I'm so lost
Was a summer intern at a MM IB and didn't get a return offer, come from a no-name school what the fuck do I do now. Feel like my life is falling apart
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following. Curious as to what advice people have to give now since people used to always say you'll be fine just re-recruit for a FT offer and things will work out. Doesn't seem that easy now.
I, too, am following this thread as this man is having a mental breakdown
neither can consultants
Just wanted to say that I feel bad and know you'll get through it. The experience you gained through your summer isn't wasted and can translate well to non-ib ft roles if you choose to do so but here are my thoughts.
FT recruiting for non-ib roles have yet to begin and while you might not be best positioned for the most competitive roles in every industry, you'll definitely be a competitive candidate for whatever you do choose to pursue.
FT recruiting fo IB this year might be a bit difficult but I know of people who didn't get return offers and were able to do ft recruiting for the following cycle.
Best of luck OP
Get wasted tonight, watch a movie and sleep a lot. Tomorrow will be the time to snort an Adderall pill and get planning. That is, listing all the banks you know, calling/emailing all your contacts in the industry, cold emailing new people. You got this king
Piggy backing off this - the day after that, continue the drug abuse. Take a line (or two) of cocaine and go to the nearest GNC. Buy the strongest pre workout you can get and take two scoops. Next stop - gym. Hit chest and immediately leave. Next step is finding prescription painkillers - percs, oxy, anything will work. Take all that you can and put on a 1986 Def Leppard concert. Watch the entire thing and pass out. After doing all of this, you will have the answer
Mate, I have a networking list of bankers that might be of help to you. This is honestly terrible, and I wish you well.
Man fuck [that bank] for doing this, feel terrible for all those interns that put in the grind just for their firm to treat them like this.
Tobin > [Your MM Bank]
This is a tough position and I’m sorry to hear. Were you able to get any feedback on why you didn’t receive a return offer? That’s the first thing I would try and understand, whether there are things you can improve on for future interviewing.
Recruiting will be hard, with everything going on with covid and guaranteed return offers, etc spots will be limited.
That being said you should start thinking about what careers you think you are interested in (in and out of finance) and make sure you have a good understanding of the opportunities that are out there. Start with the problems you enjoy solving, what you want the work environment to be, etc. don’t get sucked into the finance or bust mentality.
If you think finance is still the long term career path that will make you happy (probabilistic since at this point in your life few people really know what they’ll want to do) then think of the path to get you there. Obviously there is recruiting at all the banks, smaller firms, and related industries. Then branch out, see if there are paths that’ll get you “back on track” either a couple years down the road or after an mba.
I won’t lie, it is a bit of an uphill battle, especially if coming from a less known school, but there are many paths back to finance if you do well. I know many people (and did so myself) who didn’t follow the traditional path into finance. Make sure you crush your next job, learn from what you messed up, and learn about what you want to do, and if you enjoy it, you’ll find your way back into finance
I can’t relate exactly but I can understand the rejection. I’m an international student trying to break in IBD/PE, everyday is a new set of rejections. I see many people here getting SA positions while I’m still on hold or rejected already. It’s scary, sad & disheartening especially since I’ve student debt which is even more expensive back in India.
This process has taught me something which might help you.
No matter what happens, the only thing we can control is our effort. Most of us have good intent & are willing to work hard. But if stuff doesn’t work out even then after graduation, FUCK IT.
The knowledge, will & effort we possess can translate into a beautiful startup.
Remember, we gotta be right only once. But to get there, we gotta fail many times & you just got a step closer to your success. Celebrate, move on & get back at it mate.
Sure. You can PM even if you’re not Indian. Doesn’t matter to me. :)
PM me, was in a similar situation last summer (obviously not completely comparable due to today's environment). Happy to help.
Sorry to hear about this.
Just want to say fuck rich handler. Maybe if the dude spent less time trying to be funny on Instagram his bank could have a >50% return offer rate
As we all know it's a difficult time for everybody. I have generally got a lot of great advice from the WSO community so, to pay it forward. If OP pm me with resume, I can help land you a "interview" for 2021 IB Credit full time analyst at my BB. Note: IB credit isn't the same as IBD, but base pay should be relatively on par with IB.
I had a friend in the exact same position as you last summer - no return except he's from a semi-target.
The guy didn't blame himself but rather the culture that he didn't get the return offer (totally agree with him after hearing his story), he went on to interview for a handful of banks and product management positions at FT50s. Couldn't get anything then switch up and went to one of the big 3 restructuring consulting firms, he graduated recently and likes his new job a lot. Explore other options, things will work out fine.
[this bank] returns 95% year in year out with the exception of this year. definitely was not culture why he didn’t get a return.
Trying to be positive and optimistic here -- when you land an interview it will be much easier to explain your lack of return offer (COVID +virtual setting + abnormally low return rate). I think interviewers will be understanding and receptive to this given the circumstances. You got this!
Why is everyone acting like its [the banks'] fault for not giving this kid a return? It’s an internship, there never is and never was a guarantee of a full time job. Quit playing the victim card here, this is likely your fault more than anything else.
