Stay positive

Hello folks, I would like to share my story a little bit for those who felt beaten up by the recruiting season.

I was born and raised in a very underdeveloped city in China. I remembered the ranking, the GDP of my province is the second or third lowest in China. Although I went to relatively good elementary school and middle school, comparing to peers, my educational background is definitely below average.

Fortunately, before going into high school, I already knew no matter how hard I study, there is no way I could get into the top universities in China because of the education system (it is more based off your residency, for example the best two universities (Tsinghua and Peking U) only take no more than 10 students from our province a year).

So instead of competing with other 200,000 (yes in one state) high school seniors for 10 spots, I decided to come to the States, which I think is the most correct (?) and the best decision I could've ever made. I think the country is fair(well..), and whatever you wanna do, this country would not laugh at your dream, but it will encourage to pursue it. However, although I made my decision, there are still many bumps. I went to a boarding school, and the infrastructure there is like shit. There is no electricity provided in my dorm room after 10:00 pm, you cannot exit the dorm building after 10:00, and I literally cannot open the university's website or log into Common Application. Also since not many friends came to the US, I was pretty much blind while applying for schools, little information is available to me. In addition, there was no SAT test center in mainland China, so I had to fly to Hong Hong, which costs 400 bucks to take one test (my monthly allowance was only a little over 200 dollars).

But after all those bullshit tests, it came down to application and decision season. I have been a Lakers fan since 2004 ish, so I decided to go to a UC in California, which means better chance to see Kobe.

Just when I though things are all good, I had been enjoying the life in US for two years already. I was completely clueless about recruiting for jobs and what I wanna do. And I was still under the Chinese meritocracy system where if you get the best grade, you are taken care of. So I joined a finance club on campus, and the board members are all very sharp and articulate, and I was like "damn, I wanna be like those guys one day". So at there I learned about all the basics on how to break into the industry, the importance of networking, and also did I realized our school is a non-target. Also, we don't have a business school. For non-target, some schools have certain clouds to the name, I would call top-tier non-target, like Northwestern, Emory, UT Austin etc. So my starting point is definitely very low.

Yet from aggressive networking, I realized being in non-target is not an excuse. There are people told me "given your situation, the only way you could break in is to recruit as a MBA", and there are also people told me "school name is not an issue, just keep networking and reaching out". As an optimistic person, I chose the latter.

Because the time I realized I wanna do banking, I was already half way into my junior year. Without banking experience and all my Chinese accent did was to throw people off, my junior recruiting ends up with nothing. So I started cold-emailing over 500 boutique banks across the states, but most banks had already filled up their spots for the summer (I did this in end of April/ May). Since I still got nothing, I flew to NYC to try to get most exposure to banking, leaving my parents in China who have been longing for me to come home. Still remember I spent my first night at JFK, because I don't have any money for hotels.

Luckily I found a place to stay, and then, I started emailing more aggressively. And this time a boutique bank wold like to take me in. After working there for a while, I really get to see the inside of an investment bank. get to know what it is all about.

Now I have multiple interviews coming up, including a Top BB. I felt whatever the result is, along the way, the stuff I learned about life, and the soft skills I gained will never diminish. In my 40, 50s, I would not remember which offer I got or not got, which interview I blew up, but I would certainly remember the the night I slept at JFK while browsing MI and WSO.

I hope my story is a bit helpful to any one who came from a less favorable background and to those who thought their background is not good enough.

Please excuse any typo/grammar mistakes.

Best,
An underdog

Mod Note (Andy): Best of 2016, this post ranks #10 for the past year

 

Hey mate, Very similar story here. Non-target UK university, minority background, poor family, started out with 0 network in finance. Was on the verge of giving up numerous times but I knew I had to keep going. I really pushed myself. In retrospect, that's what separated me from my peers, I'm starting FT in a top-BB this summer in London. Don't give up, ever :)

 

Great story, as a fellow international student looking to break into Investment Banking, this is definitely the encouragement I needed.

If you don't mind me asking, what kind of firms do you have interviews lined up for and are they for full-time analyst positions? I am trying to go through full-time recruiting too, and have been finding it hard to find firms that are still recruiting analysts. I just wanted to get a sense of which firms I should be applying to right now.

 

LOVE IT! I think that those of us that are born in the United States can develop this air of entitlement, and we forget about the fact that others are constantly raising their standards and that we must raise our levels as well.

