Been trying to get into IB for 3 years … close to giving up

I need some motivation pls , success stories from people who weren’t from the cookie cutter background of junior year internship converts.

I’ve been trying to get into IB for 3 years now (ignore anon title). First tried to lateral in from non-IB role then ended up doing a Master’s to get a chance at on-cycle.

The closest I got was this past recruiting cycle (2023 FT) but the market was so shit that I ended up settling for a non-IB role … each day I feel unfulfilled in my career and always thinking about the “what if”.

It’s not even about the ability anymore … ‘cause of my prior job experience I can model laps around young college grads coming into the industry rn , my technicals are rock-solid, my story is genuine , I don’t break a sweat when it comes to the behaviourals. The only thing holding me back is not the thought that this might not be for me but the thought of starting this process for the third time round and failing yet again, being told yet again that I’m not good enough …

2 Comments
 
Most Helpful

What are you doing now?

Masters was probably not the best idea, FT is always a crapshoot and you are starting out from a tough spot not having an internship to recruit from. If you can stomach more school, M7 MBA is a pretty guaranteed route to IB associate. But it really depends what you are doing now.

I also wouldn't tie so much of your worth to IB. IB sucks. There are plenty of great finance careers way outside of IB where you can make plenty of money and do well. This forum is very focused on prestige but just blindly following it at all costs to a job with 90% burnout rate isn't always the best idea.

 

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