How soon should I start networking for London recruiting?
Currently interning in IB in an EU country, and have a top london masters offer (LBS, LSE, Oxford) starting in September this year.
I am really not enjoying my internship that much (even though it is not one of the best banks such as BBs, it is still one of the largest banks in the EU, with decent IB activity) and think IB might not be for me.
How soon do I realistically have to start networking for summer internships in 2026 in london, given that I’ll be looking at other stuff alongside IB? I am interested in restructuring, recently got into public markets & asset management (after reading some ben graham, howard marks, financial statement analysis/FDD books and starting up my own portfolio) as well as other unusual stuff like development finance. I would also consider coming back to my country for an opportunity at MBB.
What do you think? Should I just enjoy my masters and see where that experience leads me or should I start texting everyone for coffee chats soon?
Just enjoy your Master's, you will definitely be in a grind mindset anyway because that's the culture at the universities you mentioned at the postgrad level. Reason I say that is because networking is basically useless here even with referrals, coming from someone who networked a lot with every single BB/EB bank and some MM and only had it bear fruit directly for two EBs - and even then this was surprising.
Recruitment in the UK is quite random. Unlike in the USA where networking is actually important to even get an interview, networking and referrals don’t matter in the UK.
Similarly to the comment above, I recieved one BB / EB interview, but ironically that was without a referral. The rest I had referrals for but auto rejection with top mark performance on all online tests.
I disagree with the above posters. Networking 100% matters and those that say it’s doesn’t are either: 1) oxbridge grads who have never had to lift a finger for anything in their lives, 2) those who failed and are looking for something to blame.
I was able to land in London from a pretty tough spot (international, small university that no one had heard of), and can say that my networking efforts put me at a huge advantage to landing interviews.
I’ve found there’s a mindset in the UK where people go “I’ll just apply online and if I don’t get it then oh well it wasn’t for me / I wasn’t good enough / the system is rigged”. Completely false; roll up your sleeves a bit, and make the system work for you if it’s something you really want.
Now that my rant is over - OP, go all in and chat to as many people as you can who will have conversations with you. 100% upside unless you go in unprepared / are weird and waste their time.
thanks for the advice! i just wanted to ask as an international student (american at american uni) where do i start with networking if i don’t have any connections? i’m going to london for an internship and wanted to use that as an opportunity for networking.
Cold emailing is how I got through with no connections established. Create an organized tracker in Excel and aim to send 20-30 per day to gain some meaningful traction.
Hey! Just wondering how you started/how networking went for you as a non-UK/Euro student shooting for internships as I'm in a similar situation rn
I’d like to hear more about your path since I’m in a similar situation - can I DM you?
Curious to know how everything turned out for you. I’ve a very similar background (doing Masters in finance rn in one of the uni u mentioned) and I’m one of few people in my class that got lucky with an offer. I did network a lot and got referrals too.. but the offers were from places I didn’t have any referrals which was quite interesting.
I'd be surprised if referral is a thing in London
Generally isn't. Sometimes in EBs it can be but 99% of the time it doesn't exist.
To be honest, it has been so far a horrible decision from both a career and Lifestyle perspective. I really enjoy my course and I think the content and visiting professors from industry are amazing and I am learning a lot, but I think the job market is in complete shambles both in london and mainland europe. I have lost touch with a lot of relationships from back home, and i have genuinely sent like 1000 applications. Although I have interviews or modelling/case study rounds almost everyweek, i never seem to get the offer even when getting to final rounds (and these are mostly for consulting firms and no-name PEs mind you). Best I got was BofA first round, which went great but was ghosted anyway. So to anyone reading this, if you have a job, hold on to it and build your career from there. No matter how bad your job may seem, a masters degree just seems to not make a difference in today’s market and I might genuinely not get a job for the next few years, in spite of having worked on a large live deal with one of the largest PEs out there, lol. Just my two cents.
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