I am graduate from one of the leading french bs, I have 12 months experience and still don't have any job. Is it normal seriously? I am proficient in excel, ppt, know everything from dcf to mergermodel passing through lbo and accounting and still no one give me an opportunity.
Well, I didn't fit in my last experience with the team (a really odd team but i think its the french culture). Anyone can give me some advice ? thanks a lot
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What have you been doing for the past year ? Which firms did you apply to ? Have you got interviews ? What’s your previous exp ?
Hi, thanks a lot for your comments. i finished my internship in M&A March 2019. after i took 3 months to finish my thesis. during this 3 months, I was applying for the off cycles in BBs mostly at Dubai. I had one opportunity with CS, passed all the process until the final round (2 months procees) but unfortunatly they preferred someone from MENA region. Well, since I didn't give up I applied for some local boutique with no response. and aftre came the famous COVID 19, so no opportunity. During this "gap year", I worked a lot to improve on excel (every formulas, initiation in VBA), a lot modeling, technical questions... but still nothing. I tried to network but no answered me even if they answer, they told "sorry mate we are already full" or "send me your cv i will forward it"
So you only applied to BBs in Dubai. Mate you need to use your logic here. You’re targeting a very limited market. You have to realize that after a few months, the situation is becoming critical (thankfully the COVID situation attenuated the length of this period)
From now on, you should literally apply to dozens of jobs per week, basically apply to every single corporate finance job (IB, PE, HF, boutique banks, etc) in EMEA not just Dubai. Reach out to headhunters, go to Glassdoor/Indeed/LinkedIn, etc. If you’re serious about it, next month you’ll have applied to at least 100-150 more jobs. Get some momentum going. You can’t just target BBs in Dubai.
Also, review your CV/Cover letter / story and investigate why you haven’t had results yet
Good luck !
Thanks for your message mate. I think that i didn't explain myself well enough. Indeed, I applied in MENA region (dubai) but not only. I am applying also in EMEA region in PE, M&A, boutique banks etc... Cold mail everyday, contacted headhunters and I apply everywhere (Paris, MENA, london, nyc even Amsterdam)... but nothing.
CV is perfect (95%), cover letter also but I don't know something juste cannot pass.
Why are you applying all over the globe? Might be better to focus geographically.
Do you have 1st round interview ? Are you applying to lower ranked firms ? No name shops ? And you’re applying as an entry analyst, right ?
Man for instance, I didn't have any interview since February. And the problem even if I am having an internview, I do all the rounds until the final one. Then, they just call and say tanks for your time but we preferred someone else. This is happen every time
How many firms have you interviewed with ? And what school did you go to ? (For anonymity lets peer top 3, top 5 and below top5). You applying in France too ? Honestly I would be quite surprised if you didn’t get interviews from French boutique M&A firms and the likes if you went to say ESCP.
COVID doesn’t make it easy but I would definitely get my technicals and behaviorals on point. You should aim to be the top candidate in Europe for every job you’re applying to. Have you checked out your school career centre offers ? Have you asked your career Center for help ? Just make sure you apply everywhere and lower your standards and an offer will eventually come. But also make sure to understand why you still haven’t received one. Be smart about preparing interviews
Also be able to explain why you still haven’t found a job yet
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