Gave Up

i am currently a 3.6 GPA at a non target school on the west coast. Over the past 3 months, I have tried to network my butt off but haven't had a single first round interview yet. I see friends and acquaintances with offers from top EBs and BBs. While I do understand that there are things that I could have done far better, I feel incredibly dejected and am in a very bad place mentally. I know that market conditions are bad but that is no excuse for my failure. Is it over and if not, what can I do?

 

It's not over yet. Try to target MM banks and the smaller shops if you're not getting traction with the BB/EBs. You'll likely have opportunities to lateral later on if that's what you want, but I'd recommend widening your scope if you haven't already. Most importantly, though, don't give up. It's not over yet, many banks out there are still recruiting. Good luck!

 
Most Helpful

Why give up? It is hard, but definitely far from impossible.

I am a MEGA non target from the West Coast, come from Eastern Europe and I transferred from community college while working at a hotel and driving for Uber Eats to pay for my school.

I sent out 2000 emails, networked left and right, studied for hours a day to land a FT role at a BB I did not even intern at. I am writing this not to flex how I did it, but to show you how people get it that come from far worse circumstances. 
 

I highly doubt that your circumstances were worse than mine, I still work at a hotel and drive for Uber till FT starts. 
 

My point being, it is a YOU problem. 
 

I wish I went to UCLA/Cal and had OCR recruiting, but I don’t, it sucks and I know.

But if you really want it, it is there.

Hell man, PM me and I will walk you through step by step of what I did. 
 

My point is, do not give up. I cried plenty of times when I would send 500 emails in a row and not a reply, but then you get 30 replies in 3 days — numbers game.

Felt I was stupid because I could not model out a DTA properly, realized I was going above and beyond because no kids were doing that, and according to my contacts, you won’t even do it while FT.

my point is, I grinded for 9 months without any promises, just God, sweat and tears.

Once again, possible, but a you problem if you do not get it.

PM me if you would like

 

No kids do DTA? I have been grinding so hard trying to master all the financial technicals as a non-finance, non-trad applicant. My goodness... 
Thank you for sharing your story. It was incredibly encouraging. I hope everything is going wonderfully for you. 

 

Don't ever give up. As hard as it may be sometimes, don't lose hope. Sure some people get IB straight out of undergrad, countless others recruit for an associate role after 1-2 years in another job. Go for MMs or even small boutiques and keep on networking (not even for the sake of landing a job in this recruiting cycle because maybe your network will help you re-recruit into IB after starting career in an adjacent industry). If MMs don't work out, go for Big 4 M&A advisory (I'd say its common for them to move to IB).

I know its tough right now, but it's only over if you give up. In the grand scheme of things, it won't really matter whether you made it into IB right out of undergrad, or say 1/2 year after. 

 

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