Made serious mistake: Help and advice would be appreciated
Dear all,
Been lurking in the shadows for the past few months and finally got down to registering. I would like some advice from senior/experienced members of the board. Hopefully, others will be able to benefit from my mistakes as well. Here's my situation (have tried to be very short)
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Started graduate programme in London at one of the BBs in July, and was posted to a group that I did not want (8th choice); spent approximately 10 weeks on desk and tendered my resignation.
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After quitting, I went for interviews in non-IB positions (think S&T/ER) and got offers for both roles. Also managed to receive an offer for a consulting job (think Bain/BCG).
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The problem is that I initally faced a lot of questioning as to why I left my old BB in my earlier interviews (got rejected straight) and decided to represent my short time at my old BB as an internship during interviews (I did not write whether it was an internship/graduate position on my CV). After doing that, the ride became a whole lot smoother and the offers started coming in.
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This brings me to my current dilemma and I would like to ask whether it would be safe to take up these offers in S&T/ER, or should I just completely abandon working in banking and join consulting? These offers are at BBs and I am just wondering what were the risks of being asked about my previous experience.
I know I've screwed up badly but if anyone can offer me any advice, I would be very grateful.
Thanks.
it doesn't matter - both consulting and IB will do reference/background checks and your 'internship' will be fact checked by HR.
hi pineapple,
thanks for your reply. am a bit lost about what to do- shall i just not take the offers, leave my 'internship' off my CV and re-apply next year?
and what would you do in the meanwhile?
do banks compare old applications to newer ones?
good question and I haven't fully thought of that- part-time work in back office/middle office positions could be a possibility (would of course apply with my 'internship' off my CV). Of course, if you have any ideas, I would love to hear them.
hi aachimp,
I don't think so. It had no impact on my applications this year.
just go with the jobs that you have available now. if they ask tell them the truth. no point in going to the bo/mo.
thanks, pineapple.
Which group did you get, why was it so bad?
Well, first of all, I would accept whichever offer you like the most. Every company is going to do a background check on you. If you get dinged, that sucks, you probably deserve it. However, there is no use attempting to apply to "lesser" positions hoping their background checks won't be as thorough. If you want to fix your resume (as in tell the truth) and apply to jobs with less demanding requirements, this may work as well.
hi CompBanker,
Thanks for your input. It's a bit late in the cycle to start applying for new jobs but I'll keep my eyes open. I would just like to ask how serious would you view this if someone in your team/bank did this?
thanks again.
Which piece of it?
Lying about quitting a job after 10 weeks being an internship: Very serious. We didn't hire someone because they inflated their GMAT schools (significantly). Lying is simply not tolerated.
Quitting after 10 weeks: Tolerable. If you have a good story to back it up, this can be viewed as okay. Though I would personally wonder if the person could stick it out at the next job considering they are 0 for 1 so far in their career.
Ultimately, it would depend on the interviewer. I think you'd be hard-pressed to find a bank which collectively decides that lying about a previous job is "okay." You'd fair far better under situation #2.
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