How the hell am I supposed to get another internship.
Hi everyone, I have a 3.5 GPA from a non-target university. I'm not looking to break into IB or anything like that, I'm just looking for a finance internship in general. I got a little lucky my freshman year of college and met two people who helped me get an internship that lasted over a year, mainly because the owner liked my interview and it was a much smaller company so I didn't really need that much experience.
However, since I did that from Jan 2023 to Apr 2024, that prevented my ability to network for better opportunities. The past summer I started a business because I wanted to go down the entrepreneurship route. It was a great experience and good for my resume but I wasn't really taking internship applications seriously until October. Unfortunately, my resume was very bad (formatting, not tailoring to each job description, hell, it was so bad that for a lot of my applications, I submitted a reference letter rather than a cover letter).I thought it was going to be really easy for me to get an internship due to my experience and qualifications, but it has been a massive struggle for me. I have submitted around 300 applications. Luckily I do have an interview next week but it's been my only one so apart from the self-directed ones (had a few of those, didn't go anywhere), I haven't really had any interviews and it's concerning. If it matters, I am also part of The Investor's Club at my school so I do have an extracurricular under my belt.
I'll also be honest, I really haven't networked that much at all. I was always worried that I'd be intruding or people don't like to be reached out to like that. During my internship I had to do cold outreach and sometimes people would get upset so it's left a bad taste in my mouth. What do I need to do to salvage my chances and if I don't get one, what can I do my senior year to make sure I get a job/internship? Thank you so much.
Based on the most helpful WSO content, here’s a clear plan to salvage your chances and improve your internship/job prospects:
Fix Your Resume Immediately:
Start Networking Aggressively:
Leverage Your Entrepreneurial Experience:
Prepare for Interviews:
Apply Strategically:
Network Within The Investor's Club:
If You Don’t Land an Internship:
Mindset Shift:
For more detailed guidance, check out the WSO Non-Target Recruiting Guide here: https://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forum/investment-banking/non-target-rec…</a">Non-Target Recruiting Guide Part I: Resume and Networking.
Stay focused, and good luck with your upcoming interview!
Sources: Non-Target Recruiting Guide Part I: Resume and Networking, Going from a non-target with low GPA to landing a hedge fund Internship, Non-Target Recruiting Guide Part I: Resume and Networking, Non-Target with Great Experience and 4.0 GPA - How do I get people to talk to me when Networking or turn HR's head when I apply?, Going from a non-target with low GPA to landing a hedge fund Internship
fix your resume and network like crazy, send cold emails to everyone. Reach out to alum (can also go beyond alum) in roles that you apply to, reach out to HR etc. Everyone expects that once you do 100+ cold applications your guaranteed and interview or something. No. Cold applications are so luck based nowadays and totally useless.
Here's my resume, I updated it a lot. A lot of trial and error but I think I finally have a decent resume:
Try to decrease the white space as much as possible. It’s fine if you have to add some irrelevant stuff or play around with margins and font sizes, just try to make sure there’s significantly less white space because right now it’s too much.
Ok, I can do that. The thing is though it's tough to move things around because I used the WSO template. Also when I try to add more the resume goes beyond one page which I can't have. Would you say the content is good at least?
Yeah content is good overall, but I’d just try to make the bullets under your first two experiences more like those under your third experience. By that I mean expand a bit more mostly to fill
Up more space, but also to provide more insight into all that you did.
Ok got it. It's also the way it displays on the discussion board. I'll do my best to expand on my points but it's a retail job rather than an internship so it's a little tough to go really in depth.
Iif youre entrepreneurial, then you need to get over your cold calling/emailing stigma. Find a common resume template and make yourself more presentable but dont change the content of it or who you are on paper. Tailor your networking and search to something that speaks to you.
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