My 2 cents on SA recruiting from a non-target background

Currently a first-generation student coming from a non-target school with no family connections whatsoever. Just signed a 2021 SA offer at a top EB (Moe/CVP/Evr) and want to share my 2 cents on how to navigate recruiting if you are from a non-target with no family connections since I know that a lot of students on WSO meet that category

1. Early bird gets the worm is true for IB recruiting more than anything else. The earlier you know you want to do Investment Banking, the better off you are going to be. This is because a lot of banks host exploratory/diversity programs starting from pretty much freshmen year, and you need to start getting involved in these ASAP. You can also start making sure that ur GPA is high from early on and that helps down the line. You should also spend a considerable amount of time reading up about IB and how recruiting process works. Talk with seniors who are going through/have gone through the process. This was honestly my biggest resource. My freshmen year I got involved in my school's investment club and just talked to as many seniors as possible. A lot of them had offers at banks already so they told me whatever they knew and tried to help me out.

2. Networking is everything: From what I have noticed, the biggest burden of coming from a non-target is not necessarily the lack of OCR (although that does suck) but more importantly, the lack of alumni at banks. There were some firms where my school literally has 0 alumni (including the bank I signed for). This means that people are not going to reply to you as much or create opportunities for you as easily. The best way to get involved in these is through different programs/webinars held by the firm, or simply putting yourself in situations where you may find bankers, whether that's at NYC bars or networking events for finance professionals. As a non-target, networking is your key to success. That's how you land interviews/superdays and pretty much anything.

3. Using Linkedin and WSO: Linkedin and WSO are honestly your best friends. Use Linkedin to reach out and find alumni and closely track what type of internships/experience/classes they had before they landed their SA position. Try to follow their footsteps and put yourself in situations where you take similar classes/do similar internships. Use WSO to learn about different firms and also just stay up to date on IB related news so you can talk about it during networking calls.

4. Start prepping technicals early: Sometimes during networking calls, bankers will literally start asking you technicals just to see what type of candidate you are. So you need to be prepped 24/7. The way I look at it is that you should treat each networking call like a first round interview. Try to impress the banker as much as possible. If they are being dry in their conversation, try to fill the void by talking about your internship or talking about how "interested" you are in the group they work in. Remember that bankers spend 100 hours a week working in their specific coverage/product group so they love talking about this shit.

5. Be optimistic: You'll prob face tons and tons of rejections. If you have friends at targets, you will see all of them signing offers months before you even have a first round. You just need to be optimistic and push through. Don't let one bad networking call or one bad interview discourage you.