Now pick yourself up and do the same thing you did to get that job and come up with a damn good story as to why YOU didn’t make the cut, and not why they betrayed you or some bullshit nonsense like that.
It’s ridiculous that these kids think they automatically have the right to get a return offer to a company. The company is doing you a favor by giving you an internship in the first place, don’t get such a sense of entitlement.
It's ridiculous to put 100% of the blame on the guy for not getting the return offer. Dropping your return offer rate from 90%+ to 50%+ (even 20% in certain groups) after a "heartfelt" chat from the CEO due to the pandemic sucks. Especially when they haven't seen a huge drop in profits and you have to watch other banks basically guarantee return offers while going through the exact same pandemic challenges. It sucks. And yes life isn't fair and companies don't have souls, but stop being a hardo for one second and just let people be upset and be supportive? I think a comment around the lines of "Consider what you could've done better to be one of the kids who got the offer etc." would've been useful but there's absolutely no reason to be rude to someone in an unfortunate situation during a tough time. Don't take the cheap shot of kicking someone when they're down, and maybe give some useful advice to someone who is in desperate need of it.
Do you know how many times I've said to myself "my career is fucked" and have pulled out of it? Several times. This is life. Situations like this will happen to all of us, repeatedly. Be glad it's happening while you're young and not married w/ kids and a mortgage. Use all your angry energy into networking like a madman and having a million conversations with anybody willing to talk to you about how to pull out of this jam. Work on crafting a perfect story. Reflect on your time in IB, did you even like it? Could you leverage this into say, consulting for a couple years? Your life is just beginning my friend, it really is. Realize there are MILLIONS of paths to success and the cookie cutter way isn't the only one. Read books about failure. Read books about careers and passion. Use this time to become a better person. You will look back on this time and laugh about how fucked you thought you were. Life has just begun.
I was in your same spot last year (no return offer, 33% return offer rate from my firm). It’s not going to be easy but i was able to land at BB. Reach out to your team and see if they have any feedback, it will be very important for them to vouch for you for FT recruiting. Do not stop networking (24/7, I slept 5 hours a day for months keeping my grades up, networking and working). If I can do it so can you.
If you are deadset on IB, then consider this a detour.
The good news: you have a very valuable and worthwhile internship experience to headline your resume.
What I would consider is what others have mentioned on here a few time: Big 4 consulting. If possible, consider going into the Corporate Finance group. It's investment banking, just a lot smaller due to the issues the Big 4 have with compliance. You should be able to snag one of those jobs in a years time with your resume. Do that for the first couple of years, and once the economy picks back up, you should be able to lateral into a 2-year analyst program at the least, a mid-size bank.
Take a deep breath. It is dissapointing. No one will deny that. Take a week, let it bleed out a while, then get back at it. Let this failure fuel you! Think about what you could have done differently. Did you not network enough? Was your work product not up to par? There is likely something you can take with this that is MUCH better learned now, than later on in life.
Best of luck, and congrats on your future success.
My roomate just finished SA, says FT offer decisions didn’t even come out yet — take a chill pill and wait for your call. It’s not time to panic yet
Edit: I don’t understand the MS, I’m telling the guy not to freak out which is obviously positive. Compared to other comments I’m seeing that recommend taking a year off from school (????) instead of just applying jobs (???), this seems like more sound advice. Idk
I hate to tell ya but your roommate didn't get a return so he's lying about not hearing back
Hey man,
Really tough situation and sorry to hear it. I was in the exact same position, so totally understand your situation. I was very lucky to land a BB for IB (BAML / Citi level), but it was certainly an uphill battle. I'd structure your next couple of weeks as follows in terms of preparation to optimize your recruiting process:
Networking - Email absolutely every person that you've contacted before and go on LinkedIn to find people's names and infer their emails based off of the firm email format. Shoot them a note asking to hop on the phone - it'll be much easier to explain your situation with your own voice as opposed to via email.
Technical Prep - I personally blew this in the beginning of full-time recruiting. Your summer internship experiences don't necessarily translate into answering interview questions (ie $10 of depreciation through the 3 statements), so make sure you know your technicals down cold. For full time recruiting, they'll grill you more on technicals over more rounds of interviews, and there will likely be more rounds since they sign you on for 2 years instead of a 10 week summer. Know your deals cold, and understand your role in each deal that you have listed on your resume and its implication.
Resume Review - Make sure your resume is perfect. First impressions aren't everything, but they certainly mean a lot. If your resume looks clean and you check off other boxes (eg. finance experience, GPA, ECs), it'll be easier for them to forget that you didn't get a return.
Applications - Absolutely apply to everything under the sun. Don't count anything out at all. Apply to small banks, regional banks, unknown boutiques. Simply put, after you get your first offer at any investment bank, you instantly become much more attractive a candidate to other banks, and you'll likely see yourself land more offers shortly.
Anyone without a return offer, feel free to shoot me a PM, and I will gladly help you review your resume and get together a game plan to approach full time recruiting. Really wish I had a mentor when I went through FT recruiting without a return offer, so figured I might as well pay it forward.
PM me. I’m a 1st year associate (was an A2A promote) at a BB and a mentor on the site. Happy to get on the phone to provide some advice (free of charge).