Where should we be in the process? SA 26
Now that the year has come to a close, I'm curious where we should be in the process. I go to a target school and have had about 15 calls so far with people from my school at banks I am interested in. I have had about 10 additional calls with other connections some of whom work in offices other than NY(I want to be in NY) and some of whom didn't go to my university. I have just begun to review technicals seriously and am using BIWS + 400 questions and other school provided resources/generally well regarded books.
I have stopped reaching out to people for this year as we are nearing Christmas but I am interested to know if I am behind, on track, or ahead. Most applications open Jan 1 and some banks like HL and Wells I haven't been able to get in touch with a single alum in NY. Does networking continue after I submit my application, what does that look like?
Additionally, after these calls they tell me feel free to reach out anytime you have any questions xyz, and I don't completely know what that might look like. I know the goal is actually to build a relationship and I'm curious what some tangible actionable ways are to do that and get them on my team. Moreover, is it worth it to talk to kids who didn't go to my school? I had a great conversation with someone who I was referred to but went to another school and I don't know if I am wasting my time or not.
Thanks!
bump
Listen man don’t take this the wrong way but you’re behind. I’ve sent out 550+ emails and had 80 calls. I reviewed technicals over the summer too. Over break my plan is to do mock interviews every day, craft 7 stories, refine technicals, etc.
I would suggest you start emailing 15+ people per day come Jan 6. Make sure to submit the apps that come out Jan 1. Best of luck.
Deadass? I’ve been emailing since September and have had like 16 calls. Alums won’t respond and I’ve had emails checked by many upperclassmen r.
Are you personalizing your notes, attaching your resume, and following up?
are you at a target or in competitive clubs? Have you been talking to analysts or also VP+?
At a regional target. Been emailing mostly analysts.not in the premier ib club tho
At a target in a well known club
You’re definitely not the norm, i go to a target and I guarantee no one has done 500+ emails. OPs average I think. Either you’re humble bragging or genuinely unaware
why is this shit becoming the standard. Jaimie Dimon please save us
How are you personalizing? I know some who have sent out that many emails but their hit rate is much lower, even with alum.
I wouldn’t say you’re ahead but you’re by no means screwed. As long as you hit the emails hard in January, you’ll be in a decent position.
How hard is hard, like reach out to 50-100 alum across one week and go from there? I’ve been trying to pace it at each firm and reach out to
3-4 at each bank at a time, follow up, try to get a referral, and if it’s not panning out reach out to 2 more and keep going. I didn’t want to email 3 people in the same group at the same time. At what point do I just say screw it and send everything. Also to what extent is it valuable to talk to kids who didn’t go to my school. In what instance would I be able to leverage that if possible at all.
Sounds like you’re doing what you can. As time goes on, you can be a bit more forward, but understand that it’s a numbers game. I had shops I networked at extensively and didn’t get an interview, and other banks with similar and in one case significantly higher prestige give me super days with minimal to no networking. My best advice is not overly romanticize ending up at any one spot and have ample firms lined up that you can quickly pivot to. Ending up at x vs y bank is largely a crapshoot, landing in banking in some capacity isn’t.
Some diversity offers are already out
for what lmao
Not offers, but programs. Dunno what they’re talking about
WB
Hey, I am one of recruiting captains for a BB for my target for this year, my thoughts are as follows:
1) Take a deep breath, relax, and enjoy your break. Do not send out any emails until Jan 6, as people will get very annoyed if you email them during this holiday season as most of us are currently WFH'ing and trying to spend time with our families.
2) You are not screwed. You are on track, there are people ahead (like that one toxapex dude clearly), but if you sustain what you're doing and are ready technically, you should be able to get an offer. Also of note: if you are emailing 15+ people from now to Jan 6 including during Christmas: many people will in fact ding you because it shows a CLEAR lack of social skills. Obviously, even the people who respond will not tell you that they are judging you for emailing now, but having seen some of the notes of recent calls; I have distinctly noticed people are much meaner to any calls they have now and nobody gets rated particularly highly or batted for if they had calls recently. That's to not even mention people getting annoyed and not responding/deciding to never respond to you. Simply not worth it).. Do not trust the words of other people recruiting with you on what to do, they haven't even done it themselves and there are very perverse (read negative) incentives for them to lie to you.
3) The key to recruiting is that it's a bit of a marathon, not a sprint: you have done fine in the setting up of stuff, but now you have to finish this up. What this means is sending 5-10 emails min a day once Jan 6 hits and trying to set up multiple calls a day. Additionally, GET YOUR TECHNICALS DOWN. IB is getting increasingly competitive for non-diversity candidates and Ik many candidates who I thought were good/elite behaviorally got 2 or 3 superdays max only at a BB/EB (some even only get 1). It's crucial to be able to convert these chances or you might end up with no offer or end up at an MM (obviously still a great landing spot, but assume most kids want a BB/EB offer).
4) Reach out to all the alums that you thought calls went well with and tell them that you happily applied and convey to your top choice bank that it's your top choice bank (try to be strategic here, and whatever you do not tell this to multiple banks as people across banks often run in same social circles if we all went to the same school and people do in fact talk).
