Is it still possible to obtain an unpaid internship at any boutique in Beijing right now?

I'm in Beijing right now, and have decided to find another internship because my current non-finance related internship leaves me with more free time than I initially thought.

So far, I've emailed MDs at as many banks as I could find, but the list is still not very long. I've also resorted to simply emailing human resources about available openings at their firms. If I don't receive any responses in the next few days, I think I'll actually resort to calling their firms.

In the meantime, is anyone familiar with how Beijing firms operate? Are they willing to have someone come in to help in the first place or am I just wasting my time?

Also, is there a list online somewhere of boutiques in Beijing? I've found it extremely difficult to keep on randomly googling them. I think I've only found about 30 right now.

I'm looking for any experience I can get at this point and I know it's late in the game so there's zero guarantee. Thanks a lot.

Edit: By the way, I speak Chinese. So there should be no barrier in that regard.

 

Beijing boutiques run very lean. I'm not so sure there are 30 of them either.

Boutique IB in China is much more focused on deal sourcing than actual execution. BB and the SOE IBs dominate the IPO market. M&A at the boutique level is small, mostly PE/VC fundraising for small companies. There are a few cross-border firms, but it's a tough market and there's not a whole lot an intern (unpaid or not) can do to help when everyone is focused on bringing in clients or finding buyers.

What kind of work are you hoping to do?

 

There are all sorts of legit internship opportunities on City Weekend and thebeijinger usually.

HR in China is sloppy and so classifieds are what pass for internship recruiting in China for foreigners.

I landed a boutique IB internship there back in 07 in May answering a classified ad. It's definitely possible, but not easy. Very very few foreigners do IB in Beijing.

 

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