non-target need advice
I am a Junior at Fordham. I have a 3.9 with a major in economics, minor in business. I am struggling to get in touch with alumni and my attempts to secure a finance internship this summer have been futile so far. I had one interview with JP Morgan for risk and was lucky to have the experience but I wasn't able to land the position. I have done a lot of prepping for my interviews (interview guides, Rosenbaum etc,) but my lack of prior internship experience appears to be a deal killer in these situations. I am doing all this extra work and it's starting to feel like it just won't pay off. I guess I just need advice on what to do next aside from pursuing alumni.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated
Lack of prior internship can be tough. Do you have other experience that you can highlight such as on-campus involvement/leadership or interesting business/econ projects or competitions?
Also, don't limit yourself just to alumni. That's a great place to start but branch out further to anyone in banks or roles that you're interested in. LinkedIn advanced search is a great tool and can help you identify other connections within the industry (fraternities, honor societies, industry groups). It can also help you find people you already know that may be able to connect you to someone in the industry.
Stay persistent and be open to a wide range of roles. At this point, any sort of internship in finance will be helpful to you and make your job search next year a lot easier.
I don't remember where I read this but it was golden advice: as a non-target, your "alumni-base" essentially expands to anyone who came from a non-target. Use that to your advantage.
I did start a small business, a small online consignment store. I just got it up and running a little while ago. I have tried to highlight it. Other than that I don't have many extracurricular activities in terms of clubs and competitions. I wish I did and I wish I had started worrying about this earlier. I transferred from a small liberal arts school with a decent name but OCR was pretty much nonexistent.
LinkedIn is something I have looked into. So far, I have refrained from actually messaging anyone on LinkedIn because it might be perceived as creepy. I probably wouldn't think it was weird but I've read mixed messages on these boards about actually contacting people through LinkedIn. It is certainly a powerful tool that I should take advantage of. Can't hurt I suppose.
Thank you for responding.
You don't have to use LinkedIn to contact people. I would use the search tool to find people you might be interested in talking to, then use their company website to find their email or guess their email format based on other emails on their site. I believe there are also email convention threads here on WSO for several banks you might want to look into.
Regardless of whether contacting through LinkedIn is or isn't creepy, I would use email because it's more effective and most people check their emails frequently.
good suggestion
I understand that Fordham is not exactly a target, but do Banks really expect people to have had internships in their Sophomore summer? When you apply for a FT position, you are expected to have an internship, but is that true for Junior year summers as well?
Yes. Competition is tough so if you're not at a target you're going to have to have something that stands out positively.
I'm from a non target as well. Realistically its kind of late cause many deadlines passed or coming up shortly.
Best thing you could do now is try to intern as much as you can and network to the max. I'm sure you could cold email many boutiques in NYC or even try to get PWM if all else fails. I feel like PWM at like UBS or AXA never say no to anybody. Of course the work will be shitty and unpaid but still pack it on your resume.
Start attending information sessions and events at your school. Whatever company comes, just go and network. Stand out, keep in touch, try to set up coffee date etc... Also, get cool with top ppl in your finance clubs or just smart/driven people. Analysts can screen your resume and push your name. For example, I met somebody at my investment banking club at school last year. Stayed in touch via facebook lol. She graduated and works for a BB now. Coincidentally. saw my resume for a Summer Analyst position and recommended me. So got an interview thanks to her. Even thou she wasn't my best friend or anything, just very small world and you never know who could help you later on.
Network, Network, Network. You have got to hit the phones, e-mail, in person meetings and just talk to anyone and everyone.
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