Non target success story

I want to share this story to prove how breaking into IB is both luck and a numbers game, you need to be constantly crunching numbers and put yourself in the best position to succeed. Also, hopefully this can inspire someone else in a similar position to me. To start things off all you need is 1 shot, I landed only 1 superday out of tons of applications, but I capitalized by receiving the offer and if I hadn't most likely I wouldn't be writing this today. I had no idea what IB was coming out of high school, quite honestly I went to my college because I play college football there and they have an above average business school.

Long story short I discovered IB spring of my sophomore year and I was hooked. Started watching endless youtube videos, reading threads and more. I still hadn't discovered this site yet, what a young noob I was. Anyways I starting applying to BB and never heard anything back, so quickly I went back to the drawing board. What I learned is don't blame your circumstances, always look in the mirror. Simply put my resume was trash, I needed to make it better….Mind you I had no idea where to start as well. I didn't know you start with your alumni base on linkedin, etc. So I completely revamped my resume and decked it out honestly very proud of this because I took initiative and slowly but surely I started to receive some interviews, still no idea what I was doing yet…didn't even know what a technical question was.

Started to learn after my first interview went horribly as you all can imagine hahaha. It's all good you live and learn, really felt like a bozo in there tho. I began to study BITW 400 questions, and I am honestly a pretty personable person so I didn't worry too much about the behavioral. Like I said you need to crunch the numbers. I learned quickly breaking into a MM would be much easier so I decided to focus all my attention there. Boom I landed an interview with two separate divisions within the same firm. I rocked the first round interview and I really connected well with the analyst. They started talking about the superday at the end of my interview and I was hyped. I told myself I was going to capitalize this was my one shot. Being from Detroit I channeled my inner eminem "you only got one shot" and this was it. I seriously studied BITW 400 qs all day. I prepared my story and I was ready.

I got an email and I was so excited for the super day, I read every day that I was going to be an investment banking summer analyst. Ik ik it sounds so cheesy, but that stuff really works and I'm not afraid to admit that because when I do something I go all the way. Long story short, I had to go back and forth with their HR team because I had a football practice that conflicted with the superday and I couldn't make it in person. My college football coach didn't care or really know what this was haha.

Once again I could've given up but I made it a positive and there was no turning back I was ready to rock this interview. Now comes the superday and In my opinion I didn't even do the best, I stumbled over some technicals, got some questions wrong, misspoke a few times but I kept shaking it off.HR called me the following Monday and I got the summer analyst offer.

So how did I receive a summer analyst offer coming from a non target, non diverse background:

1) Optimize your resume, watch YT for best guide out there...I made mine from a template I found and I consistently received good feedback. Your first job is getting in the door, that is done with your resume

2) Wow your interviewers by knowing their background(s), an MD at my superday asked if I knew about him and the other interviewer. I rattled off their college undergrad and MBA for both interviewers and one of their work backgrounds as well. He was actually pretty shocked and I might have earned myself an offer there by going above and beyond.

3) Know your story, personally I believe mine is very compelling and they don't know you and you don't know them. If you can tell a story you can win them over

4) Positive mindset, I didn't feel sorry for myself coming from a non target, I didn't even know what IB was out of high school. I remained very positive throughout the entire process and kept working hard. Hard work always wins in life!

5) If you fail, so what move. Life sucks sometimes, but another door can open up just as another one is shutting

6) Capitalize your opportunities. Be ready for the moment, half the battle is getting that interview, but once you do don't be shy, let it all out!

7) Believe in yourself, my friends/family/teammates all didn't really know what IB was but they were all encouraging. I was so damn proud of myself getting the offer, because I know I earned that. Yes yes I know it is just a summer analyst position, but i've seen hard work time and time again in my short life thus far take me places I never imagined and it is a great feeling.

8) Be realistic, sure if you go to a target/diverse background apply everywhere, but if you don't be a sniper not a machine gun. Find those few alumni who work in IB and connect, strike up convos and you never know who knows who. I focused purely on MM and it really benefited me.

9) I'm going to turn my summer analyst into a full time offer, see how I worded that. Not "I hope" That is the power of positive thinking and reinforcement.

I hope this can inspire/help someone out there in a similar position to myself. Keeping working hard out there, you’re closer then you think!