London - Roadmap to FT and SA Hiring

Hi guys, This site has provided immensely valuable advice for me so I wanted to share some experiences and advice in the hope that some people on here will benefit from this.

I remember the hustle and uncertainty during the recruiting process and would have benefited from a simple piece of advice and guidance from someone who knows the process of recruiting in London. The post is especially relevant for students from Europe who seek full-time positions in London IBD. So let me start.

1) Be quick. You do want to send as many applications as possible as soon as possible. FT Recruiting starts end of August/begininng of Sept. But watch careers pages over the summer. MS has an early-bird programme for which applications open in July. Your September will be spent with writing applications, doing online assessment tests, and doing video interviews. If you're lucky, you will have the first phone screens by mid-September. So make sure to be well-prepared with technical knowledge and know your CV inside out.

2) Send out applications to every bank. Every bank! It is a numbers game. I have seen many people applying at their favourite banks first and delaying sending applications to MM banks until it was too late. Writing all these applications is a pain and it might seem comfortable to delay doing online tests or wait to send out that application that requires a long immersive video assessment. But do yourself a favour and send them out early - to all banks.

3) Keep track of the process. Make a list of banks in Excel. Create columns for bank name, position, date you applied, date you first heard back, date you did online test, etc etc. It might sound like a no brainer and obsolete to mention, but if you don't do this precisely you will lose track of all processes.

4) Send multiple applications for different positions where possible. Make sure to maximise your chances. A lot of the BBs allow for multiple positions (SA and FT, different locations). Don't be discouraged by the penultimate year requirement for SAs. I've seen many MSc students get SAs - just put a later grad date in the online form.

5) Try to attend as many networking events as possible (esp. if you're in London). An event helped me get my job. Friends of mine got interviews through networking. It happens and it's as simple as that. In interviews you will be able to talk about how you liked the people you met at those bank events and you can speak about how you actually experienced the bank's culture. You want to collect business cards and follow up with people you got along well with. Be very polite, not pushy, always attach your CV when writing follow-ups. They might help in speeding up the process. A lot of these networking events are in October. Do not be fooled by that and wait with sending out your application. Apply before where possible.

These were just points from the top of my head which would have helped me. I hope this helped. Good luck with the process!