Breaking Cycle

I'm not trying to diss you, but realize my point about that one should stay humble. The I've got the drive/ambition is a little too 'Rudy' or 'Rocky' for most people.

If you had 1) made photocpies just to get an interview for a boutique as a freshman 2) got the boutique as a sophomore 3) waited tables, valet'd for a broker to get a BB internship Junior year 4) waited in the snow before your interview senior year to land your BB gig....then you would be justified.

Don't worry, I'm not taking it personally. What I mean by I am just as eager/intelligent is - I am willing to make the sacrifices to work in IB, and I have the passion to be in the industry. I graduated at the top of my undergrad business school, and I knew where I wanted to be, but I had no avenue to get there.

While you make a good point about internships - I didn't do one in banking my junior year because of study abroad conflicts, so I did one in sales my senior year instead. I don't know one freshman/sophomore doing internships 4 years ago.

Are you working now, or did you just graduate?

Well, I was forced to graduate(May 06') and try and go it on my own. I took a temp position at a broker/dealer in the back office to keep me afloat while looking. I was offered FT here, but declined just to maintain the flexibility of my job search. I am very serious and very determined to get into IB, and have already made tons of sacrifice just to pursue my small chance of getting in. It feels like I have taken every approach to getting into IB, and it just hasn't panned out yet.

So I am working, but my position is so far removed from banking, that I've taken to a self-study program after work, just to keep me somewhat up to speed.

Are you in NYC?

Looking for BB or MM/Boutique?

At this point, gunning for a BB or upper MM bank position will be difficult. However, I think it's very feasible for you to find a boutique IB job.

I am in NYC. Part of my strategy was to target boutiques, but what I found was, many were looking for at least 1st yr analysts since they often don't have training programs of their own. I am not picky about being at a BB, but of course that would be ideal due to their training programs.

The hardest part about being already graduated is - although I am willing to start at entry-level, I am still handled as an experienced hire, and thus usually lack the experience that banks look for when taking on a lateral. There is a lot of red tape in this process.

You can't apply to the BB's as if you were a senior this coming fall recruitment season? Otherwise, you'll have to wait til post MBA.

you should transfer to another school as a senior so you can go through the recruiting process again.

I don't mean to sound rude, but do you have any friends in working in banking now? Have you contacted whoever they were recruited through? Tried contacting any alumni yet? Have you cold e-mailed your resume to strangers?

If you're going to make it from a non-target school, you're going to have to show more initiative than giving up when they say they're not hiring.

alumni are a fabulous connection. depending on the size of your school (and of course, how much they liked the school) most alumni feel pretty loyal to their college communities and are willing to help out. definitely tap into any alumni resource you have.

I currently work at a small PE shop right out of undergrad and have managed to network with a a lot of analysts, VPs, and MDs at a variety of BB. Are you saying that it would be nearly impossible for me as a 1.5 year PE analyst to transition to a monkey role in an IB slave ship? I bet I could call anyone one of them right now and get a job by next week. I do not think that the loop is closed upon graduation but I do agree that it would be foolish for me to leave PE and go to IB prior to obtaining an MBA and entering as an associate.

-

Junkbondswap,

How did you land your first PE gig out of u'grad?

Thanks in advance.

You might want to consider doing a Ms in Finance at a top school in the UK. That should make your transition into the industry a lot easier, but you should be willing to start out working there.

My 2 Kobo.

I was in the same boat as you. I graduated top of my class from a targeted school in May 2006, but due the crappy bureaucratic BS at my school, I was suspended from using their OCR early on during the recruiting season, and hence, unable to have many IB interviews. Thus, I graduated from college without a FT IB job. The following year, I worked fulltime at a low level job, doing something to keep me afloat. The job paid the bills, but also gave me the flexibility to dedicate more time to the job hunt as compared to looking for a job while in school (I double majored and had lots of work and EC activities). I went through the extreme measures of email/cold calling employees, school alumni, and etc. Since the BB usually have a pretty rigid recruiting process (early fall and through OCR), I focused on the boutique/MM banks, where their entry level recruiting is more flexible. Eventually, I was able to get a couple interviews, which finally led to a job.

Honestly, I felt shitty during the whole process about not being able to get the opportunity, especially since I thought I was smarter as well as worked harder than most of the ppl that got IB jobs from my school. Yet, I think not receiving an offer during my senior year might have been a good thing for me. Upon entering my last yr of school, I had an arrogance/lack of drive due to being top of my class and etc, and thought that I would get multiple offers because of these accomplishments. Yet, after not receiving an offer during my senior yr and having had to go through the path that I did to finally get an offer, I have gained a sense of drive and humility that I didn’t have before. Hopefully, it will make me a better man and more successful individual.

As for tips, I would focus on alumni, boutique/MM banks, as well as maybe work at a big name industry specific company, such as Exxon for energy or Merck for pharma, and leverage that to make the switch to IB by targeting the related industry groups at the banks.

did you go to indiana?