I'm a junior at a target school applying for SA positions in Investment Banking. I'm wondering if I should really trim down the list of places I apply to, or is it ok to have a large list? I definitely have 5 or so places I would like to target, but it's tough to get jobs, and there is a good chance none of these places will work out. Right now between BBs and MM places (along with 3-4 banks in Chicago where I am from) I am applying to about 15 places- seems like a ton, but who knows, I could end up only getting a final round interview with 1 or 2 if any. So I guess just looking for general thoughts if there is any harm in applying to a bunch of places to give myself as many options as possible.
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i dont see any problem with that, many guys i know have used that same strategy and it works just fine.
Cast a wide net, for sure. But don't let the quality of your applications suffer.
I applied to as many as I could - the job market is tough.
Yeah, the job market is really tough and you have a lot of free time. You really need to apply to as many places as possible to avoid being the guy who ends up getting nothing in the end.
Thanks guys!
What's the downside if you keep the quality up? You can only increase the probability of an offer and sharpen your interview skills at different shops.
Good luck
Of course, you should network at each bank, but not networking will hardly decrease the quality of your applications across the board.
Am I missing something here?
Agreed
Certainly applying to 25 places is not difficult, but it is how you apply to them and depends on their application process. Plugging your key data on a website is different than applying to a firm with a more personalised process.
Quality entails not only the content of your letter and cv, think of it as a broader task (emails you sent, the calls you have, the answers you give, preparation for interviews, follow ups, courtesy) and care for detail pays out.
Agree. CV is going to be the same, unless you want to highlight something special. Most of the letter is a shell, except for a couple of sentences about motivation, company and profile match, those you would like to get right. People copy-pasting the beaten wording should be an incentive for you to get that part as tailor-made as possible. The argument that nobody is reading your cover might be true, or not. When hiring our HR reads them and we read them when possible.
Particularly, as OP is mentioning some references within the company, you would like to make the best impression and get the best out of that chance... or copy/paste: your choice. It's just my advice/opinion.
Perhaps the recruiting process/perception has changed since I sent applications for my first year analyst (time flies!), but the application process was a decisive part of the battle for the FT offer, so do not let any flank open.
on a side note - do they care if you apply to multiple locations for one firm?
You need to be applying to as many as possible
I have a better idea:
Apply only to Morgan Stanley, and then get into Morgan Stanley.
All the rest of you bottom feeders aside, true ballers only write one application. (Not technically true, real ballers don't have to write the application.)
Conversion raate for super days will be low and you will have tough competition, the more leads the better man.
I think I worded my worries incorrectly- I meant more so in terms of networking with alumni. Is it bad to reach out to lots of alums at various places- does this risk burning future bridges? It's also tough because these places recruit at very different times- some I'm applying start interviewing in January, others I could know about by the end of November. Last year this killed me- got one offer while waiting for others and had to commit before I heard.
Black Jack, out of curiosity, which firms are you referring to where you could know about by the end of November? Like you, I'm a junior at a target school, but most of my resume drops aren't until January (save for 2-3 smaller banks/offices).
For me I know Lincoln and Robert Baird should be wrapped up before December (or very early December). Superdays at MS would be end of November or very early December as well.
I don't know about RWB specifically, but this isn't uncommon. Somewhat independent of the quality of your school, the more heavily recruited schools tend to come first in the time line. Candidates from the feeder schools will usually take up the majority of the interview slots and then they will interview from the smaller and/or less recruited schools for the remaining slots afterwards. When I was interviewing for SA spots most of my super day interviews happened after they had already given offers to a number of analysts.
RWB in particular keeps their position openings online I know for a ridiculously long amount of time (this is not directly related to your comment about recruiting). I remember they had a 1 week S&T program posted and set to take place in August that I emailed them about in early July- they told me the slots had been filled up for a few months.
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