My chances of breaking in (UK)
I don't have spring weeks/summer internships at any well known places in banking/consulting. Worked at a F500 firm during my last year of undergrad but they were not hiring so didn't keep me on. Spent 1 year unemployed looking for internships/networking/etc with no luck. Recently landed a 6 month contract at a competitor F500 firm with a potential FTE offer. The work isn't really relevant to banking (overlaps somewhat with consulting). I went to a target and got ok grades.
Do I have a chance to break in or should I focus on working up the F500 firm? Please be brutally honest.
I have been networking but the bankers seem to dislike my background (gun me down on phonecalls usually or say they only want people with recent finance experience). Consultants seem to be more open to my background but prefer people with first class grades (thats what they say on the phone to me). I also get generic statements like 'your background is strong but the unemployment gap may hurt'. Networking has never worked for me, only online applications have, therefore I'm not relying on phonecalls anymore.
F500 has always been a back up if I couldn't break in/something to do vs being unemployed but to be honest I didn't really enjoy the previous F500 I was at. Have I just screwed up my life (at least until MBA level)? Can I even lateral from a F500 to anything if I hate it?
Why don't you take the F500 offer and see if it can open new opportunities for you. You can always leverage some industry experience to break in better than having an employment gap. If you don't want to do that, have you considered getting unpaid internships?
I'm definitely taking the F500 offer. The post was mainly to find out if I should stick with it and focus on MBA (and recruitment from there) or can I leverage it after X months experience?
Dude, you have been asking the same question since what, 2012? Maybe you just have to move on with whatever you can get?
Have you tried any boutique firms / corporate finance houses? It'll add experience and break up your unemployment gap. It'd be an expensive route, but you could potentially try secure an internship in a boutique / corporate finance house, then do a masters in one of the targets such as LSE, Imperial, Warwick, Edinburgh, Said. It'd expensive, but would really help your chances.
Bondholm - that's why I posted should I work up the F500 or still try to break in/do I have a chance? I'm unsure if its time to draw the line.
IncapableChimp - I'm applying for a Masters for the 2015 intake as a back up option. But it means I've spent 3 years 'regraduating' when I could have finished an analyst stint by now (1 year unemployed, 1 year 'wasted' on a random job and the masters). :( I am trying boutiques etc but no one is interested hence I went down the F500 route.
Anything is possible.
It depends how hard you worked in that year out with networking and applying. Do you feel you could have done more/better?
Ultimately the people who are very successful aren't on WSO asking if they can get in (not saying that means you won't be, btw). Point is, they just believe they can do it, but they may fail quite a few times along the way. In the end it doesn't need to be so structured. You could break in at 26 years old and no one will care when they write your biography.
Networking has never worked for me Bullshit. Networking never works for anyone. I spent 4 months on the phone getting 20 no's a day until I got one yes. And i never worked for a f500 company and have a background in biology.
Look you have two options - keep pushing until you get it or give up. No one here will tell you a third one and between the other two you are the only one who can really judge which one is right. Hope you do well
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