January recruiting? Boutiques?
I am looking to break into Investment banking (M&A). I realize its January and an awkward time for this but any advice is much appreciated.
I graduated from a semi-target school with a good GPA (>3.5) and was an athlete. I dedicated all my time to athletics throughout my 4 years (30+ hours/ week with 2 weeks off during the year TOTAL) so even in the summer I was training. I wasn't able to go pro so for my last semester (I graduated in 4.5 years) I got a decent finance internship. During that time a buddy encouraged me to do PWM at a firm he was at... so I started beginning of last year. A few months in I knew that wasn't what I wanted long term so I started applying to different finance jobs and had some interviews but it was late in the year and they ended not picking up anyone at all. A few of my friends in different cities do IB so I talked with a few of them to ask about it and then I started taking IB courses online to brush up on my accounting and modeling, I loved it and knew that is what I want to do. I quit my job (can only have so many "doctor appointments" and sick days) to apply full time and learn more about the industry.
Every day I look forward to learning more about the work and different deals going on but one thing... January is a terrible time to be looking into jobs. I figure I need an internship but all the banks are way past hiring for their SA's, I've had a few interviews with some regional boutiques for spring internships but there aren't many of those at all. Even if I got one it would be temporary then I'd need to search again (which I'm fine with doing but it's not the most ideal). I've been networking as hard as I can but my school's alumni are much more prevalent in other big cities.
Does anyone have any ideas how to apply/where to apply? I'm incredibly open-minded to ideas! Thank you all.
Most official programs at the larger banks at least won't offer you an SA spot, but smaller regional boutiques are way more flexible because they don't run on a defined hiring cycle, and can afford to give you an internship as a trial period before hiring you on as a full-time analyst.
I'd suggest looking at those opportunities, because most places will likely be unwilling to hire a full-time analyst with no relevant experience,but make sure that there is a possibility to convert the internship to FT before accepting.
Thanks for the reply! I will probably start cold calling boutiques. I saw on one of your posts that you did cold calling for an internship as well. Did you call any and all boutiques or did you call the ones that were listing they were hiring?
I connected with an alum at a boutique (~30 guys) that has an opening for a full time analyst. Think I'd be able to convince them to take me on for the position as an intern with the ability to convert full time?
Probably will be tough - they're looking to fill a need ASAP and probably can't afford to wait 3-6 months to convert you to a full-time analyst. Never hurts to raise the subject though.
Bump
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