What do I have to do to make you reply to my Emails.
First year at a Target School.
I came to uni thinking firms would just show up and hire me. Then reality hit—I applied to every IB spring internship in the UK and got nothing except one EB HireVue. Not even a single real interview, which is kind of normal because of the DIE importance specially in the spring weeks application process.
So I figured out how the game works and went full grind: LinkedIn, cold emails, anything I could try.
Connecting with ex-bankers helped a bit. Met some really cool people, got invites to some really cool places, even tagged along to a few lunches when they met old colleagues.
Meanwhile, I sent 80-90 cold emails to alumni. Result? Maybe 5 coffee chats. Nowhere near enough.
Hence, what’s the move now for me? Where do I actually go to meet IB people and get referrals? Keep spamming emails? Heard this stupid idea that a guy even wrote a letter and dropped it at reception—does that actually work, or is it just not a good idea at all?
i thought networking in the UK wasnt a thing so much
It isn't. Frankly I'm surprised OP has had as much success as he's describing. Referrals for early recruitment basically don't matter except at some boutiques.
I'll tell OP one thing for free, no banker in London is going to go have an in person coffee chat with a student unless HR asks him to. That's not the culture, there isn't time. Some may be willing to do calls but these are busy people - the success rate OP is talking about sounds pretty normal. You'll probably get more luck with people who aren't first years (since they're just trying to stay afloat).
Don't get me wrong though. Networking is a good idea. But it's not gonna get you a referral of any significance to like MS/GS. But there is a world beyond summer analyst recruiting and as OP has noted, he's getting some interesting opportunities from it.
Did you actually refine your CV after the spring apps? Have you joined relevant societies? Any relevant experience lined up for this summer?
Honestly my cv is not that bad.
Previous work exprience at a BB, Analyst for one of our main finance campus society.
Idc what people say - London recruiting is very random and unfortunate. I remember Patrick saying 'networking is still extremely important in the UK blah blah blah' which is true in that it is better than not to network for a variety of reasons (personal development, good to learn about the industry, MAYBE valuable for FT recruiting/off-cycles, just generally a good thing to do as a student), but is NOT true in respect of having a material impact on your recruitment cycle like it does everywhere else in the world (literally).
The absolute hardest part of London recruitment is going to a target school, wether at the undergraduate level or msc, then acing the online tests. THOSE are your controllable factors that aid your chances, NOT networking. It is unlike the US where you do not have as much of a measurable to your name when you apply - as you don't undertake online tests and the name brand of targets, while still important, has become less important over time relative to the UK. You can do everything right and network with everyone and come from a good enough school and have a polished resume and it means nothing if you get unlucky from HR/the AI that scans your resume. Pushing resumes through for SA applications IS BY AND LARGE NOT A THING in the UK and the people on this site who disagree (yes, including you Patrick who snapped when someone said something similar) are often US centric and not familiar with UK practices. Yes, having elite connections if your dad is an MD or have some super high level relationships can be tangible, but that doesn't reflect networking having tangibility, rather the normal standard of nepo that exists in every industry everywhere (whatever).
Speaking multiple relevant languages, acing the online tests, and going to the best school possible are literally 1000000x more important than coffee chats in the UK. They bascially don't fucking matter for 99% of the people with BB goals on this forum. And while the whole 'I networked with a BB banker in LDN and they threatened to blacklist me with HR when I apply' sentiment i've seen on here is mostly BS (no one is going out of their way to do that unless you're a jackass), people just generally don't care about picking up the phone from alumni like they do in the US. And HR is like Big Brother over here, they truly run the early to middle stages of every process (and if it's not HR, its an external recruiter). And btw, I don't want to hear that 'oh well they're busy they just don't have the time for a coffee/call' lol complete BS - LDN bankers don't work more than my friends in NY yet they take on coffee chats and make time for it for alumni at least.
Btw everything I am saying here is for traditional BB/EB processes that 99% of kids want - this doesn't apply to small boutiques where associates and vps etc have real pull for you (THIS is where networking can help you).
Rant over.
50% agree, I’ve tried the same thing and networking with analysts or people in High Finance does have an effect when trying to land PE/IB off cycles or similar non standard programs. (I managed to get put forward for an off-cycle at an PE, and had my CV recommended and a chat with the recruiters at a top EB)
I do believe networking with recruiters is effective and can work, especially external recruiters. The UK game is a lottery where the prize is having them actually look at your CV, so sometimes having the opportunity to give them a heads up that you’ll be sending it across and they should look at it gets you across stage 1, which is them actually reading it. (as stated usually this is best for EBs and PE shops).
Further more DEI really only has any effect at the spring stage, I’ve noticed conversions of DEI springs to summers are pretty low (except for maybe the women’s programs rightfully so IMO). So don’t worry about that your CV might just not be competitive which is why you aren’t getting offers. Look at your class what is your USP if you don’t have any then you really should go create one because that definitely has a must bigger impact. E.g If you’re a econ student doing nothing interesting like a business or president of a society it might explain why you’re not getting offers.
Fair, I agree on the off-cycle point and definitely agree on the PE front. I was moreso referring to traditional BB/EB SA cycle which is what most people are referring to here. I also concur that DEI isn't as big of a hurdle post-spring week, which is why I didn't mention it in my post. Realistically though as someone who went through the recruiting cycle and who is now landing FT at a strong boutique/MM, my peers who ended up at BB/EB summers who didn't go through springs were those who went to targets and killed the online tests, not those who extensively networked. But your point stands that its not usesless, just infintely less useful for BB SA recruiting when compared to a) the US and b) doing other things like having a USP as you mentioned (languages, skillset, top target uni etc) + killing the online test
The cold emailing and LinkedIn hustle is solid, but it can be a numbers game, especially early on. Networking in person is huge, so if you can, try to hit up any career fairs or networking events at your uni. Also, look for any finance meetups or panels happening in your city, it's a great way to meet people face-to-face. As for dropping a letter at reception, yeah, I wouldn't rely on that.
The problem I have with the career fairs in my uni, is that no matter who comes down. even if its someone from the backoffice or someone that has nothing to do with the application process, fresher students tend to surround them and ask super stupid questions in order to impress them (are your mum and dad older than you?, what is the work culture in your firm? etc)
What should you do if you have not been able to get a summer in anything? My CV is looking quite average with the classic search fund internship (although quite a bit of financial modeling done) and some student clubs.
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