FT Hiring in January-February

Hey Folks,

I am graduating in a month and have been unable to find any good work up to my standards. I have only been applying to IB/ER/corp fin jobs and had a few final rounds/superdays, but lately the job applications have been drying up because of the upcoming holidays/end of year freeze. I have read online that the job market reboots after the new year, as companies get new budgets, management has new plans for the upcoming year, and people switch jobs after getting their bonuses. How relevant is this to the financial industry? Is it worth waiting a bit for the market to offer better opportunities or is it about the same?

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FT Hiring can be a bit all over the place outside of the designated timeframes.

Reading your post brought back memories as I was in your exact position years ago when looking for a FT role (focused on IB roles until I struck out and tried to expand my search to ER and other corp fin roles). I was still able to interview for roles as you would be surprised by how many IB roles come up through the year. Heck, the FT IB role I ultimately got was for an additional spot that opened in my analyst class two months before the program commenced.

I would say see what FT role you can get and continue to network in addition to applying to jobs. I

Authored by: Certified Corporate Development Professional - Director
 

Thanks for the reply. I have been expanding beyond IB/ER as well, I have applied to over 400 FP&A roles, but my resume is better qualified for entry level financial roles, while FP&A roles require 3+ years of experience (and pay less), so I have had only a limited number of interviews. Not sure what else I can go for at this point.

So you're saying the new year will not be much different and I should go with the next best option?

 

Depends on what the next be option is. My situation was a bit unique given I had already done an IB SA and was only a few months into my first FT role (which I did my best to bankify in interviews).

I guess Corp Fin is a bit broad, but FP&A can be one of those options. I would also suggest options such as Transaction Advisory Services or a Valuation Group (like PWC's FSR, KPMG's Corp Finance, and Duff & Phelps Valuation Advisory to name a few) or Valuation Firm.

Authored by: Certified Corporate Development Professional - Director
 

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