How to explain failed internship recruiting in interviews?
I managed to get an internship at a top BB, but failed to secure an internship in the tier-1 city that I targeted. Instead, I ended up with an internship in a tier-2 city. I could not see myself living in this tier-2 city going forward and thus intend to recruit for FT positions in the tier-1 city.
In interviews, I suppose they will be curious as to why I ended up in the tier-2 city and now want to move to the tier-1 city. How do I explain this without telling them that I completely failed in recruiting for the tier-1 city?
I did my internship in a very strong group at a top BB, so I might be able to spin it with something along the lines below:
I was attracted by the group's exceptional deal flow as they have advised on XYZ and thought it would be an excellent opportunity to learn and gain exposure to interesting transactions. I considered starting a career at firm XYZ in the tier-2 city but as I have family and friends in the tier-1 city, I realized that would be a much better fit for me.
How would you spin it?
Why do you even want to bring that up in an interview in the first place. In the event that it does, just say that you had a really nice connection with the team, but you would still want to be in NY or SF for your career because it gives you more action or blah blah blah. This is an easy question because you still got the job so it is not a failure by any means.
Just brush it off with a believe-able answer and no one is going to doubt it unless you give them the reason to.
Would they not push me in that case and ask me why not just do an internship in NY / SF to begin with?
If they push after you give a solid close loop response, then they just are bunch of dickheads. In your response you should touch on that you recruited, got offer, liked team, but after internship you realized you want to spend some time in the big city and see for yourself on what its like. Blah blah. If i am missing any points feel free to add in, but I feel like this is comprehensive.
This might be the worst post on this app. Can’t tell if it’s a troll
"I failed internship recruiting"
"I did my internship at a very strong group at a top BB"
Ok then...
You liked the team a lot, but after spending the summer in City you realized you'd prefer to start your career in [NY/SF]. End of story. No one is going to assume you flunked out of recruiting...
I will say it's exceptionally difficult to upgrade locations from SA to FT, let alone in this market with so few FT spots, so I would only recruit until your offer expires. Do the T2 city for a year and lateral internally if you need to.
Thanks a lot for the advice!
Temporibus amet laborum magni voluptatem nemo est. Illo accusantium occaecati est. Reiciendis quo natus nihil officia facere quo. Et autem sint doloremque voluptas officia nisi ut. Atque ratione sed iste rerum aut occaecati dolor. Sit magnam rerum esse est consequatur voluptas. Ex aut magnam dolorem adipisci labore temporibus ut.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...