2021 FT has been awful

I feel screwed. I'm a non-target from a state school (think Penn State) and no past IB internships recruiting for 2021 full time. Over the last seven months I have been networking my ass off reaching out to 500-700 people and talking to 150+ on the phone trying to get my foot in the door at any bank.  Every call goes goes great and I get connected to the next level but just get left in limbo with full time recruiting status. I've had two superdays but failed to get the offer. I'm not sure what to do now as I feel like i'm doomed for getting into IB. Covid has made this experience awful and not sure what to do next.

 

What kind of firms were the 2 superdays? I’ve been kinda in contact in a similar situation. I know of some names of ppl hiring (or at least we’re) and can maybe point u in a better direction.

Try getting an offer at any boutique then using that to leverage something else. Lot of firms have been hiring as far as I’m aware actually, they’re just taking very very few ppl for how many qualified applicants there are. If ur targeting only really good firms then chances are insanely low to land

 

No past internship is going to be rough, lots of former MM/BB interns without returns gunning for FT slots. I'd be open to corporate finance and MO positions if I were you.

 
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I was in a bit of a different situation than you as I was a May 2020 graduate who had their IB offer rescinded, and I definitely empathize with your situation. I did the same exact thing: reached out via cold emails, numerous networking calls, multiple calls with career services (at a semi-target). Nothing came my way for 4 months. The frustration was building as the months went on. However, about a couple weeks ago, things changed as I received an offer from a BB for a FT IB role (much much better opportunity than my previous role). The point is that things will turn around but you have to be patient. I am extremely impatient, and this was very challenging for me, but it ultimately paid off in the end. I would keep sending emails, continually shoot out cold apps (had three interviews just from cold apps alone with smaller buy side shops), keep in contact with your school's career services, and get on networking call as much as possible (I felt these helped the most, don't forgot to reach out to senior alums/MD's, those guys helped me a ton). 

I believe that off-cycle recruiting is the most underrepresented topic on this forum. It's done by every single firm, but it requires a lot of networking and luck. Definitely feel like it should be stressed a lot more as a successful avenue for finding roles/internships. Don't worry, keep your head up high, don't become impatient and settle. Don't feel like your forced to settle. I cannot stress that enough. A lot of this requires luck. But if you give yourself enough opportunities, the luck will find itself. You got this!

 

Big congrats! What kind of bank rescinded your offer? Also, did you include that rescinded offer in your resume? So it doesn't seem like you didn't have a job lined up.

 

It was a LMM bank that focused on sell-side m&a advisory (100 person shop). I didn't include the rescinded offer in my resume. However, I included it as the second sentence in all of my cold emails. I also attached my resume to every initial cold email I sent (it helps the person on the other end know about your background and helps them weed out if you're worth their time or not). Because of the circumstances, my cold email response rate was much higher (closer to 30% versus the 5-10% that everyone talks about). I actually tended to get more responses from senior level guys than the junior guys believe it or not (they tended to sympathize a lot more with my situation as they had been in the field a lot longer and many of them had faced similar situations). Thus, I would definitely say don't be afraid of emailing top-level folks. The worst they can do is delete your email. I had a call with a global head at a BB (not the one I'm joining), and he was extremely helpful and encouraging. It was definitely intimidating to get on the phone with him, but I was definitely happy that I did it. In fact, one managing director at a MM told me that he barely gets any networking emails anymore since he became an MD and he was happy to chat. 

 

You're not going to get a full time banking job without any internship experience.  You won't even have anything to talk about during the one or two odd interviews you manage to secure. Get any type of financial services experience before gunning for the top. As others have mentioned, you may need to manage your expectations and view this as a "long term goal" rather than your first job / internship.

 

In your specific situation, how can you blame COVID? You have no IB experience in the form of internships and go to a non core school. Yet, you received 2 superday interviews. At a certain point its your fault for not converting one of the 2 superdays. I went to a non target and I tell all the kids who go to my school that us non targets have max 1 - 2 shots at an interview/superday - you need to take advantage of it and not blame something like a pandemic for not converting. Good luck however because FT recruiting is a bitch for sure but I do not think you should complain when you failed to convert 2 superdays. 

 

Honestly think this comment is pretty harsh. Naturally he will have a harder time getting into the IB industry by the fact that he is not from a target school, but stating that he waisted the only two opportunities he had is such a douche remark. Superdays are lined with candidates, naturally some will get in, some won’t. For this case my advise would be to get up bite his teeth together and get to it. There are a plethora of opportunities out there even if some rejected him there is always a way in. It’s a fact.

 

Shouldn't he go for like entry level corporate finance programs at a F500? Wouldn't being in like a mid office position at a bank look negative because they know you didn't get into IB but a corp finance job you could spin as something you wanted out of college? I do know you may be able to do internal networking at a bank however.

 
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Shouldn't he go for like entry level corporate finance programs at a F500? Wouldn't being in like a mid office position at a bank look negative because they know you didn't get into IB but a corp finance job you could spin as something you wanted out of college? I do know you may be able to do internal networking at a bank however.

If there is not other way in. I second this suggestion. Entry level positions have a lot more lead way for going up the ranks, rather than just getting stuck at a sub par position with no catalyst to bring you forward into a ‘better’ career
 

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