Hi Monkeys,
I’m an international student studying in the US on an F-1 visa. I’m heading into my senior year. I have a regional boutique IB internship this summer, but they don’t hire/sponsor for full-time. I’m thinking of applying to full-time roles in Canada because the visa process is too depressing in the America. How doable is this process from a visa and competition standpoint?
Thanks!
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I would say it's quite doable, depending on the school you're applying from and whether the boutique you interned at has some name recognition in Canada. FT recruiting cycle in Canada should start sometime in August/Sept so I would suggest you keep your eyes peeled for those postings to come up. May also be a good idea to start reaching out to folks in IB to do some soft networking, if they like you and your story they may give you a heads up as to what the FT recruiting environment looks like.
Thanks! Are they more open to hiring international students as compared to the US assuming all other factors being equal?
Yeah, no. Not sure what you've been told but as a former Canadian banker working in NYC, competition for the Canadian banks is very fierce as compared to the US. The US is a way more developed market with a lot more opportunity. Canadian students fight tooth and nail to get the few spots available especially since the US cut back on hiring Canadians from Ivey / Queens.
Gotcha thanks
To be completely honest I don’t think you have a chance of getting a visa to work in Canada either. Based on the information you gave, I assume you are an undergrad, no previous work experience… I fail to see which immigration path you can take.
your best bet would be to do a masters in Canada and get a post graduation work permit and then land an IB role.
it is a misconception that immigrating to Canada is easy. I mean it can be easy if you have work experience and professional education (through express entry). But as an undergrad, there’s no way an employer would go through the LMIA process to sponsor you…
source: I was an international student in Canada and know tons about immigration here.
Very helpful comment. I guess Express Entry doesn’t work when I have no FT experience yet. I’ll focus on US opportunities then.
So I’ll start off by saying I can’t help you with the Visa process due to lack of knowledge. However I can answer about the opportunities. In Canada there are plenty of diversity programs ongoing (some have already closed for next summer but I’d start looking now). Being an international student this may apply to you, but I make no assumptions. New graduate roles are also available. Competition however can be hard, as we only have 6 major banks (5 depending on who you ask) and fewer small banks that are also involved in IB. Most Schedule 1 banks in Canada seem to mostly specialize in retail lending and WM, with little focus on IB. However plenty of schedule 2 & 3 banks are good options too, since we have places like HSBC and Morgan Stanley with smaller offices here. It would seem our MM firms are popping up a lot and regional specific banks (ATB for example) are also an options. So to sum it up, there is opportunity and some competition, but there’s opportunities too if you look hard enough that might be lower competition, especially if you’re coming from a known school.
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