Why my internship applications are getting rejected before even doing an interview or an aptitude test?
Hello everybody, first of all I want to say that this is my first post on WSO, and thanks to everybody who will take his/her time to read this.
I am an italian university student in my last year of the quantitative finance MSc, and I am sending applications for internships at banks in Amsterdam.
My grades are very high (GPA: 28.9/30), I know different programming languages and data analysis softwares (R, Matlab, Excel…) and I have a strong interest in financial markets (I myself started investing 4 years ago). I also have good time planning and organizing skills. All of this was highlighted in my cover letters as wells as my CV.
I was a bit confused when I saw that two banks (not BB) rejected my application saying that “I was not selected” or “other candidates better match the job profile” and I didn’t even get a chance to introduce myself in an interview.
At the moment I am still confused because I really don’t know what to do and how to get an internship, so I wanted to ask if somebody more experienced than me could help me understand this.
Interviews are selective therefore based on your cv they did not selected you. Keep in mind that it’s very competitive to even get an interview and that it also depends on the university where you study
My university has a QS ranking of 801-1000.
Do you have any past internships or work experience in finance? Those tend to matter more than what your grades are and what you're writing in your cover letter. If you don't then to them you're just like any other student that is in that program, it doesn't matter how passionate you are about the markets - anyone can write that on their CL and resume. They probably just found some other kid that has actual relevant work experience and like you said "better match the job profile"
I have zero professional experience in finance, but I have to start somewhere right? I mean how am I supposed to have work experience in finance if I cannot even reach the interview phase? What should I be doing?
For sure, it's really all just a numbers game tbh - apply to enough and eventually you'll get lucky and land an interview and can show off what you're made of
Also maybe just look for some mid office roles/non capital markets roles or network with alumni. If you're at least as good on paper as the other candidates applying, realistically speaking there's no reason for the banks not to interview you. Problem is majority of them probably have had some relevant finance experience
Easy. Do you speak Dutch at a native level?
Also assuming you don’t have previous exp. in Finance, it’s nearly impossible to get interviews at these banks
I do not speak dutch at all, but on the internship page this wasn’t a requirement.
What other countres should I look for internships in?
Duh. Italy obviously.
On another note, it depends on what division you’re applying to. For something within DCM/ECM I’d believe language wouldn’t be a requirement in contrast to corporate coverage/M&A. Besides, it might just be the way you put your CV together which guarantees you a ding.
I’d also try reaching out to smaller shops and offer to work for free if possible - that’s how several folks from non-targets (including me) started out : standard WSO advice you’ll find if you used the search function.
The most important factors for getting interviews is having a target university on your CV (or work experience in a prestigious company), and even having that most banks will reject you without interviews. Nobody cares about grades or what you can do: BBs pipelines are full of people from french polytechniques, top UK PhDs, etc and having top grades is a prerequisite. In Italy the only target uni known in London is Bocconi and (sorry, don't want to discourage you, just set the expectations and help you develop a realistic plan) your best bet would be to do a MSc at one of the usual targets in Europe/UK. The only quant finance msc respected in italy is the one from politecnico di milano (not saying it's the only good one, just that it's the only one somewhat known in banks, and I am a quant in London).
It may also be that you applied late: in banking you have to apply within the first couple of weeks a position/internship opens, they get full months before the deadline stated on the website.
In your case, apply for positions in Milan (not BB, but even big 4/consulting) and smaller firms in London, ideally networking with employees on linkedin to try getting a referral to pass the cv screening. Get this work experience and then try to move to larger firms or do a master in a target.
Thanks a lot. Do you have any advice on how to do networking? I have never done this before
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