June 2009 Grad - Feeling Dejected (Almost) - Any Advice Appreciated
I graduated from a semi-target school in June 2009 with an MBA in finance and corporate accounting (GPA 3.5). During OCR, was waitlisted at a BB - who later took TARP.
Since graduating, I have been interning at a small M&A shop - who declared at the time of hiring that there is no possibility of hiring full-time. I have been reaching out to alums (not awful many in IB - plenty in other finance functions though) since past few months. Up until recently all i got to hear was - go to pwm, take BD roles, go corp fin at some company in hot sector etc. But I am dead set on banking - MM / Boutique - anything under the sun.
Problems I m facing (besides not getting any interviews):
- virtually no 1st year associate positions out there
- i do not have full-time IB exp
- i m willing to go in as 2nd/3rd year analyst - firms declare me as overqualified for that (or its a polite way of saying no)
- quite a few alums were laid off as well (i m pretty sure it was my bad luck rubbing off on them in advance)
Sorry for such awfully long post. I am feeling very lost and there seems no light at the end of tunnel. Any advice is deeply appreciated.
Sorry dude, you need to be realistic. Given your situation and credential, if you are still dead set on banking, then you will really be dead soon.
Also, forget about 2nd/3rd analyst... You will probably qualify as a 1st year associate, but you will not qualify as an experienced analyst because you don't have much relevant experience.
Your best bet will be the small M&A shop you are interning right now, in case they suddenly decide to hire. The market is picking up slowly, so there may be a chance.
Good luck.
Send me a PM. I can point you to a few open positions.
I'm not an expert, but my impression of your resume is that it's too dense -- I would trim way down on your older (and not that relevant) experience to make your recent M&A experience stand out...
resume looks like a bunch of text...add some lines...second line of the bullets doesn't look right...make it look more uniform to other banking resumes...
Check hyphens for consistency...till date - what is that???..."one of four analysts" not parallel...
so you got your MBA at Rochester right?
upstate NY MBA- Rochester?
Or Cornell
cornell doesn't have a corporate accounting mba concentration
but rochester does!
not really a front office BB semi-target though
Its difficult for internationals to get a full time right now.Whats the problem with the small firm u r interning at ? Are they just not hiring or is VISA an issue ? and how long can you work on OPT.I guess its for 12 months after graduation.
Thanks guys for your inputs. I will work on paring down the resume.
@LeBron hv written till date to indicate that I am still working there. Would "Present" or "Jan 2010" b a better option? Good catch about "one of the analyst.." not being parallel :) @NuK85 They wont hire; havent dont so in past so many years; so it did not even come down to discussing sponsorship. @Affirmative: u may b right :P
Anything else, folks?
Your more relevant experience should be in more detail than your less relevant. It sounds like you've been doing M&A work and are looking to do the same FT, then you really should have significant details related to that. Everything else might round out your skills or give you a broader scope but not as relevant.
I also don't see any GPA's anywhere meaning everyone's assuming you did poorly in grad and undergrad (typically people say if you don't put it they assume
Ok Thanks everyone for the constructive criticism. I have detailed my internship experience and reduced irrelevant content. I will require sponsorship for H1B and this complicates the situation even more. I will post my updated resume for review later in the day.
Meanwhile, please guide on what is the best way to network, kind of firms I should be reaching out to etc.
Thanks again!
P.S. I have a confirmation from BBs who have returned TARP that they can sponsor visa in the coming fiscal year.
You got it better than me man.
I don't have any internship or experience in IB/M&A. Plus I'm from a non-target school, and a career changer from actuarial.
Studentnel, I'm assuming you studied Actuary Science based on your profile signature as an undergrad(?) Isn't actuaries usually in high demand? Or are you looking at other career paths. My impression was Actuaries are in high demand at Insurance companies, Companies that deal with Annuities, Big 4, and Banks.
Sorry if I'm not adding anything new. I'm just curious. I always heard Actuary Science is a pretty good field. Pretty nice pay (once you pass the 11(?) actuarial exams), very good stability, decent hours, etc. Is it really that bad that Actuaries are finding it hard to find a job, or am I mistaken about Actuary field?
Demand for it right now was and is lower than investment banking BY FAR. Historically, people have good impressions of actuarial science as a career because of historically low supply.
eg: in 1995, supply was about 5000, demand maybe 8000. So pretty easy to get a job. And yes, turnover was and is pretty low (they usually hire someone when the other guy retires).
But then supply shot up by a lot (instead of say 500 actuaries in P&C insurance in Canada total, they're now producing about 500 per year). When demand for P&C actuaries is less than 1000, 2 yrs later and you've got a market where it's no longer guaranteed job. 4 years later and you got saturation. 6 years later... and yea :P
In a narrow field like actuarial science, extra supply by a few thousand kills the market for candidates. In a big field like accounting, a one time addition of 50000 accountants still isn't a game-changer.
So in conclusion: I would LOVE an investment banking job. I'll also take an actuarial job if I get one. I'll take whichever comes first since I need the $$ to fund my exams and living expenses :P
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