Non-target in APAC

This goes out to all non-targets in APAC. I’m a non-target student in South-east Asia (Singapore/Hong Kong) It’s hard breaking into investment banking but more so in APAC. The first thing bankers will look at is which school you’re from and if it’s not Ivy League, LSE, Oxbridge, or any reputable universities, your chances are pretty slim (close to zero, I would say). To be honest, I have never met anyone from my school working in BB IBD or EB.

Believe me when I say I understand the situation you’re in. Fortunately, I managed to land an investment banking internship in a Chinese bank (the big ones).

A little bit more about myself: During my first year, I did a summer internship with a small boutique where I was exposed to live deals on the first day. Was pretty much overwhelmed but I enjoyed the experience. I tried to leverage on this internship I have but people weren’t very interested in me because of my school (damn, should have studied harder when I was younger).

During my second year of school, I was reaching out a lot to people, from having a couple of email exchanges to lunch with summer analysts, full-time analysts, and associates. I did send emails to VPs and above but most of the time, they are too busy to entertain me. A big shout-out to the WSO team making great materials such as the networking and interview guides. There's a really good template that you can follow. You just have to tweak it a little to suit your situation etc.

Lucky for me, I landed an internship with a well-known boutique in the ECM space. The guys weren’t very particular about schools so I’m thankful for that. The next part got pretty interesting. I sent an email to the MD of the Chinese bank way before the start of my ECM internship. So while I was still interning, the Chinese bank called me up and wanted to interview me. In short, I took up the offer to intern at the investment banking team and ended my ECM stint earlier.

Though I might not be a full-time analyst at any banks/boutiques, I think what I have gotten so far is pretty satisfying to me.

I understand this might be a little short but I only have about 15 mins for this. Feel free to ask me anything and I’ll try to get back to you when I have the time.

Don’t give up and keep trying!