Average GPA to M&A at Boutique Investment Bank

I want to say a huge thank you the WSO community as I have just landed a full time offer at a boutique bank in London and thought i would offer my advice in the hope it will help someone in the same way WSO has helped me.

Quick Background: I went to a top 10 Uni in the UK which is a target Uni for a lot of banks but I got a less than fantastic GPA. On top of that I did zero internships and had never had a part time job. In other words, I was completely unemployable to any Bank.

So on to the advice. This is what I've learnt from trying to get into banking for just over 2 years, take it or leave it.

1. Don't feel entitled to anything. When i left undergrad, despite knowing that there was an infinite number of candidates who had worked harder than me and were infinitely more employable, I deluded myself into thinking someone was going to give me a job just because I had ticked the bare minimum of boxes. I wasted a lot of time before I woke up to the fact that I had to get proactive about making myself more employable. Which brings me on to my next point.

2. Be completely honest with yourself. The only reason I have this offer is because I looked at my CV, identified the gaps (wasn't hard) and filled them. Networking is great and can absolutely lead to you to the right role (my offer came from someone I reached out to on Linkedin) but it's not enough.

3. Be relentless. It will probably take longer than you initially hope, but if your doing the right things it will happen. I applied to way more banks than I can remember and only two ever offered me a job.

Again a huge thank you to the WSO community, happy to answer any questions if you have them.