to my awful public schooling background, i could not keep up with my peers, who were either prep-schooled, privately tutored since they were young, or just genius-level smart. accordingly, i switched my major to economics and knew that id rather focus on making a living than becoming an academic.
a campus talk from a top tiger cub HF founder at my college made me realize that i want to become an investor. i just was not sure if i wanted PE or HF, but i did know that i would not do IB for the rest of my life.
admittedly, i had a great time at my eb ibd after leaving my lmm ibd shop, but i hated my mf pe days.
my eb ibd firm had a good amount of partner retirements and middle management departures when i lateraled from the lmm ibd, so the firm made it clear that they wanted the analyst class to become career bankers and they promoted upward mobility, combined with great culture firmwide. furthermore, most of my analyst class was fresh college grads and laterals from lower tier banks (such as myself), so under the good culture of the firm, in abundance with the diverse backgrounds of us all, everyone was respectful to each other and very collaborative.
by contrast, my mf pe firm made it clear that they would only promote a small fraction of the associate class, and my associate class was a bunch of hardos who hated each other. also, my mf pe firm had a ridiculously clogged middle management, so despite the strong brand name, none of the associate class wanted to stay and we all recruited for HFs and other PE shops, but kept silent about it when in the bullpen. going to work everyday was soul crushing, as i was dealing with a bunch of sociopaths who put up fake plastic smiles to hide the ways that they would backstab each other any chance they could get.
not only did i get tired of dealing with my PE associate class, but i was fortunate enougb to get a sm hf opportunity that i just could not turn down, and so i took it and i never looked back!
because my mf pe firm was one of the best in the business, i realized that if this was the best that this industry had to offer, then it was not for me.
since then, i have been loving my time at my sm hf, and i can safely say that all the struggle was indeed well worth it!
my advice to you is to think carefully about what you want, and i promise you that it will make enduring all the bs all the more easier, because you now have a goal and are building your skills to succeed at it.
my lmm ibd and PE years taught me the v useful skillset of dealing with people you don't like and that skill works wonders for me today when i deal with LPs and execs who i do not like dealing with.
Oof, I feel that paragraph as a fresh MBA grad in that comp range. Work-gym-repeat. That being said, every few months - I see someone in my alumni network (recent grads in past 1-2 years) find really cool opportunities (fast growing startups, emerging market VC investing roles etc) but all of them are not paying what they once did 3-4 years ago.
Also even in today's world, there are still $150-200K corporate jobs out there for people with 5-10 years of experience. Good friend landed one like this recently after a ~6 month job search (new role in a pseudo product manager role, ex-business analyst).
You're too old to have auto lowercase on
God, another kid who went to a crappy school but still made it. So depressing.
Wouldn't be an inspirational success thread without smoke frog finding something to hate on smh
lol that was a funny zing.
Thanks man, quick question
Coming from a lower class background, how did you process failure? More specifically, when things were bad, how did you keep believing that brighter days could be in the future? I know you mentioned your “why” but I’m sure the thought entered your mind that given your lower class upbringing you might have blown your only shot at breaking away from your past, any subsequent hard work to try and recover from said failure could be futile and your dreams had suffered a fatal blow, forever relegated to watching your peers live out the economic dreams you desperately wanted. (Not to imply you’d be resentful of your peers but similar to a woman who wants to have kids but biologically can’t, would feel a stab of pain watching her friends raise their kids even if she’s happy for said friends)
obviously your story has a happy ending but what was your mental approach when the future looked bleak and it seemed what you’d worked so hard for wasn’t going to come to fruition. how did you motivate yourself to keep fighting however uncertain your future?
that's a very good question and one that i am likewise very happy to answer.
i have a mentor who is one of the greatest investors of this generation who also comes from a lower class background; id like to keep his name anonymous, but i got connected with him through an alumni of my college who is a higher up at his firm.
on the first day, both of us really hit it off due to our similar backgrounds and, for all his successes, i realized that he had also dealt with a ridiculous amount of failures.
when i graduated jobless in 2008, he helped me so much by connecting me with a lot of people in the industry, getting me lots of interviews despite the tough economy, and doing everything he could to help me get back on my feet, but even he could only do so much.
during the time, his investment firm suffered some ridiculously heavy losses from the fallout of the GFC, and i will NEVER forget how, despite his busy schedule, he would still make time for me.
during my darkest hours and lowest moments, i just knew that by having a mentor like him in my back pocket, everything would be okay in the end.
