UK SA - Insta dinged pre-HV on multiple occasions?

Applying to lots of SA's and have been insta dinged. Got and converted multiple springs at BB/MMs but applied to the usual GS/MS/JPM and a couple EB's (and of course some other programmes). All strong performance in the OA's if they have one, but don't get a HireVue. 

CV and CL have both been reviewed, and whilst being somewhat different to the usual candidate (gap year in the army, fair bit of startup experience etc), I've been told they are pretty good and include lots of relevant finance detail (online courses, spring weeks etc). STEM at Oxbridge, so no issues with education.

The only HV I have got is the JPM one which sends out automatically - however, I completely flopped it as my gf came into my room.

From an application standpoint, the only flaw I can really see is my lack of non-English language. Is there really that much luck of the draw?

11 Comments
 

What relevant experience do most SA applicants have that this guy doesn’t?

Spring weeks + a year in the army seems relatively strong. Very few applicants have a first year summer and any other work experience is likely massively over exaggerated and HR will know.

 

I don’t know what is wrong with your CV, even if anything is wrong with it… based on my experiences, the quality of recruiters is awful, and these people screen your CVs. I had crazy stupid email exchanges with several banks (reached out through an email), and it looks like the CVs go through some clueless juniors located in Philippines, Poland etc. Banks outsource recruiters and the problem is that those people have no clue what programmes they recruit for and what the requirements should be. They don’t even know the basic stuff like when the programme actually starts (June/July etc). I am really disappointed with this approach taken by banks, including some BBs so that’s the harsh reality. Hope this explains why you are getting dinged 

 

I mean look at people at GS linkedin. Half are EU masters students with multiple IB/PE internships already.

A lot of UK kids also have 1st year summers these days (whether that's through diversity programmes, nepotism or hustling cold emails). The SA recruiting UK pool of spots is also a lot smaller than EU since a lot of the UK pool is already taken up with spring converts.

 

I mean you can't really. Fact is top BB HR gets hundreds of HVs with strong CVs (top Unis, springs, internships, extra curriculars etc) so they simply can't give them all interviews. Your CV is good enough to get an offer but it isn't so cracked that you should expect to get through (tbh even people with cracked CVs aren't locks). So it has to come down to luck to differentiate. 

 

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