Non-target 3rd year student looking for advice

Hey there! Here’s what I would do, in order, given your circumstances. Anyone else feel free to add in things I might skip or other things you think may be useful..

1. Network. Emails followed by calls. As many as you can. Simple LinkedIn searches of the banks you’re interested in, try to filter by first finding your school’s alumni and if there are none, get the emails of analysts/associates. start by emailing one per bank and expand that as you get calls scheduled.

2. Don’t just look at banking. Not sure how many Canadian banks do equity research or look for sell-side research interns but especially with a science background you could be useful covering healthcare sector. My point is, don’t pigeon-hole yourself into banking, look into ER as well.

3. Apply. Once you’ve networked, get those applications in. Apply to as many positions as you can IB ER S&T.. don’t limit yourself unless the bank limits you. The more networking + applications you do gives you a better shot at landing a job.

4. Practice your technicals. Especially as someone from a non-finance undergrad path, technicals will be essential. They may not ask you the toughest ones in interviews but you’ve gotta know the basics. Downloading the free PDF of 400 IB interview questions is a great way to practice these. Completing a modeling course through WSP or CFI will also cover modeling in more detail.

5. Prepare for non-technical interview. Again, the 400 IB interview questions PDF above is free online and covers these as well. Especially as someone from a science background, be prepared to answer why banking and have a well thought out response to that not having to do with money.

Hope this helps. As a junior already you might have your work cut out for you in landing an internship for this summer though I’m not sure if all of the Canadian banks have similar recruiting cycles as here in the US. Either way, network, follow these steps and know your basic technicals. If you do these steps, particularly building a network of analysts and associates in these banks, you will have a shot even if it’s as a full time analyst if it’s too late to land one this summer. Because it is getting late for this summer, I would recommend you (in addition to the above steps) also apply for PWM, Investment analyst, even commercial banking internships.. basically anywhere you can get a finance related internship on your resume and then focus the networking/interview prep for the full-time cycle next year.

Hope this helps! Lmk if you have any further questions.

(Edit: apologies for the formatting, typed this on my phone)