Graduated back in May, what am I doing wrong?
Hi everyone - I'm a May '19 grad (non-target, ~3.5 gpa, double major, relevant extracurricular) and I'm having trouble securing interviews of almost any kind in NYC finance. Had a summer internship last summer in corporate treasury back in my hometown but recently moved up to the NY area. I've broadened my search scope to pretty much anything I can find that remotely relates to financial analysis but I've had essentially a 0 response rate in terms of my applications. What can I do to figure out what I'm doing wrong? Is the gap in my employment (May 19-now) dinging me? Is it just extremely competitive for out of area, non-targets to secure anything?
Are you networking? Are you technically sound? I would try to broaden the interviews outside of NY.
I've expanded my scope to the surrounding areas like Jersey City but I can't stray too far since my SO just started a job in the city. I've been networking around and getting people on the phone, leveraging those to more intros, and had an office visit, but haven't been able to convert anything into interviews.
What does your resume look like
Graduated May '19 double major (Finance, Accounting) 3.5gpa, 3.8 major gpa. Did extracurriculars through undergrad (Student Investment Fund, CFA Research Challenge, Bloomberg Trading Challenge) and had a Treasury internship summer 2018.
I think he's talking about the structure or template of your resume not your credentials.
You might have to focus on internships or temping to prove yourself for a FT offer.
Only found one off-cycle internship that's looking to fill but it's unpaid. As far as temping, I've talked to some people and one mentioned Robert Half. Any others I should be looking into?
Robert Half is just a headhunting firm. Yeah sure - go to them too if it helps. They might know temp work as well.
I generally hate headhunters and think they are a bunch of useless people, but you have to explore every option, so give them your resume too and be nice.
You're going to have to settle for something at some point, so think about that and what it means to you. Sometimes the right unpaid internship can get you to where you want to be. When you accept that you might need an unpaid internship to get experience, you can present yourself in a different manner to potential companies. Do well there and even if they don't give you an offer, you have a glowing recommendation which could help you to get that FT offer.
Just keep the forward momentum. Keep on sending out as many apps as possible. When you're not knocking on doors, think of what doors you can knock on next. Get lists of firms and hot startups and all the emails of the management and cold email them too and everyone. Email as many people as you can. There is a lot of stuff in the NYC area, you should be able to find something.
most job postings get hundreds of applicants...and so its easy to get lost in that ocean of resumes.
your best bet is networking...for every job posting that interests you (and you think you are qualified), find somebody on linked in who works at that firm, in that area, and try to strike up a relationship....ask for advice and their career story...then (after an in person meeting) ask them if they can suggest how you can interview for the position you saw posted. (you of course are hoping they will just add your name to the list of people to interview...but you want to be careful with making such a direct ask).
Expect to get ghosted a lot...but you only need this strategy to work out one time.
Thanks for the advice - been doing a lot of networking in addition to submitting applications. Definitely built up a bit of a network and met some very nice/helpful people but I haven't converted any of those into interviews. Had people who have passed my resume along/had me apply through referral links but still no further steps from HR.
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It's a tough spot to be in. Good luck to you as well!
Hey man, any luck yet?
There's a reason why you hear everybody tell you to talk to as many people as you can, it really works. Hit up some boutiques and check some stuff out in the Westchester County area. Good luck.
Yeah, I started at a firm a couple weeks ago. Not exactly what I want to do, still trying to get into IB down the line, but being employed and being able to move into the city is absolutely worth it. Thanks for asking!
Hi! Any update? I'm in a similar situation right now. I'm sending my resume over and over and have no responses, maybe a few, but still don't have a job.
To preface this I didn't end up getting into the exact area of finance/companies I'd like to work for. But for me I was going crazy not having a job and was willing to accept anything half decent (analytical positions in any area of finance). I ended up getting an offer at an old firm of one of my network connections. It makes a huge difference if you can find lesser-known companies that don't have jobs posted on LinkedIn. My response rate (even if they were rejections) was much higher and I felt a lot better submitting apps to them than any company that had posted on LinkedIn. I'm not saying avoid LinkedIn job posting, but a position that's been up for 18hrs and has 200+ applications is basically a trash can. Best of luck!
I'd recommend you to read "The Two Hour Job Search" . Talks about how to use the power of soft network and 2nd degree connections to find a job. THe author also have a number of helpful podcasts on Youtube. I think understanding this method of job hunting will help you.
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