Feeling lost after not receiving return offer
Just learned that I didn’t receive a return offer for my SA at a top MM bank. Feel pretty shit right now as I worked my ass off to get this internship and also worked my ass off during it. Other SAs who received offers and even a VP on one of my deals were shocked to hear the news. Had a really brutal summer as I had a close family member pass away at the beginning of the summer and it really affected me and this just compounds it all. I go to a non-target, have a 3.9 gpa, and have had a couple of IB/PE internships. Not really sure where to go from here but know it will be really tough for me to land a FT analyst gig right out of school and I will likely have to lateral 6 months to a year after I graduate. Any advice would be much appreciated.
Update: Hey y’all! Ended up landing an analyst spot at a LMM firm! Thanks for your guys support.
Pm
Hey, incoming analyst 1 here who was in your shoes last year. It’s normal to feel dejected and numb at first, especially when you had people tell you that you should be fine and then this adverse situation becomes the reality.
Time is of the essence, but take this weekend to recharge and give yourself a mental rest. When you’re feeling better, I urge you to critically think about your summer and if this is what you truly want to do. Last year, I did this and realized that yes, while the hours were long and sometime the work seemed mundane, the upside and training that this career provides is worthwhile. More importantly, the result of the summer lit a fire under my ass, humbled me, and made me hungry again to prove my former bank wrong through my future success.
If you decide this is truly the path you want to take (and I urge to truly reflect about your summer, your family situation, and the other options out there), here’s what I did the week following the no-offer:
1) Reach back out to places you networked with during summer analyst recruiting. If you interviewed or had a nice conversation with a banker that is still there, reach back out.
2) I know you said you do not go to a target school, but try to hunt down any alumni, reconnect with mentors, or try to lean on any warm connections.
3) Be flexible with location and group. Simply put, you do not have leverage right now. Craft a story for the coverage or product groups you’d like to target, but keep an open mind as any opportunity is better than none. Also, realize that the New York or bust mentality on this site is overhyped and you can have a fantastic career and/or analyst stint in cities like Chicago, Charlotte, Atlanta, Houston, SF, etc. Be judicious in your search for openings and leave no stone unturned.
I can’t stress enough that while it may feel like the world is against you right now and that all hope is lost. It isn’t. You still have a stellar summer internship and are well-ahead of the average 21-year old college kid, much less the average 21-year old in this country. You must stay warm, positive, and upbeat in interviews, even when you’re pressed about not having a return or your work this summer.
Initiative and confidence are your best friends now. The business world moves through those who take initiative and grab life by the balls, especially when your back is against the wall and it seems all hope is lost.
You got this! Cheers.
Thank you, this is incredibly helpful and inspiring! I have been giving it some thought about whether or not this job is for me. I think it's something I'd like to stick to but maybe I can think a little more once my head is in a better place emotionally. I want to put my ego aside and evaluate what truly matters to me. I too would like to prove my firm wrong in showing them I can succeed.
This happened to me almost a decade ago at a top bank / group after grinding at a non-target. I just immediately got back on the networking game and ended up getting a less ideal role at a satellite office.
Turns out it was the best outcome looking back. Better deal reps and exposure given it was a smaller office. Had a great two years and ended up transitioning to a MF PE role. I know things may seem bleak and it feels like the end of the world (it sure did for me), but if you keep up the attitude that got you a top MM SA offer from a non target, I’m sure you’ll land in a good spot for FT. From there, the world is your oyster as long you work hard, put yourself in the right places and show passion for the industry. Good luck
Thank you for the advice - it's refreshing to hear that you can still be successful even after a setback like this. I know that I'm capable of this job, and despite this attempt not working out know I can land myself a spot if I try hard enough. It all seems bleak as of now but as I've had people tell me, careers are decades long and likely even a year or two from now this won't matter.
This happened to me last summer - was also a non-target, so I understand the struggle in even getting the foot in the door. I had a good breakdown over it, but then a few days later, I started cold-emailing and even reached out to people at other banks I had interviewed at. You'll notice that people are a lot more receptive to chatting with your summer bank's credibility. IB FT recruiting is The Hunger Games, so have a contingency industry/area in place. I would also say be open to reaching out to more places - I know you might only want to aim for banks in the same rank as your MM and above, but FT recruiting is truly brutal, so be more open-minded. I know it seems awful right now, but just keep your head high and it'll all work out in the end!
Appreciate the advice man. It obviously has been a tough last couple of days since learning about this. But am starting to realize that feeling sorry for myself isn't going to change anything. I know that I was able to get myself to this point with the little resources I had, so I know I can get myself back to it with enough effort.