“Let me issue and control a nation’s money and I care not who writes the laws.” Mayer Amschel Rothschild Don't be afraid to give up the good to go for the great.-John D. Rockefeller
 

I can completely understand your feeling. I am also from China currently a senior at a non-target school. While I know I am not in the IB route, finding a job in the U.S. is just so hard. However, staying positive and working hard is the only thing we can do,right? Best of luck to your interviews!

 

"I was completely clueless about recruiting for jobs and what I wanna do. And I was still under the Chinese meritocracy system where if you get the best grade, you are taken care of."

Yeah, it's a stereotype, but students from some cultural backgrounds spend way too much time grade chasing when that time could be put to better use reaching out to people, building a network and getting the best experience possible. IMO the most successful applicants are the ones with great interviewing skills, strong networks, and those with a strong slate of previous internships, not necessarily the one's with 4.0's, with average/weak interviewing skills who rely on resume drops and online applications.

 

Very inspiring story! Consistency and hard work pays off! I definitely feel you on the financial issues and the difficulty in breaking in due to being brought up in a completely different system. I did not receive a FT offer this year around but I intend to keep pursuing my dream! Would love to connect with you and learn more about the process.

 

You have definitely earned your success. But by writing this post, it also seems like you want pat on your back aside from inspiring others. Your story is the story of hundreds of other Chinese, Indians and others who come to this country to do Bachelors, Masters or MBA in MIT/Harvard and other schools. Sleeping on a floor in JFK for a night is nothing crazy nor is cold calling banks. People have done crazier things. I feel the sense of "I have achieved it all and I must tell my story".. You better stay grounded and keep working if you want to be successful. Your post shows me story of a cocky guy who wants to be noticed before they have proved themselves. just my 2 cents. (of course different point of view than above posters)..Reading your story made me think, what's the big friggin deal..

 
WZ949:

Sleeping on a floor in JFK for a night is nothing crazy...People have done crazier things. I feel the sense of "I have achieved it all and I must tell my story"

People on this website are crazy.

"A modest man, with much to be modest about"
 

Dear Underdogforlife,

This was exactly what I needed to hear - Stay positive no matter what and don't shortsell yourself - on this cold cold day in far away forgotten land :)

 
LM99:

Dear Underdogforlife,

This was exactly what I needed to hear - Stay positive no matter what and don't shortsell yourself - on this cold cold day in far away forgotten land :)

I failed 3 times in college. I applied 30 times to get a job but I have always been rejected. When KFC came to China for the first time, we were 24 to apply and I was the only one to be dismissed. I wanted to go into the police and 5 postulants, I was the only one not to be accepted. I applied 10 times to return to Harvard University USA and I was rejected.
Jack Ma, Alibaba Creator and 22nd World fortune according to Forbes in 2015 with $ 29.8 billion.
Winners bring a bigger bag than you do. I have a degree in meritocracy.
 
Best Response

Hey Underdog,

I almost have the exact same background as you do. I grew up in Shenzhen for 18 years and then I decided to study aboard and end up with offers from one of the UCs, BU, UIUC. I picked the UC one.

My first major was physics but after taking physics honor classes for 5 quarters, I knew that I could not go any further because of lack of passion. Then I switched to finance. Luckily, finance is something that I am good at and I enjoy doing.

My parents kept encouraging me saying that they could afford the tuition. As long as I am having fun and doing right things, I do not need to worry about them.

Since I literally started over in my third year and I really wanna do IB, I knew that I had to get decent GPA, Ninja Networking and endlessly self-learning can help me find a place in NYC. Within one quarter, by my super-super-super aggressive networking, I winded up having interviews from KPMG, WellsFargo andMerrill Lynch. Even though those are back office positions, I still worked my ass off to prepare the interviews. But through the networking, I found myself is forming the bonds with my connections.

Now on my contact list, I have contacts of 1 boutique CEO, 1 director from a MM, 1 CSO from a very famous software company, VPs from BB, Associates from Big 4 and etc.

These results came from my hardworking and I also got a 3.7 GPA that quarter taking 4 classes. OMG, Fk yeah!

After reading your post, I am more energetic preparing my WellsFargo and Merrill Lynch's interviews.

Good luck! And Never Give Up!!!!!!

ufohuang

 

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