we continued to stay in touch and when i lateraled from my lmm shop to my eb ibd, we caught up over dinner to celebrate; we did not fine dine and we ate very simply at a local mom-and-pop restaurant (the way we both wanted), but we shared a whole lot of laughter, joking to each other that we were just 2 ordinary guys just trying to make a living.
he has since retired from the industry, but i will do everything i can to continue what he started.
when i mentor and train my analysts, my style is heavily influenced from his management style, and i like to donate a lot of my earnings to supporting education and career opportunities for people from similar upbringings as us.
i also talk to him for advice when things get tough, and have asked him multiple times to join my sm hf as a senior advisor or chairman; a request that he stubbornly declined each time, saying that his time is done and that he wants me to shine on my own and be a mentor to others, as he was to me.
i can't stress enough the IMPORTANCE of MENTORSHIP in this industry; it is one thing to learn from and find mentors in people who are the best at what they do so that one day you can become like them, but finding great mentors will SAVE YOUR LIFE!
Thanks man really appreciate it
When did this forum get so zesty ffs
Good day here
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hey friend, so sorry to hear and i have been in your shoes, so i totally understand.
im not sure how much help i can be in the PMs, because at the macro level, perseverance is the only way out of this.
at the micro level, my advice to you would be to definitely work a temp job to pay for rent and food and living, and try relocating to a LCOL city with good restaurants and a good town culture. i found that this saved me so much money and, with nice restaurants which were affordable and nice people in the town, allowed me to live a reasonable standard of living during the GFC.
get a temp job with manageable hours and low stress (avoid manual labor jobs and call centers, speaking from experience, as these can leave you too physically and mentally exhausted to prep for interviews and recruiting), that still allows you to pay your bills and live, while also giving you time to prep for interviews.
following this, see if you can get an unpaid or part-time role that's investment/finance related and list it as a contract role on your resume so that you can fill the gap between getting laid off and now. i found an unpaid corpdev role at a local nonprofit and i listed that as a contract role (contract, and not full-time) on my resume, which allowed me to get interviews, as firms saw that i was building my skills during my time after graduation but still able to start full time immediately when hired.
then, using your money, invest in the right resources. use your school's career website, get linkedin premium, invest in modeling courses, and buy and read lots and lots of books on finance and investing.
just keep interviewing away while you work your temp job, and eventually something great will happen when you least expect it.
you already have a great college and great internship experience on your resume, which should put you ahead of so many people today. i would now focus on standing out from the rest of the applicants and put a unique spin on my resume or life story.
i hope all the above was helpful. keep pushing, never stop improving, and i know you will get back on your feet very soon!
Hi, thanks for the thoughtful reply. I've done all the above--done my fair share of odd jobs, read all the top investing books found on Amazon, have done dozens of DCFs and stock pitches, which helped me a land a top buyside program out of college.
I've made it to several final rounds at great shops, but the current wall I'm hitting right now is that the PMs hiring are preferring candidates with several more years of buyside experience. I'm now realizing the importance of having a senior mentor that could see the potential in my work ethic. After reading your post, I would love to have a mentor who had a similar upbringing so they understand my level of motivation--like you, I firmly believe the dreams you have to get you through your absolute lowest stay with you for the rest of your life. Your mentor seemed absolutely fantastic. That's why I wanted to PM you for further guidance.
At the buyside program I was in, I was pulling 120+ hours/week, staying overnight in the office sometimes--I literally did not open my personal laptop for five months, and that's no exaggeration. I'm just betting on a PM jumping the gun, seeing my level of grit/motivation despite my lack of experience.
hi OP, just wanted to reach out one last time. At this point, I could really use someone who would be willing to take a chance on me. If not, no worries, I understand
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Thank you for sharing such a powerful and inspiring story — it really resonated. It's easy to underestimate how much resilience and perspective early failure can build, especially in such a competitive field.
For those still in the early stages or trying to get back on their feet, I'd also suggest exploring less traditional industries tied to finance and tech. For example, performance-based marketing is growing fast, and platforms like Phonexa offer great exposure to data-driven decision-making, automation, and multi-channel campaign strategy — all highly transferable skills for careers in PE, HF, or even launching your own venture down the line.
Whatever path you're on, keep learning and grinding. You're not alone.
How are there 2022/23 grads that still havent gotten jobs? Is this truly the case?
I think '22 made it out before the rate increases but layoffs / beginning of freezes started in the end of '22. I know '23 that haven't truly started their career or are underemployed.
I graduated 23 and have had 3 jobs in that span of time the first one ib and each after paying much more than the last. Sounds like a skill issue.
My experience is a bit different. Any mistakes made in your career at an early stage means you are essentially doomed in an industry as competitive and brutal as this. Just my opinion.
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