What was the feedback?
Unlikely the VPs on the deals you worked with were unaware and not involved in the decision to give or not to give you a return offer. Would put money on them just not wanting to have an awkward conversation
Also, why would you need to lateral after 6 months?
Was told my communication skills and attention to detail were not meeting the bar. Was given the same feedback at midpoint reviews and I know I really worked on it and asked my talent manager a week and a half earlier if he could see if I was improving with the people I worked with. He told me that people saw I was improving and we didn’t need to have a conversation about my performance and then get this dropped during final reviews. Was told my work was in the “upper echelons” of the SAs. About the lateral question, I’m just not sure if I can land another IB role. Going to give it everything I got to get one but know I may need to start in a less than ideal role.
Stand by my prior statement on the VP. Be very careful around them and do not trust them. 95% chance they either gave the feedback or didn't care enough to pass on that you have been improving.
Would focus on the communication aspect. Usually that's either 1) you're not doing a good job managing competing deals or being practive in saying where you are vs. timelines or 2) the team is worried you'll embarass them if they put you in front of a client (could be your language is too casual, you look uncomfortable around people, etc.,). 2 feels less likely if you networked your way into the role
Do your best to get real feedback on the communication piece and tangible examples. That's the one that matters the most
All that said, breathe and try to relax and keep an open mind looking across new roles for full time. You may get another FT IB role, you may not. Either way your still lightyears ahead of where I was coming out of undergrad. There is nothing wrong with starting in an FP&A type role and moving your way over to IB and then eventually where you want to go.
You are going to be fine and are still in a great position
Banking is filled with deeply disturbed people. The communication point can be anything. Some VPs (associates too for that matter) need constant communication of “where things stand” and all that. It’s a fine line though because people like myself (VP) honestly just want the work done by deadline and don’t need an update every 20 mins.
It may be a blessing. Industry is really terrible and skipping banking to do something sustainable may put you on a better path and not shave years off your life. The exits aren’t as good as one would think from outside, especially at middle market. You’d likely be doing LMM / MM PE which is another animal with increased stress levels.
Take a second to regroup. Know this seems like the worst thing in the world right now but banking seriously sucks. Have been doing this for 7 years now and it does not get better. If I could have done it over I would have: gone into something more sustainable out of college (maybe corp dev?) and have been 7 years in, senior role, making good money with reasonable WLB.
Thanks for giving a good perspective here. It just hurts a lot because I worked so hard to get this job and I can’t even really think of anything during the internship that I did overtly wrong. I was more actively involved on my deals than some SAs who received offers. Mistakes were absolutely made along the way and by no means was I perfect. I’m exploring other paths this week. Consulting might be something to look into but obviously the grass isn’t always greener on the other side of the fence. I’m confident I can land something good, I’m just uncertain of when and what that’ll be. 
I would skip banking entirely. What happened to you here will happen during bonuses / reviews etc. It’s mostly a popularity contest. In banking the golden handcuffs go on pretty quickly whereas you could just build a more sustainable career elsewhere and by the time you would have exited banking you’d already have a few years experience elsewhere
A lot of your competitors for FT are going to be people who didn't do IB at all, or people who are otherwise weaker. So don't let any perceptions of long odds fool you . . there are going to be seats and people will need to fill them, and you'll be one of the strongest.
Your big differentiator can be people from the bank who will vouch for you. So make sure you get those.
I had a similar story and was able to land several interviews at mid-market banks even in a horrible market. Just focus on networking and finding the strongest FT role you can
How were you able to spin not getting a return in interviews? Based on my feedback seems like soft skills were the issue but my hunch is that it was more of a cultural clash, as one of the analysts I was staffed with has a reputation around the office for being a bit of a negative Nancy and he was cold towards me when I made efforts at trying to connect with him. Certainly made mistakes with what I mentioned before, I know in the first half of the internship my communication was not up to where it needed to be. But felt like I made the appropriate changes and was on par with other SAs.
I was upfront about it but also made it clear that the outcome didn't reflect on my work quality and was instead due to headcount issues, and I followed that up with telling them that I have five contacts from that firm I could give them after the interview who would vouch for my work ethic over the phone / email.
This happened to me last summer. Spent the summer networking just incase I didn’t get the return offer. My advice is just network as much as you can while coming up with a good story on why you want a different job. It was really demoralizing but I ended up getting a FT offer better than my internship. Came from a semi-target btw.
That’s awesome to hear. How were you able to spin not getting a return offer in your interviews if you don’t mind me asking?
