How to secure and IB Internship - London - Undergrad - 1st year

Hey I’m currently a 1 year Economics student at a good university in Paris with really good grades ( Top 2% of a +500 students in Economics ). I always knew I wanted to work in IB OR PE but as I kept sending CVs and cover letters, I kept having rejection e-mail because I haven’t got any prior finance experience. I was looking for an internship in London or Paris, does anyone have any idea of where I could apply as a first year with no experience. Although I am very hard working and follows certificates in financial modeling. Any help would be appreciated, Have a good day

25 Comments
 

You can forget London because of Brexit, all non-BBs will not sponsor you so would mainly target Paris. Not sure how the scene is in France with first-year internships, most want 2nd and 3rd year.

On another note, most people try to be anonymous on this forum

 

I'm sorry but Assas is not a target school at all in London, nor in Paris. They're only well known for Law and if you're studying economics then it's just straight non-target school for both France and UK.

Plus you're not competing with UK undergrad students (still more target school than yours), you're competing with Master students from HEC, Essec, ESCP etc...so your chances of securing anything are EXTREMELY low unless you know someone higher up (people still would judge you by that cuz you're Bac+1)

So just wait for a few years, do a Master in a target Grande École, then re-apply to spring programs in London / Off-cycle in Paris at M1 with Bac+4 status.

Right now there's literally 0 point unless you drop out of your school and go do undergrad in the UK (this might be quicker)

 

Thank you for your answer indeed I was accepted to LSE but due to COVID I didn’t had the grade. So to your option there isn’t any experience I can do even if not in IB to try to secure inside week and summer next year ? Thank you for your answer though

 

How did COVID impact your LSE opportunity? Not sure why one would go from LSE to Assas..

sorry but people won’t care where you were accepted now. It will be challenging both for paris and London. Best chance is to apply for spring internships in London (apply to every single bank not just BBs). 
 

Unfortunately French universities are not target unless maybe dauphine quanti and Sciences Po Paris (still not top targets), so you might have to lateral to Grande Ecoles later on 

 

Hi let me give you some advice from a fellow french intern in IBD.

London with Brexit + 1st year + Non target makes it virtually impossible for IB PE Consulting...

IB Paris would be easier but 1st year undergrad will makes it very hard and close to impossible.

Try to build some experience in finance related fields, my first undergrad experience was credit analyst in a retail bank.

If you want to work in London IB best degree are is Top5 PGE business school or Dauphine 203/225. For France you can do University / Top 10 business school (non exhaustive).

PS: Nothing is impossible I made 350 application before finding my first IB internship. Keep up !

 

Your list of French target schools is not accurate

In France it goes:

Top 5 business school = top 5 engineering > Sciences Po Paris > Dauphine / GEM / Audencia > NEOMA, KEDGE etc. 
 

where top 5 and especially top 3 business/engineering is key. 
 

In London, it’s top 5 business + Sciences Po. I guess engineering could work but they’re usually in financial markets along with the good Dauphine MSc. 
 

Anything top 6-10 will not go very far at BBs/EBs in London unfortunately  

 

The fact that you are here and trying is a very good sign but with Brexit it will be very hard to land something this summer.

If you apply every single Spring Week next year, apply very early, have a well structured CV I am confident that you will land something. Don't let "non-target" mentality hinder you or "I cannot mentality".

Here is a list of places. However, most only target 2nd, 3rd, and master students:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1dy9O3c5CbrcyuBQ7zUKtFmafiR3yWjs…

If you have more questions feel free to ask.

 

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