How common is it to not go through interview process?

I've mentioned in some previous posts, that I intern at a local shop. It's small but sucessful, however, I did not go through an interview process. All I did was call up my contact, he said come on down and meet the team and BOOM got an internship. Even with interviews coming up for a summer internship I'm hoping to get, the process is super chill and nothing like the grind sometimes described on WSO. Btw, these are reputable shops in both Philly and NYC. Not any top 10 place, but still very sucessful. I feel this may bite me in the ass, not going through the grind and not having super polished answers to questions. Anyway, my bad for rambling, just wondering how unique my experience has been so far.

 

I have not been referred by anyone. The broker was an alum of my school and just liked the fact I reached out, happened that they were looking for an intern, so I guess the timing worked lol. I should've mentioned in the post, that I am unpaid so maybe that has something to do with it, but the summer positions I'm looking at are paid and the process is still very chill. I'm probably going up to NYC after Christmas to meet some people and see what happens - from the conversations I've had, it seems very promising.

 
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I don't think this is common at all. But it happened to me for a paid summer internship that I got in high school. It was at a really great firm (the biggest firm in the world by revenue in their industry, it wasn't banking or consulting or anything like that, but it was a big industry). I got it by emailing the CEO after he had talked to a group of us in this after school program and he just passed me on to HR and they started emailing me about details and pay for the internship. The first time I talked to anyone was on the first day of the internship lol. Again, definitely not common, and I've now went through my fair share of interviews/networking/rejections, but I guess it happens occasionally. Just be grateful when it happens to you I guess.

 

For sure I am very grateful. I do network a lot and have gotten to know the people at my office well, they are very helpful in terms of introducing me to people and helping me when I need it - which I guess is a form of payment lol. I just have not gone through the long, hard process of interviews that so many worry about and spend months get ready for.

 

Yeah I’ve had both experiences. My school had a great pipeline to a local boutique, so I just had a quick conversation with the analyst and he asked me when I could come in.

For the SA I just interviewed for, I had to take a hirevue, IQ and personality test, then had a virtual first round and superday. All in, I was on zoom for 8 hours total and talked to 7 or 8 people up and down the ranks.

Didn’t mind either of them, but I did enjoy speaking with lots of junior and senior bankers before having to make a decision.

 

Not sure how common this is but same thing happened to me. I blasted out emails to alumni from my school and ended up with a paid internship which I had no formal interviews for. I think I just got lucky with timing and they needed the help at the time. 

 

I mean, for internships and certainly unpaid ones, not that unusual. Not all interview processes are the same, some are super formal, multi-round extravaganzas and some may just be a few relatively informal chats with the team. I mean, I'm sure you will get to experience the full thing at some point. But, no, this isn't as uncommon as you think.

Formal stuff is only a big deal for firms big enough to have big HR depts, and reality is a lot of real estate firms are way too small for that.  

 

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