Is there any hope for me?

Hello all!! I am new to the WSO scene and am just looking for some all around advice from you knowledagble people.

Here’s my story: I am graduating in December from a non target school, GPA 3.6, and have been interning (/co-oping) the past 1.5 years in a 6 month rotational finance intern program at a f500 company. I’ve become really interested in investment banking and decided to ask the cfo of my company (who was a former IB MD at a BB) if he’d have a quick chat with me about the industry. Talk went well, and he advised me that if I really wanna make it then I need to be persistent —and that he’d be happy to push my resume for a full time position when the time comes.

I’m wondering, fellow Monkeys, is there any hope for me at getting a FT IB analyst position after graduation? Or should I just throw in the towel now and be happy with a job at the company I intern for after graduation? I just want to know if I would be wasting my time, as well as the CFO’s, in something that is a lost cause.

‘Preciate the help

6 Comments
 

Hahahah you guys really are sassy on here. From everything Ive read, it seems like you HAVE to intern the summer before to get a ft position. Guess not though, I appreciate the insight!

 
Best Response

Apologies that was a sassy response. However, had you asked if not having a summer internship was a deal-breaker then I would’ve known to address that question. At first glance the post seems like more of a humble-brag than a search for advice.

When you have a referral from someone important you can go ahead and forget about things like GPA cut-off or a required IB internship. Speaking from my personal experience in a similar situation as well as the experiences of others I know who have gotten jobs without meeting certain WSO recruiting guidelines. Of course it all depends on the relationship. If the CFO was just being polite and he doesn’t actually know you that well or like you that much, then this story is totally different.

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Oooh, yikes. I mean yeah the actual only interaction I had with him was me emailing him to sit down and talk, and then us talking for 25 minutes (which is when he said he’d be happy to push my resume). So definitely not a very strong relationship at all, however I have no idea how the whole networking works — as far as would him pushing my resume to someone be enough to get an interview? I’m basically just worried that I’m bothering the guy too much about something that is impossible anyways... if that makes sense

 

I don’t know for sure. Most often referrals like that can get you a 1st round, but that’s all the help they will be. When you’re the son of a client or something, you’re pretty much guaranteed a super day as long as you don’t bomb the first round. This all depends on the situation though.

You can probably increase your chances by networking with people that cover the industry your company is in. Then when your referral pushes your resume, you’ll already be a known entity, thus making it more likely that your resume will be pulled for the first round. I’m basing this on networking for other finance jobs outside of IB as a disclaimer.

Don’t be afraid of trying and failing. You have nothing to lose, so you’re better off going for it.

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