5) Personal story time: I started recruiting ~3 weeks before the apps came out for my BB, and I managed to get an offer by talking to 5-6 people only. It's all about getting people to bat for you. If you talk to more people, higher likelihood of a finding a few people to bat for you but if you (like me) started somewhat late, you can still make it up by just having high quality convos. I also didn't have any connections to anyone in IB btw,just grinded my ass off for like a month and a half (you have some time between apps coming out and interviews for you to network as well).
6) Not all banks will release the first of Jan and many will interview much later; you have more time than you think.
Happy holidays. Good luck recruiting!
hi, thanks for the super helpful comment! If apps open up january first, would it still benefit me to network with people even even after I submitted apps? Or should I target networking to apps that open up later?
Tbh, I would prioritize those that open up later just because apps are reviewed as they come in for some places. I would still network as people can and will push for you until interview invites are out, and if you're at a target; we usually have a meeting as a team to discuss the candidates (not too sure on the specifics of how these meetings go, as I am in my 2nd year so have yet to be in one; just volunteered to be captain of the process as a junior).
Thus, although it does help to network at those firms I think prioritizing firms that open up later is better simply because it means you'd have people pushing you forward much earlier and batting for you. Crucially (and what ends up happening often) is that the person screening your resume internally maybe someone you had a good chat with which is obviously a huge + to your candidacy. Also if you network a lot before apps open, it simply gives you more time which means more people to talk with.
All this being said; as I said previously I only talked to 5 people (checked my networking sheet from back in the day to confirm the number) and managed to get an offer at my firm, so I would say do not lose hope and it's possible to talk to enough people and convert to super days for those firms that open earlier; it's just going to be harder than the later-opening ones because of the time factor.
TLDR: Apply and try everywhere but personal opinion is you should focus on the firm that opens up later if goal is to optimize for an offer solely!
Also, some other things I'd like to point out:
1) NONE of what I said applies to any of the EB's; as I never recruited for them. I made a similar calculus to what I discussed here and ended up choosing to completely ignore the EB's given timelines and focus primarily on the BBs and select MMs.
2) Just as I did; by now I would strongly suggest choosing a shorter list of firms you are focusing on based on the connections you have had so far and the chats you've had. You should have some firms where you feel like you get along better with the people and/or have the best chats that you should focus on. The key thing here is also not putting all your eggs in one basket and also making sure to include MM firms; in case you strike out of the BBs.
Hope that is helpful, and my personal anecdotes sprinkled in are also of some help as to how I thought about the process! Again, happy holidays and good luck!
This confirms my theory that all of the genuinely nice people on this app actually have a job in IB and the mean people don’t
Nah, there are definitely a lot of mean people in IB. IB just like every other job has nice and mean people. Just as there are people from poorer or richer backgrounds as well as hardos and non-hardos. I would say that I have found MUCH fewer hardos in banking than I thought; but maybe that's because I was a non-connected student grinding very hard to get a job which made me met a bunch of hardos when recruiting. Also maybe it's more hardos at places like EB's that recruit earlier and I have seen hardos (atleast at my school) particularity be attracted to due to perceived better exit opps (not sure how true it is since me and my EB friends are ending up at very similar PE shops, but there is at the very least a perceived view that EB's are better for exits).
Don't worry about the people in IB, people are people everywhere. Just grind out recruiting and go through the motions of the process and try to get the job. Always remember to stay grounded and learn as much as possible in IB with the fact that IB isn't the end-all be and neither is money the end-all be all but rather just ways for you to help achieve financial freedom (or whatever ultimate goal you have)!
There are definitely a lot of assholes in IB.
This was really helpful, thanks! Question: If a bank opens Jan 1 and I apply that day, would it be appropriate for me to email my contacts there on Jan 1, or should I still wait until Jan 6? I just feel awkward about catching someone during the holidays even though it seems somewhat necessary.
^
Wait until Jan 6, nobody is reviewing apps in those 5 days anyways. Everyone is on mini-vacation and only doing work as needed. Just send the email for the morning of Jan 6.
is it cooked if i sent a bunch of emails today :(
I want to tell you no, but honestly: yes. I am fairly certain that at least some people will fully ding you for emailing on the 23rd. Not all of us celebrate Christmas, but for those who do a large chunk will be mad at getting a email a day before Christmas Eve and will ding you.
Thank you for the insight. Appreciate you writing this all out.
Is this a real thing? Summer 2026? Jesus
You're chilling. Over break I would start to get familar with technicals, read WSJ everyday, and play around in excell with a 3-Statement model (This can help a lot with accounting based techincals to see how the three statements flow and think together). With networking, hold off on emails until January, and than try to schedule as many calls as possible. Remember, if you're at a target, you are competiting directly against peers from your school. You'll all be reaching out to the same alum, asking roughly the same questions, and applying for the same spots. The earlier you talk to these alum, the more likely you are to be memorable to them when it comes time to choose who is geting a 1st round from your school. Good luck and remember that being personable in calls/interviews goes further than anything else in this process.
Thank you
What companies open Jan 1st? And also by jan 1st do you mean est midnight?? Like as soon as the new year starts? That's lowkey insane
The better question is which ones aren’t
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