London SA26 as a Canadian
Planning on doing my junior year internship in London. Does anyone from Canada/US have tips on going about the recruitment process in the UK?
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Not a canadian, but we're at a similar latitude! I recommend against the UK. Their dental services are terrible. Hope this helps!
Haha true that. It looks like their exit ops and comp are much better in comparison to Canada though
Dental services here are ok lol but definitely overpriced for sure. Like insanely overpriced
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I'm from the UK so here's my two cent:
Application starts opening from July and most open from August - September. 1st round interview starts from end of September - October, followed by Superday (AC) which should be wrapped up by end of November/December.
For the tips, general consensus here is to apply early and pray so don't waste your time asking for referrals cuz networking isn't a thing here.
Also, practice online assessment that covers situational judgment, verbal, numerical and IQ cuz pretty much 90% of the firms have online test as a first round. I'd suggest subscribing for JobTestPrep which has very good practice materials from test providers that these firm have.
Thanks for the advice mate! From your experience, do a lot of international interns get in? How competitive is getting a summer offer?
There's definitely a lot of international interns getting in especially those from Canada and European targets like HEC, Bocconi, etc which drives up competition
Speaking of competition, it's totally insane, so much worse than nyc for sure cuz all penultimate/final year bachelor + master students all apply at the same time plus a lot of them are even overqualified, but most of them especially European kids have 4-5 internships under their belt so the bar is really really high. HR is also prestige whoring as well so you certainly need to attend schools that are reputable to them and worldwide, so if you're from Canada, it's either UofT or McGill cuz Ivey/Queens/Waterloo are not that well known here. And unfortunately, if the programme is generalist, then HR plays a huge power in deciding who to give out interviews lol, unless some banks recruit for certain groups then team members would decide
Got it. I guess picking UofT over Queens wasn't that bad of a decision after all lol. I only have like 2 internships so far though, so I'm curious to see how far it's gonna take me with UK apps
Are your internships relevant tho? Should either be corporate finance/m&a/PE/ib/search fund. And do you have brand names on your CV? As a lot of people have big4 M&A on their CV already
i have 2 m&a boutiques, as well as a student investment club. i have one more relevant extracurricular at a business club
Don't do it lmao. You're competing against 28 year old masters students with 3 years of internships and 4 fluent languages under their belt.
Honestly, just aim for toronto based roles at global banks, or Canadian banks with solid UK presence (RBC, TD, BMO, CG) then internally lateral at 2nd yr analyst /associate level.
Bet you haven't seen Toronto market cuz they're completely shambled. Getting into IB in toronto is on the next level of difficulty cuz the market is so much smaller and even the largest banks and BBs only recruit 4-5 for intern class each year
Buddy if you think toronto IB scene is bad, you haven't seen london. It's so elitist that even networking won't help you. They barely care about your uni, because certain prep schools guarantee you IB / other elite internships (no joke).
The only reason it "seems" easier is becuase london is a bigger market so there are more boutique / MM seats compared to toronto, but landing a Big 5, BB, or EB equivalent is a million times harder in london
Anyone know which firms don’t do assessment centres?
every banks has assessment centre lol
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