What do people do with no return offer

Apply for openings…..

My situation's not entirely applicable but I'll bite. I did an MM ER internship last summer and didn't receive a return offer, but I networked and applied to openings like crazy and ended up receiving an MM IB role for FT later that fall.

Networking will be the most beneficial use of your time--reach out to past contacts/your alumni network to see if they have any openings at their firms. Applications for FT roles will not be as prevalent, and those that are will have tons of applications and basically be a crapshoot. Talk to as many people as you can, as there's some banks that do have openings but never post them--all it takes is one great impression to earn you a referral, which turns into an interview, offer, etc. You'll also want to apply to these roles/network as quickly as you can, last year FT recruitment seemed to dry up by late October/early November. Good luck!

FT will be group dependent and many times you need to network to know if a group is short for FT to even apply (had a bad hire, allocated another spot or had saved for FT, etc). Market is down and if that was the reason for no return offer you need to come out and say it when networking; if it was performance it will be objectively harder for you to land back at a BB/EB, but again networking is the only way given the level of competition increasing and many opportunities not being posted. To put it in perspective, there will be SAs from lower BBs (with a return offer in hand) trying to make the jump to the other BBs everyone goes crazy for on here, so you need an element of luck and persistence with networking to make it happen

You apply for jobs…

You update your resume with relevant shit you did from the IB SA position you now have on your resume….and you apply for a fucking job.