feeling kinda sad, need advice, 2021 recruiting
Hey, I'm a sophomore at a semi-target. I have a 3.6 GPA and I come under a minority recruit I guess. I recently applied to 2021 IB internships, and I only got first rounds for 2 banks (I applied to a ton). It's so weird because the companies that want to interview me are ones that I didn't even network with & I networked with a lot of other firms that did not give me first rounds.
I don't know - It makes me feel like the only two I got were flukes, and I don't know how to proceed from here. I'm here thinking is IB even for me, maybe the people who said I won't make it are right? Sorry if this sounds dramatic, i'm just going through it right now. I was wondering if you had any advice or words of wisdom, and how I should proceed. I really want this. I've been working hard but I feel like I'm not making it far at all.
“Those who think they can and those who think they can’t are both usually right.” – Confucius
That's all I got for you on this one. It's going to come down to you and nobody else
How did you already have two first rounds? That's great.
My advice:
1) stop comparing yourself to others, this never goes well. Focus on the value you bring, your accomplishments, the fact that you were able to secure interviews. I see this even in professionals with many years of experience “well Bob did X and I did Y, I think I should get paid more”, how about you just tell me about yourself? Comparisons leads you down the wrong mentality, and will never make you the best, either you are down because you perceive someone as better or you get lazy because no one around you is good, make yourself the best you.
2) your attitude will be your downfall. You have interviews, which means you have an opportunity to secure an internship, but you are focused on why you didn’t get more. Guess what? You can’t change that, but you can prepare for the interviews, you have full control over how that goes and whether or not you crush those interviews and get a job.
3) as others have said it is a crapshoot. I had fewer interviews than you, I didn’t secure an IB job out of school, hell my all in comp my first year out of school was 1/50th of what I made ~10yrs later. Focus on self improvement.
You should always be both excited about the opportunities ahead of you AND pissed off that you aren’t better. And I do mean pissed off, not sad about it, not down about it, celebrate your successes but then make sure you find the areas you still need to improve, if you have that mindset you will be ok. The best people I know across disciplines are confident in their abilities, happy when they succeed, but more importantly laser focused on the things they still need to improve, they are happy but never satisfied, you need to think like that.
Just keep putting yourself out there and talk to as many people at banks as you can.
I had a freshman in my city reach out to me 3 years ago for coffee. Even though I knew he was 2 years off the recruiting timeline, I met with him and he kept in touch every 4-6 months. He didn’t land an SA offer with us. Fast forward to 3-4 months ago, we got a new slot for another 1st year and his name popped into my head immediately. Fast-tracked him and he got the spot.
Morale of the story - recruiting is super random. Meet as many people as you can and leave positive impressions; you never know when an opportunity will present itself.
You're not even half done with college.
Right now, it seems like everyone is trying to hop aboard a ship (IB) that's sailing away forever from anyone who doesn't get on in time.
It seems that way, but its a total myth.
Those who don't get internships still recruit for FT. Those who don't get FT but still want IB, can lateral into it later. Those who don't do that, may end up in MBA and can easily get into IB from MBA. Even years after MBA, people have entered IB from other fields.
What's more, many people in IB leave for other roles. So the ship never sails away, and even if it did, you'd see people jumping off it.
The real world is fluid. There's nothing particularly special or important about the college recruiting process. This is not only good news for you, but its bad news for anyone who thinks they've nailed life because they just landed a top internship.
If you look at what the most successful people have in common, its a lot of things. Brains, diligence, creativity, courage etc. But IB internships aren't one of them.