No Return Offer and gutted, advice for what now?

I interned at a NYC MM bank in a good group, and while I did exceptionally well across most things, there was one area I could’ve done better in that ultimately got me cut.

I honestly feel terrible about myself, and I’ll get over myself in a few days because I have to, but looking for advice on where to go from here. I still want to rerecruit full time for IB, but also will apply to FT consulting roles, AM, VC, etc. I think I’ve learned a lot from this experience, even if it didn’t go how I wanted.

I’m looking for advice on timeline, staying on top of things, not letting it get to me, and reality on what I can expect from FT recruiting. For context I have a good GPA, interview well, go to a target, and am diversity, but doubt that matters much anymore.

11 Comments
 

The reality is, the vast majority of open FT slots in the fall are going to people who did summer internships in IB but didn't get the return offer.  Sure there's some musical chairs of guys with offers going to other banks. But those are zero-sum because obviously they're vacating one seat while taking another.  The net open seats are mostly going to people in your position, who did an IB internship and don't have an offer yet.

So the good news (and the bad news too, because it's time to get to work now) is that you have a good chance of landing something and you need to get after it.  

Most important thing IMHO is to line up 1 or preferably 2 people from your summer bank who will go to bat for you and tell employers you were one of those good SAs who slipped through the cracks.  

Next most important thing is work your school network to line up interviews or informal chats (which at FT stage are basically interviews anyway).  Your friends who are returning with offers can give you a huge leg up, they can call their HR girl and tell them you're a good guy and you might get to interview before OCI even happens.

FT is more wild west than SA recruiting was. Banks just want to be done with it. They have some holes to fill, and if you can fill one then they're glad to call it a day.  That's an environment that favors hustlers, so hustle.

 

This happened to me in 2023 and I know many other people it happened to since. Interestingly, a few I know managed to level up (MM to BB, MM to EB). I took a role that was a bit of a downgrade but now in a perfect job.

Youll just need a really tight story and a lot of tenacity, definitely start now because it’ll get harder the longer you wait into the year

 

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