IB first experience

Came here because I am finishing my bachelors in finance and going into my MSc in Finance (Bocconi). Still haven’t done any experience in a bank and find it crucial to land an internship next summer within IB. Need as much advice as possible , guess WSO will help out 

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Just want to say that while you'll be studying at a great school, the 'academics' line in your CV doesn't mean much. I've seen so many friends / friend-of-a-friend(s) from top schools like LSE, LBS, INSEAD etc. who fail to make it because they don't understand that competition is within students at these schools anyways. Understanding this is SO important because I guess it's easy to think that you have 'guaranteed' positions out there and doors will open easily. It is not the case - I've interviewed so many interns and looking at their CV book, 70% of students are coming from Masters in Finance backgrounds and most of them are from top schools. 

Personally I think networking is far less important in Europe (I'm thinking London mostly here) so would try to polish interview skills (both fit and technical) as much as you can. Take one of these IB prep courses, as your Uni materials is not an efficient way to prep for interviews.

Make sure your CV is industry standard (1 page, focus on parts that you want to highlight - without an internship, you still have to 'spin' things so you look legit. Talk about real investing experience, student societies or other projects and tie them back to finance as much as possible). Don't be too selective in your applications also - I'm not saying you should go down all the way to a 3 person no-name accountancy, but definitely don't limit your choices because 1) you never know and 2) you really get better at recruiting as you do more interviews. You don't want an interview with your dream shop to be the first one.

Sure others can add, but perhaps provide more detail on what advice you want to receive?

 

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