Advice for a soon to be grad

Hi everyone!

I am looking for advice on my current situation. I will be graduating from a private non target school with a Finance degree this spring. I have a solid GPA (3.8) and have been applying for jobs with every spare minute that I get. I am running into a wall though, I have not been getting any calls back about jobs and I am starting to feel discouraged. I don't have a finance internship because I have been working to put myself through school. The most relevant finance experience is in retail banking. I have been aiming for positions in equity research, asset management and corporate finance in NYC and Boston but so far I have had no success. I have had had the opportunity to speak to a large fund manager and he told me his best advice for me would be to try to get into a operations role and then try to transfer internally to the asset management/equity research side. My ideal job would be doing research in NYC but as it goes I feel like I have limited opportunities to lock down a job before graduation. I am just looking for some advice on what people who have been in a similar situation as me or who can advice what a soon to be grad should do. Should I give up the search for equity research/asset management and try for an operations role or should I continue to apply to each job that presents itself. I really do not want to graduate college without a job lined up but now I am beginning to feel desperate enough to take almost any job.

Any advice is appreciated!