So I'm new on here and I've tried to do some searching but haven't found i guess what I'd define as a "Serious" answer, or one that I found to be portrayed as serious:
I'm in the middle of OCR and have applied to every bank recruiting on my campus. So far I've been rejected for first rounds by 1 bank, and selected as an alternative for another. The bank I was rejected from is a large bank outside of the United States, and the one I was selected as an alternative is a middle market firm (not Lazard). I have yet to hear back from the bulge brackets on OCR (MS, JPM, GS) and a several other banks but my question is: this website makes bulge brackets and boutiques sound much more competitive to get into as opposed to mm firms and smaller places. If I'm being selected as an alternative for a MM firm does that mean there's a good chance I'm going to be rejected at more competitive firms?
I ask this because this website seems to portray the level of competition increasing with the size of the firm (which makes sense), but through networking with bankers I've found that over and over again I'm told even if you network a lot of the selection process has to do with timing, randomness, luck, resume formatting and the selectors mood/ and other uncontrollable factors in a lot of cases (unless your an outlier with a 4.0 GPA from Wharton with a triple major and bla bla bla). Which do you guys think from your experience?
I'd love to hear all of your experiences/inputs
It's a game. Calm down, keep your fingers crossed, you never know. It's a very, very tough hiring environment, one firm might reject you because they think you're nothing special and a better firm might love something on your resume and pick you up for it.
Thanks for the response - Definitely going to relax now lol
So you've heard back from 2 banks and you are freaking out. That's a problem. Just wait. I'm assuming you applied to more than 2.
Let me tell you about my own experiences and you can sort of extrapolate to see what it means for you. I applied to almost every bulge bracket, three positions for Houlihan Lokey, a few middle markets, and few boutiques. Early on I found that I was rejected for a BB, an interview for one position at HL, and was an alternate for another position at HL. I applied to a total of 20 positions, ended up with one interview at a BB, two interviews at HL, and one other interview at a middle market.
Based on my experience and that of my peers, here are some points to consider:
1) A high GPA doesn't get you in the door. Not even a 3.9 at a Target (me sophomore year). Work experience matters considerably more - it demonstrates both interest and basic understanding. If you have no relevant work experience on your resume, you won't get interviews unless...
2) You network. This isn't necessarily cold-calling (had some very unsatisfying experience calling random alums), but rather, you have to be a bit smarter to play this game well. Getting a professor to link you to alums is almost always a win. Getting a professor to have an alum call YOU will almost certainly result in an interview (it happens if the professor likes you enough).
3) BBs are definitely more competitive than MMs - with one caveat. A lot of times, BBs interview more kids than MMs, so they accept a greater % of applicants for first rounds than smaller firms. Since every aspiring banker applies to just about every bank through OCR, mathematically, you do have a better shot at ending up with a first round interview with larger banks (assuming you go to a true Target).
Hope this helps. Feel free to PM.
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