I didn’t come from IB I came from a credit investing role to DCM/LevFin so I talked about how I enjoyed learning about credit risk and assessing loans/bonds but I wanted to learn more about how they are originated/syndicated. Essentially said I wanted to learn the sell side POV of credit
I can't emphasize that second sentence enough. I remember being told early on in my MBA internship (not IB) that we likely wouldn't get return offers due to budget - props to HR being straight up with me and my manager confirming that. I ended up taking the summer lightly after work / during light hours and I wish I just took networking calls. Heck, my manager probaby would have encourage me to step away a few times a week to do this.
OP sorry this happened to you. The communication part is something you can continue to work on. I know an MBA classmate that went into corporate finance, had an internship where her work was highly regarded but didn't get an offer largely due to lack of communication / getting to know how the orgainzation through networking. Ended up getting a better FT job than what they would have offered (although it took her awhile after graduating to land it).
I’m an a2a at a BB, but before this I got no return from my corp banking internship. It was for bs reasons (I have the right to say this now) but I definitely left feeling devastated and lost for some time.
I took another shot at recruiting and landed a role in IB. Now on the other side I interview candidates for graduate positions and they’re nowhere near as impressive as i thought you would need to be to meet the bar for these roles.
All this to say, take the time to decompress and keep your head up. It is not over for you if you want it.
I’m glad I landed IB in the end. Coming from a pretty working class background the money has been life changing and its set the foundation for my career
That being said, if I had my time again I’d more carefully consider the plethora of other options out there. In the span of 4 years things have changed a lot and I’m seeing smart kids shoot off into all different directions, not just IB.
Feel assured in the fact you have great experience and should be well placed to recruit for roles of all kinds
current intern in CB nyc most likely not getting RO because of the bank scaling down in US, could I dm you for advice?
Sure
Highkey feeling like this is gonna be me soon, but I’ll update and if so we can chat about it lmao
Hope not man - it’s a really shitty feeling. Was blind sided by it and feel like a lot of it was elements out of my control
Ended up happening to me today unfortunately
Happened to me for head count issues out
Did it all work out ?!??
OP here. I'm going to get my MSF at top school (Vandy/WashU, etc.) and interning at a buyside firm I was previously at. Going to give it a shot at landing an FT gig for 2027 FT. I've just been looking at IB and also interviewed for a family office too, but haven't landed anything yet that I want
Feel you. FT sucks this year haven't been able to land anything lol
brother i know the feeling. in 2023, i didnt get a return offer after slaving away the entire summer and the girl i dated during the internship dumped me at the same day. it was truly brutal. i actually graduated without a job and it took me 6 months after to get one at some shit tier real estate company.
i ended up applying to more than a 1000 and got probably 20+ interview rejections before getting my current buyside role. its literally more prestigious and a lot better WLB + lot more interesting than what i was doing before. our perks are insane (private jet at 23???) and my team is great.
right now things are shit. but i would advise you to relax. life rarely goes in a straightforward path. i would honestly just skip school and forget about applying and just take a week off and go to europe or something and have fun and take the toll off. i went to copenhagen in a similar strain around 3 years ago and it honestly changed my life.
life is too short to freak out over not being a slave to some investment bank. theres a lot out there and trust me your time will come. it might take longer than others, but things will work out.
Thank you man. These last few months since August have felt like a living nightmare, I don't sleep anymore because I'm so stressed about the future. I'm 2 months away from graduation and panicking, but people have told me that careers are 2x as long as I've been alive which is comforting to think. It's help to hear perspectives from people who've been in my shoes.
I took a trip to Japan for my final spring, and it was an amazing experience. Truly took the mental toll off me for like 10 days, and had a phenomenal time. I like to think in a year or two this won't mean anything. I'm so happy to hear that about your role now. I hope I can be in a similar situation a few years from now.
fuck the future bro. we often think of life as a series of moments, where we get the dream job, get the dream girl,etc. but the truth is, we live life every single day. and make the most of it now.
you have 2 months left in college. go make the most of it. i would join all the stupid clubs u wanted to do, go ask out some girl in a dumbass way, go make a fool out of yourself. i would do anything right now to be in college again.
and to be honest, its just corporate america. its a job at the end of the day. theres nothing special about it. to be quite frank, if you want it, you will get it, but it might just take longer. and thats perfectly fine.
good times will come bro. to be honest, unless you're jensen huang, life is kind of shit right now for all of us. you aren't alone here. just dont put too much pressure on yourself and dont overthink. i thought my life would be better when i got the job but its basically the same lmao
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