(2022) FT Recruiting Advice for Non-Target
Hi WSO,
Big non-target who managed to secure a few first rounds and a SD at middle market firms and BBs but failed to convert and am trying to decide whether I should recruit for FT or defer graduation for another SA cycle or do a Master's (which I am highly against for various reasons).
I know there have been many threads on this and have already gone through most of them. I am posting a new one as I am curious to hear how SA 2021 return offers and outlook on the economy will affect FT for 2022 (I know you may think early). Current analysts or incomings, do you think it will be much tougher in terms of number of slots opening up and even more competitive because of that? Does that mean as a non-target, even if I did manage to secure interviews for this past SA cycle and thought my resume was strong enough, I need to strengthen my resume more by doing more internship both this spring and summer?
This may not be a comprehensive context, but tried to keep it as short as I could. Would appreciate any insight, opinions and comments.
Interested as well.
bump
banks are busy, but no one will know anything about headcount until during next summer. economic conditions change rapidly and there is little to no way of knowing what conditions will look like this summer when FT 2022 recruiting will take place. some banks still don’t know what full headcount for SA 2021 and even FT 2021 the will be.
No one knows and it's dependent on the vaccine, but as said above banks have been busy. Really though, you can't worry about headcount changes that haven't even been decided, focus mainly on how you can best position yourself.
FT is extremely competitive in any year if you don't have an IB SA. It's a good start that your resume was good enough to get SA interviews, but now you will be competing against people with SA and a return offer, SA but no return offer, and those who did something in industry trying to move into IB.
I encourage you to find something as close to an SA as possible, perhaps a small IB or PE boutique that doesn't traditionally take interns, or an industry role in an area your interests or resume already lean towards (ie if you're a tech person and would be competitive for tech groups, focus on that industry).
Deferring for another SA is worth it only if you're sure you'll do better next year. Were there holes in your networking, resume issues that are now resolved, just too late to the game? Unless you can pinpoint the issues and fix them you may have the same result in a year.
is it still ultra difficult if I go into FT recruiting with a no-name IB SA on my resume?
FT recruiting is always ultra difficult. No name IB SA (where you can at least say you did comparable work) is a big step up from an industry job, but your competition is still those from BB/EB some with return offers. You need to be on top of networking and know each firm's timeline since FT moves quickly.
Thanks for the insight. I was expecting people to say that nobody knows at this point. For people lateralled before after SA, did you network before your SA? I am in couple processes for SA 2021 at firms who simply dont give return offers and only accept laterals for FT and if this is the case, can I just network early and tell them my situation and am interested in FT? I don’t see how this would be a problem but curious to hear from people who have gone through the process
Lateral after SA*
Bump very curious about this as well.
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