How you can get multiple job offers before you graduate

Hi all, figured I'd share my story to those struggling to get an internship or FT offer. Hope you all find some value in my post.

These are the major keys that helped me land multiple offers despite coming from a community college and only having experience as a retail clothing sales associate which everyone can use. I think it's important to note that it is vital to at least have a 3.0 overall GPA and a much higher major GPA to be effective.

1. Use your school's career services:

THE #1 THING ANYONE CAN DO THAT I AVOIDED for the longest was using my schools career services. Coming from a semi-target, I knew I had to do everything to get my resume out there. By applying to internships posted on my school's career site, I knew my application would for sure be reviewed by the posters. In addition, my school offered on campus interview applications which meant I would get a definite yes/no on my resume.

2. Use a professional resume review service:

I purchased the WSO resume help package which gave me so much insight into how to best craft a resume using the crap/non-relevant work experience I had. Before with my crap resume, I always got rejected. After using the WSO one, I got plenty of call backs. This cost me a bit of money, especially for a student, but I have definitely made all my money back and more on this one. This is a big recommend, if you haven't already you must join your business club, this helps tremendously and shows you're not just another greed monkey.

3. Be passionate and be prepared.

In the interview that turned into my first internship at an FX consulting firm, I talked about as much as I could about Finance and Equities with the people there despite not knowing much about FX. It was apparent I knew what I was talking about (for a student) after hearing how other students replied to questions, many not taking the time to memorize the basic currency pairs for example. Others couldn't talk about what an ETF tracked or what a moving average was, or simply what futures/option contracts were. Bonus points if you can walk someone through a DCF model and know basic accounting transactions. These are all things you should at least have some knowledge of.

4. Never settle & leverage yourself

I landed the FX internship in my spring semester of my Junior year in February (I interned 24HR/week while going to school FT). However I didn't see myself there long-term and in April I saw a KPMG posting for a summer internship in Tax. I applied to it and 3 interviews later, I had secured an internship at KPMG for the summer going into my Senior year. This didn't go over too well with the FX firm BC they wanted me until Fall at least, but I had to do what I had to do.

Despite me not being an accountant or CPA eligible, I knew having KPMG on my resume would open doors for me and help me leverage myself. Especially since my school's accounting program is far superior to the Finance program (which I am in). Well, I received a full time offer in KPMG Tax (which would start after I graduated) at the end of the summer, but declined it. Once again, ruffling some people's feathers at KPMG as to why I would not want to accept an offer so many people didn't even think twice about accepting. A partner at KPMG told me at one point I should just accept the KPMG offer otherwise other companies would think I was "no good".

Here is where things got a bit rocky, I never formally received a written offer from KPMG. My manager told me he was going to extend one until I told him I wanted to switch to a more Financial Advisory role at the firm at which point our relationship sort of broke down upon his learning that I did not want to do Tax at all full time. I reapplied to KPMG in the Advisory department and think they got irked when I wrote "Received full time offer" from the firm when it hadn't been formally extended, so I felt I kind of got screwed over by some higher ups who took exception to my behavior, I and many former co-workers suspect, as I had glowing reviews and a positive attitude all the time. In short, despite having great reviews, I was denied the position. Furthermore, I applied to PwC in the fall just to have something lined up in case, but after 2 great interviews, I was rejected as they could tell I was not CPA eligible.

A bit shaken, I began to apply to jobs I had set out to get before the whole KPMG thing, applying everywhere not just on my school's website. Soon enough, many companies such as Oracle, Bloomberg or SVB began replying to my application all very eager to talk and I ended up receiving 3 different offers from different notable companies in exactly what I wanted. Listen to your gut and do what you feel is right for you. There are going to be people and obstacles along the way but never stop chasing what you want to do, and never settle. There's so much more density to these stories and things I learned, but these are the main points, I'd love to hear feedback from you guys and hoped y'all enjoyed the read!