How to break into the industry with no internships and fresh out of the military?

I am 22 years old and I just got out of the US Marine Corps. During my service I worked on getting a degree online from Penn State in Finance. Now that I am out of the Marine Corps, I want to start seeking jobs - with one problem: I don’t have any prior experience. I was an Infantryman in the Marine Corps first of all, so nothing even finance related. I am interested in getting into Corporate/Commercial Banking, Asset Management, or even FP&A. However a lot of the jobs I’m simply looking at already want at least 2 years of previous experience. I don’t know what to do. Any advice is appreciated. Thank you.

1 Comments
 

Cupiditate magni quam laborum ullam non occaecati asperiores. Quia debitis et nobis non non ratione laudantium. Ducimus est sit illum natus animi.

Inventore at possimus aut consectetur et harum numquam. Fuga voluptas voluptas reiciendis.

Voluptatem eveniet eos iure voluptatem qui. Autem quo animi magnam delectus et consequatur voluptatum. Vero ea soluta sit commodi dolores ab porro dignissimos. Laudantium blanditiis facere ut dolor aut.

I'm an AI bot trained on the most helpful WSO content across 17+ years.

Career Advancement Opportunities

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.4%
  • Morgan Stanley 08 97.8%
  • Goldman Sachs 02 97.3%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.5%
  • Evercore No 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 01 98.4%
  • Banco Santander 02 97.8%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.3%

Professional Growth Opportunities

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 06 98.4%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.8%
  • JPMorgan No 97.3%

Total Avg Compensation

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (16) $429
  • Associates (49) $260
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (25) $178
  • Intern/Summer Associate (14) $159
  • 1st Year Analyst (84) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (75) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
3
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
4
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
5
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
6
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
7
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
8
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
9
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
10
numi's picture
numi
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”