To what extent does networking help?
I’m a second year student at a target public school with a 3.81 GPA, but with not so many ECs and no experience. I transferred and took my classes from home this semester, so I haven’t been able to get as involved as I want at my school. Since September, I’ve been cold emailing and occasionally talking to people in the industry while looking at internships for sophomore and junior summer, and I will have talked to almost 90 people after this week. Recently, a VP at a large bank told me he would be happy to set me up for a phone screen when it’s time to apply for SA 2022. As greatful as I am about this, how much does networking help, especially for someone like me without outstanding internships and Extracurriculars?
It's the only way to get a job in this industry. You could have the best internships and best grades but if nobody flags your resume you won't get an interview. The good stats help you get networking calls and those calls help you get the interview.
This is probably a dumb question, but what is looked at in the first vs the second interview?
I just went through the interview process for SA and was lucky to secure a BB offer. However, I interviewed at EBs, BBs and MM. First round were usally very technical focused - DCF, merger model, LBO, accounting, etc. A lot of my first round interviews didn't ask a single technical question. Second round interview (usually the final round in a form of a superday) were much more behavioral and markets based. So the usual questions about team experience, resume experiences, market based questions, why that firm, etc.
Try to get a finance related internship for soph spring. I was in a similar experience last fall w a internship where I didn't do jack shit and luckily got a pe internship for the spring. Even then, my resume still fell short imo compared to other candidates and that's where networking helped me a ton in getting interviews and the offer. At the end of day, if the convo with the vp goes well, there's a very likely chance that you will get a interview and just run with it from there
What advice would you have for someone trying to get a sophomore spring internship? I’ve been contacting Alumni a bunch of small or local firms, but most firms either say they’re too small to take interns or that they will consider me if they decide to take interns. I can’t imagine that being a non-finance major helps.
Connections and networking is paramount. I've interviewed at various BBs and boutiques only to be rejected. Went through a connection at a MBB and got put through to a final round interview right away. Failing to leverage what you have puts you behind the pack.
Network to get a chance to step up to the plate for an at bat. Get a base hit (crush interviews) to get an offer. Don't leave it up to the ump and take a third strike looking -- gotta crush the interviews.
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