recruiting after graduating - london
hi monkeys, I'm a recent graduate from a top 3 target in the UK (Oxbridge/LSE) and studied a target degree as well. didn't take recruiting seriously in all three years since I was interested in academia, but switched my mind to IB 6 months before graduating.
I've got 0 experience in finance, although I've spun my independent macroeconomic research projects experience as 'finance'.
any advice for a plan of action? been struggling to get hits from boutiques, and networking hasn't been successful in directly landing an internship (although I have formed some solid relationships). don't want to pursue a masters because I just don't see the monetary investment of 40k being worth it.
thanks in advance :)
Masters.
You have as good a position as you could given your position I suppose (good degree / uni / and I hope good grade), but it really is still the "least bad" situation. You're competing with students from all over Europe who go to outstanding universities and who often have multiple internships behind them.
If you are set on this industry, I want to be clear that even if you do a masters, it will still be hard with no experience. I don't want to be discouraging, but just want to make sure there's a reality check.
So, the options:
1) Continue with the applications for grad roles (+ networking) at IBs, but focus on the smaller, UK-focused firms (like Peel Hunt, Panmure Gordon, etc.) where your degree and (nationality?) might give you an edge, and where the internship structure is not as rigid.
2) Look at masters. Including in Europe (where they are longer and cheaper, at least when I was at university (admittedly pre-Brexit) and so may give you a chance to properly get into the internship cycle. Also good to have a masters offer in general - it is not good for any future employment, let alone IB, to be unemployed >12 months. So the optionality is nice
3) Look at alternative paths to IB, for example through Big 4 Audit >> FDD / TS >> IB / PE. You may have better likelihood of finding a graduate role here
4) Off-cycle internships. These are not particularly common in the UK but could be an excellent stone IF you can find one and IF you are successful
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Hi,
On (1), feel free to DM, but to be clear I do not and never have worked at one of those UK-focused banks, so I don't think I'll be much help.
(2) You could for sure do UK masters. The one year issue is a thing though for someone without experience. I am fairly sure a 2 year course means paying fees for 2 years.
(3) That is not true. It depends where you apply. Reading or London roles for example are eligible. I know multiple people who are not UK citizens and who started their careers in audit.
I think things have changed. Government increased the minimum wage that a company has to offer in in order to be able to sponsor a visa. Unfortunately audit grads earn less than the threshold
I might be missing something:
https://jobs.pwc.co.uk/student/uk/en/job/557577WD/Graduate-Audit-London…
Do a masters but change your mindset - it’s not even about the cost of what you learn (which let’s be honest you can find all on Google).
Think of the masters as buying you and extra 12 months for recruiting.
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