Internship search. French MIM. Indian passport. No relevant experience.

Hello,

I've been grasping at straws for a while now with no coast in sight. Get the context. You've probably already guessed I'm an engineer. Well, I did graduate as a civil engineer and then I decided not to do anything with it. So, in my final year of undergrad, I decided to sit out of campus placements to ponder what I wanted to do with life. My dad had just retired and always wanted to start a school for kids. I had an idea and a vision for what it could be, so I worked on it with him for two years. He's headstrong and would rarely listen to me, but well, it was his money. However, I wanted to know what would become of me. Would I forever live in his shadow and continue running the school that he started for the rest of my life? I could've. But of course, I wanted much more. I started liking finance after an elective and completed a bunch of courses on Coursera just to learn more. I was hooked. With the school taking off well, I wanted to apply for jobs in banks, but without any previous internship, it was impossible. I felt like I had to change tactic and decided to apply to an MFin programme. French schools caught my eye since the UK wouldn't allow staying back after the degree. Then, to buy myself more time in the job search, I felt it better to apply to MIM. Thankfully I got through ESCP. Little did I imagine that fluency in French would be the deciding factor. Numerous discussions with alumni and career fairs later, I'm still sitting in my room unable to understand what my gameplan should be! I had applied to spring weeks in the UK only to receive rejections. NO RIGHT TO WORK. NEED VISA SPONSORSHIP. Applying to Singapore but it is way too long a shot, even if I get the holiday work pass. Applying anywhere in Europe requires local language proficiency which I don't possess, yet. India is last resort, but would I be able to move back to Europe?

I don't understand what to focus on. Network more? Write a superfluous cover letter (I have been tailoring every application I've done so far)? Focus on soft skills? What do I talk about in the cover letter? My motivations? That is all I've been doing as those are the advice I've received so far. Do you guys feel I should continue focusing on the same things? Frankly, tailoring each application also takes substantial amount of time. And I'm not able to do a lot of applications. Oh, I've just started to apply to summer positions since spring was a no-go. I was planning to take a gap year. I need a foot in the door. Need to get through the application round at least. I perhaps need to work on my cover letter, but everything I've read so far says that no one gives a shit about them.

I'm applying to IB in whatever role and Corp. B. Also on the lookout for funds that'll hire a total fresher. Motivations you ask? To learn more about how businesses work and manage their capital requirements. To understand how macroeconomic forces shape and change business decisions. To understand investment decisions and how products are tailored to suit a firm's needs.

Would appreciate any intuitive responses. If you need clarifications, please ask.

Just don't ask me to pack my bags and leave all thoughts of banking.