Finding work after College

Hey everyone I have a quick question. I'm living in SF, and go to the State school here, majoring in Finance. I want to break into IB but find the competition here is fierce because of Cal and Stanford. I was thinking about going to another city after I graduate.

My question is: Would a non-target be more likely to break into IB in NY, where many of the jobs are but also much of the competition? Or is it smarter to go to a different city (Dallas, Charlotte, Tampa, Nashville etc.) where there is less IB/Finance work, but also less competition.

Just to clarify, I'm trying to break into IB but will be open to any finance job if I that falls through and I need work.

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You're better off looking at major cities for IB jobs. Smaller cities usually only have tiny boutiques which don't pay very well and you'd be surprised at how competitive those jobs are. Hundreds of applicants for only one or two slots.

That being said it's also gonna be very tough breaking into IB from your position, so you should probably just apply to all finance jobs you can find, in cities you would be ok with living in. Stick with something that is IB-related (ie. corporate finance, valuation) rather than sales or marketing, if you want to have a shot at lateral to IB later on.

 

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