Lost and Confused 2024 Graduate
Had an internship at JPM last summer and did not get a return offer (team did not have capacity to bring me on). I have a great recommendation letter from my MD, but am coming from a non-target with a pretty low GPA.
I understand it’s a numbers game and have spent so many hours trying to network, research, and do anything I can to generate leads for full time employment in IB or PE upon graduation. I have been tracking my applications in a spreadsheet and have tallied over 400 applications (even opening up to public finance and roles alike). The only traction I have received is for middle or back office positions.
Now that it is nearing the holiday season… are my chances of obtaining a role before year end gone? I haven’t been able to do anything Senior year at all and it has been pretty tough seeing all my friends enjoying our last few months together.
I graduated high school in May of 2020, so my last graduation season got taken away along with the events leading up to it. I want to do anything I can to prevent that from happening again and a vital element to assure I can enjoy my last few months of school is locking down an offer.
Any advice for someone in my position?
thanks in advance.
All I will say is you are not alone. Do not sacrifice your social life/ mental well-being due to circumstances you cannot control (the current hiring market).
Hey OP, I've been in your exact shoes, more than once. Some things to keep in mind: it isn't over until it's over. You are crushing the numbers game. However, without knowing more about your application profile and interviewing skills, it's probably worth assessing where you might be able to improve. 400 applications is a lot to not get any traction with, even for a non-target profile. You also didn't mention networking or referrals, how is that going? Now is the time to build off-cycle relationships that can lead to referrals or first-rounds come Spring time.
Most importantly, don't let the idea of being in banking take away from your college experience. It's a rough market for banking right now, and there's nothing wrong with not starting your career in IB, regardless of what other kids on here might say or think.
The more time goes on, the more you should optimize for a role that you're going to be happy with, whether that's comp, learning opportunity, or career progression. No point in over-optimizing for banking and missing out on an otherwise amazing opportunity because you think it has less "prestige" or "but it's not banking."
I’m a 2023 grad who was in the same boat from a non target. I landed a corp finance rotational program for a bank. Just took SIE, networking, and studying for CFA in May to optimize my resume so I can transition into banking eventually. Worst case I stick out this program and get some good experience and head for an MBA. So no worries if you don’t land banking like I did. Take a job working 30-40 hrs (I work maybe 20) and pursue hobbies, social life, and working in your resume. No need to be in a hurry. We are all going to make it. Banking does not equal happiness my friend
would you be willing to share expected comp?
Many of my friends are in the same position right now after not receiving a return offer, i myself had to pivot roles and do something tangential to banking and it sucks honestly
Here's a couple tips that might help, but at the very least hopefully put you at ease for now:
1. If your gpa is not a 3.5 or higher, don't advertise it on a resume. I couldn't tell you the last job I had or the last time I hired someone and checked their gpa through a transcript. If you don't put it on there, you will at least fare better with getting an initial phone interview since they can't throw your resume out immediately. Once you get that first foot in the door with an interview, then you expound on your JPM internship and anything else that would make you a good candidate. Just don't give them an initial reason to discard your candidacy.
2. First jobs really don't matter at all. You have a 40+ year career ahead of you and I really doubt you would stay in 1 spot for more than 5 years anyways. It's completely ok (and easier) to get a job at a smaller firm just so you can make good (not top of Street, but good) money and have on your resume that you have genuine FT work experience. When I worked in PE and now in Corp Dev, I would rather hire someone who spent 3-5 years in a smaller shop than a fresh grad out of an Ivy with only an internship to rely upon for work experience. If that means you have to start applying to Joe Smith's local investment bank, then do that.
3. 2 out of the last 3 years have been horrible for fresh grads to find jobs, and everyone in the industry knows that. They won't hold it against you if you try to lateral or "begin" your career in 2 years when things normalize. When people are being laid off everywhere in finance, you are now competing with people from all BB-LMM banks who have lots more experience and skills than you for even entry level jobs. There are 25-27 year olds that were analysts or associates that were laid off and applying for the same job you are, then there are MBA grads from across the country looking at IB, plus you have every other fresh grad in your class across the country applying to the same jobs. The banks are laying people off, and there's a larger and more qualified pool applying for the few remaining jobs. Does it suck? Yes, absolutely. Is it an indictment about your intelligence or your future in the industry? Absolutely not.
4. Don't expect to have something locked up by the holidays, people are using their remaining vacation days and just coasting the last few work weeks of the year. On my team we are planning to hire a couple analysts next year, but we aren't even going to start the process until mid-January because it's time intensive and we won't be working enough hours to do that and our normal jobs.
5. This is by far the most important piece of advice in this reply...relax and enjoy college. Whether it was my friends, colleagues, or I, we can all agree we wish we had another 1-2 years of college to have minimal responsibilities (relatively speaking) and be around friends all the time. Like I said in the previous points, a lot of the current situation is out of your control and no one is going to hold it against you if you're not a rockstar MD at Goldman Sachs by 30 and instead you work at a smaller shop or even in a tangential field for a few years. Expand your horizons and think about how you can craft a career path into IB/PE/Corp Dev/HF that isn't a straight line. I promise you, it would be easier to get a job that way and would allow you to relax and enjoy the last few months of college.
Update on this: still no role, tallying ~700 applications
Is this the norm for people with top BB summers? Are you getting no interviews at all? Considering taking an MM with higher conversion instead.
I’m applying to literally anything in the realm of IB and struggling to gain traction on anything.
There has barely been any applications as it is and there are stacks of resumes with better schools (probably higher GPAs too) than mine.
This is a common theme for anyone I know coming into the school year without an offer.
700+ with no results to show for it is pretty strange after a JPM gig. Are you an international? DEI candidate?
Not DEI, not in need of sponsorship, none of our intern class (program had no reoffers) has found a role besides a Harvard math guy who went QT
Is this JPM IBD NYC? Not heard of anything like that before
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