HELP: any point in applying?

Hi,

I am a finance student at a top university in the Southern hemisphere on exchange in the US this Fall semester (at a non-target school). I was also on exchange in the US last semester at the same school. I have a solid GPA (3.7+), boutique (US) ER experience and strong finance related EC's. I will also be an IB SA at a MM in the Southern hemisphere this summer (Dec-Feb), but have no IB experience yet. I have no contacts in IB in the US, and can't participate in OCR at my exchange school- all applications would be online only (BB banks hardly recruit there anyway for IB). I will graduate June 2014, and have to spend my last semester (the US spring 2014 semester) at my home university.

I want to work in IB in the US eventually, and ASAP- however I need Visa sponsorship to do so. Given my background, and the current state of the market in the US etc, do you think there is any point in applying for full-time IB roles at BB banks (only banks that seem to sponsor visas, I've heard) in the US this recruiting season? I should also note I won't be available to interview with any banks till after 3rd September.

While I want to work in the US eventually, I have a sweet IB gig already secured for this summer in my home country, at a bank and with a team I really like, and would be happy to work there full-time after I graduate. Point being, I won't be disappointed by not being able to work in the US immediately (and if I can't, will probably internally transfer within my bank or apply to b-school in the US in a few years). So don't pull any punches, and give me realistic advice- I'd rather not submit online applications if I'm wasting my time.

Thanks for reading/helping, much appreciated.

 

Absolutely. I'd take a long, hard look at Macquarie- they have a fairly significant NYC office. You can work in Australia for a couple years and see if you can get them to transfer you to the US on an H1B Visa or even help you get a green card.

Frankly, I'd rather stay in Australia. I think business is going to be booming over the next few decades financing the Chinese.

 

Thanks for the advice. To clarify, you're implying there's no point in applying for US BB's right now, right? Better to internally transfer/go the b-school route as I thought

 
Best Response

Thanks again. To clarify, I will be in the US this semester on exchange so wouldn't actually be recruiting from Australia per se, and was wondering if banks in the US would look at me as a candidate given the current market, my background, visa status etc. Sounds like I have my answer.

Don't necessarily agree that there would be better/more opportunities in the US- a number of factors lead me to want to move to the US eventually.

Not an offer w MacCap- different bank that is arguably a BB in this part of the world but still smaller elsewhere, and making deliberate efforts to grow in the US. Nice job inferring Australia, I didn't allude to it specifically..

When you say you can definitely apply- will I really get looked at, given that recruitment is in full swing and I won't be there till later, most people on here are saying it looks like SA's fill will basically the entire analyst classes etc- don't want to waste my time applying if I don't stand a realistic shot, especially when I have a solid IB gig lined up here.

 

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