I've been speaking to several senior bankers and something cropped up that I found interesting.
HR will say to do 'something' constructive with your time to keep yourself 'employable'.
Senior bankers tell me the exact opposite: its better to do nothing then to do something non-finance related (if your aiming for IBD etc) to avoid your path looking zig-zag.
Is anyone else told the same thing? Would you recommend doing nothing to avoid your path looking zig-zag?
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Depends on if you need cash to support yourself/family and how well you can explain your situation. If you've been working in retail for a year, but have been networking like crazy, then you need to bring that up. Otherwise, they'll see a clueless kid who probably has no idea what IB actually is.
Advice is to continually beat on the door to show you interest in IB, even if you just had to take a job in some other industry. If you want IB, show it. Don't settle for a year and then try to transition over.
Great advice @"HFer_wannabe" thank you.
What would you recommend doing if the job your currently in/able to get isn't directly related (or in another industry like you mentioned) to show interest in IB (other then of course reaching out as many people as possible and trying to transition over).
After graduation, I'm assuming work experience is king? Would something like the CFA help?
Offer to work for free at a small boutique (if its financially possible) to just get something on your resume. There's tons of smaller shops all over the U.S. that you'll never hear about. It takes some digging and some creative searching on Google and Google Maps.
Studying for the CFA will help as well, but if that starts to get in the way of you getting actual experience, then I suggest you put it off.
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