From rehab to offers in IB

I know most of you are probably sick of these stories but thought I'd share anyway.

I graduated from a semi-target with no real immediate opportunities, and as someone who had always wanted to break into IB, this was rough. 

I have always struggled with mental health, and I have been addicted to drugs for about 4 years, but things got progressively worse and worse after graduating. I was abusing multiple substances (Class A's, prescription, weed etc) and it reached the point where I was so hopeless I was planning suicide. Luckily, my mother forced me into a rehab (and paid for it) last summer. However, I came out and relapsed shortly thereafter. This continued for months and months as I attempted sobriety whilst searching for jobs, receiving literally zero interviews. Networking is something I've never really done, I never quite understood it (I also had fairly bad social anxiety, so I avoided it). Eventually I found CA and began recovery. I've racked up some sober time now and began to search more and more, plucking up the courage to reach out to people and attempt to make myself stand out. 

After what's now been a year of being unemployed and attempting to recover from addiction, I have finally received an offer from an IB. 

I've probably spent more time browsing these forums over the last year than actually applying to jobs so wanted to thank you all for the advice you post. 

If anyone's come out of university and has nothing lined up, it is not the end of the world. It isn't impossible to break into IB without that SA position, keep grinding.

For anyone struggling with addiction/mental health, feel free to reach out - I'd be more than happy to help anyway I can. 

56 Comments
 

Very happy for you, life indeed gives another opportunity! Always be thankful to your mother for getting you out from that world.

Wishing you the best.

"Anyway, four dollars a pound"
 

Nearly teared up reading this - mental health is very real so mad respect for taking care of you and I come from a family of alcoholics and drug abusers so hearing this makes me so happy. Congratulations, you deserve it 

 

My suggestion is to make yourself a morning person. There a plenty of meetings you can make from 6-9 am when the demands on your time will be the lightest.

if you’re working from home than it should be even easier to catch a Zoom meeting pretty much whenever you have free time

Outside of the meetings make sure you’ve got a group of running buddies. When you’re early on that’s the most important part. If you stopped showing up are there guys that would reach out to check in with you? If not, I would remedy that immediately.

The last thing is to just keep in mind is no one actually cares. I know juniors stress out over optics and rapport building via social drinking/drugs but the thing is, half your MDs are in the rooms too and not many kids in finance actually go that hard.

 

congrats! as a person with frequent mental health problems I can really probably relate to the struggles you went through. I also want to reach out for a chat , especially on the overall mental health issues and social anxiety stuff and its relation to networking. honestly i wasnt even sure if i should write a comment or anything but here i am. but not sure how to dm with you being anonymous.

 

Hey! I know you've gotten a few of these requests; but I have a similar story and could really use your help. Unfortunately, I can't message you. I'm not sure where to go at this point in my life; and it seems like your post was a sign that I should post (I normally just lurk here).

Thanks and congrats once again!

 

Also an unemployed college grad suffering from serious mental health issues. Would be great if you could send me a message. I could use some advice on how to explain the large gap on my resume. Thanks and congrats man!

 

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