AM I Cooked?
Dear Members of WSO,
So, Briefly, I would like to write about myself, it might be useful to give me your advice. I am M24yo , from Uzbekistan, and I have a bachelor's degree (2:2). Talking about my internship experience it was a tough year for me I couldn't do internships during my bachelor years because of COVID and two-year lockdown. So I don't have IB-related internship experience, to be frank, we have no developed financial sector and we don't have IB firms like JPM, GS, or MS so all those services are provided by state-owned banks and we have a high level of corruption like many other post-soviet countries, so maybe that's why international firms won't open their branch here in my country. So, after graduating my college, I looked to study abroad in the UK and get a Master's degree in accounting and finance so that maybe I would have a better chance of landing an internship or full-time job offer. But again, I have been applying to every open position and receiving rejections. I am using the WSO template for y CV and haven't received any interviews yet only receiving rejection email letters from IB firms. I will graduate this summer 2025, I could get a two-year visa and work in unskilled jobs like construction or waitering, but I have this dream of working in IB, tried to contact with one girl who is analysis at GS in London in the hopes of having coffee chat or informational call but she told me she was busy, managed to contact with one of JPM's IB vice president but he hunged up the phone on me. I am depressed because I haven't lined up any job offers for my graduation. I have spent a lot of money to come here and study now I need to recoup my expenses and I am from an Asian family which means my parents expect a lot of things from me, they think I will get a job at a big firm. but here is the situation I am in. I don't wanna go to my country as a loser.
I have decent technical skills and created a few DCF and LBO models by watching YouTube guys, I like finance because it could help me to achieve financial freedom. I need your advice on my situation guys. Should I go back to my country and take the L and live like a loser around my family, or should I stay here and work in unskilled jobs and give them back their money? I feel like I have no chance of landing a job in finance because there are dudes from Oxbridge and targeted colleges with internships from the best firms on their CVs. I think I was delusional thinking I could get a job and better up my life by coming to the UK. What kind of advice would you give me?
If you reached the end of this post. I appreciate your time. Many Thanks
Are you 100% fluent in English?
Just cause the analysis at GS didn’t give him her time, doesn’t mean he’s not fluent, bro.
Yes
Give up man i know a few intls from Oxbridge who were not able to secure anything(not even an interview from big4). Those who got offers are all PRs.
What do you mean by PRs is it previous roles or what?
Permanent residents
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I am from a town named Rishton, we are famous for our pottery&tableware culture, I have experience working closely with my father running this manufacturing shop where we produce porcelain tableware, during summer times prior covid or after I used to go there and help my family with day to day operations. Obviously, I can't include it on my CV because it is not IB-related. I filled that gap by learning how to build financial models in Excel and some technical to crush the interview. Russia, no way. I have faced racism from Slavs, and I don't think I can work with them they see me as inferior. UAE is a good place, a rich nation, which means I can be part of big deals, the problem is that I don't speak Arabic and I don't think they will sponsor me because I don't have any IB-related experience I tried hard to get internships but I failed. Maybe being a foreign national and having visa issues would be the case as one guy mentioned above about the PR thing. Anyways thanks though.
In your position, you may benefit from doing work experience with search funds, especially in London. It’s a good start if you don’t have much prior experience related to IB/doing deals. There’s many thread on this on wso, just look it up and you’ll find lots of resources, all the best
Don't give up until you are kicked out of the country or are left with no cash to support yourself (and try to stretch that period as much as you can)
If its clear that you cannot land a big gig directly then start small (I.e. why not a real estate developer leading you to a real estate investing gig? Why not a smaller financial adviser leading you to a big4 TAS etc). I'm sure these are not easy to land neither put you need to expand your net
Reaching out to people is good because it brings about serendipity and you just never know. That said, you can never expect things to happen. Reality is that a random analyst or vp at jpm might not even have any power to land you an interview, but you take something for every interaction, and might get your CV forwarded etc
I'd say reach out directly to more senior people as well, there are still old school folks that like seeing hungry kids
Please also take time to learn how to present yourself both in writing and in person. Your original post doesn't read well (not structured well and use of English isn't greateither). You did a master's here so clearly you have what it takes. Just make sure it comes across thia way too.
Can only offer encouragement! Good luck.
IB chances are slim but not impossible. I would if I was you aim at audit firms / boutique due-dilligence firms that do Vendor due-diligence. These places will offer ACA training programs and the work you will do will help you with the fundamentals of corporate finance / IB.
It will take min.3 years to get ACA qualified. Once you do you will be able to switch over to a regional corporate finance advisory firm or MM banks.
Have seen this route taken by people similar in your situation and it has worked out good for them.
Best of luck - if you need more advice I can DM you so let me know!
EDIT: Also don't waste time networking with firms with HR. In the UK this is not the way to get a role. Networking will make sense at smaller shops - I would focus my efforts on that if I was you.
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