Q&A: No return offer to FT BB Offer
Wanted to help out other people who are / will be in a similar position, so wanted to provide a forum to help those still going through FT recruiting. Some background info: I was at a boutique / MM investment bank, and didn't get a return offer. There was a pretty low return offer rate, and a lot of us were fucked and we did not really expect it at all. Was absolutely destroyed for about a week after I got the news, as I was told I was performing well throughout the internship. I expect some of you would will say there were signs that many of us weren't going to get returns, but this truly wasn't the case. Mid internship reviews strongly positive, and we had no additional formal feedback sessions after that. Ended up re-recruiting, and got an offer at BB, after a couple months of putting my head down and grinding. This consisted mostly of learning technicals, shooting networking emails, and applying to open applications cold. More than happy to help out anyone else in a similar position any way I can - it's a painful spot to be in.
Do you want to exit to PE?
How is this at all relevant
Hey @Meewtw" ,
I think the finance technicals were only marginally harder than SA interviews, but they'll expect you to know about a specific coverage group if you interned in it / are interviewing for that group. More industry-related questions. Eg. Tell me about a deal you saw in X industry, what are some companies you think are interesting, why are you interested in X industry?
One notable difference between FT and SA, however, is that there are many more interview rounds for FT in my experience, especially if the team is smaller or if you're interviewing for a specific coverage group. Some BBs had up to 7 phone screens before the superday (though they were all chill and asked generally the same questions). I believe this is because you're signing a 2 year contract as FT analysts, whereas SA is only 10 weeks, after which they can decide if they like you; so they have a much more thorough process for full-time. Just my thoughts on this.