Out-of-luck Junior at a Semi-Target Dreams Naively of a FT Consulting Gig

Despite receiving numerous interviews at good consultancies during the fall semester, he let opportunity after opportunity slip through his hands. He wonders, with no small measure of self-pity, whether he's missing something crucial, some elusive piece of the puzzle. He lets life get in the way and sets aside recruiting temporarily.

Suddenly, it's January. Crunch time. It's not too late; he thinks he can, he thinks he can, he thinks he can secure an internship. He applies here, there, everywhere. He applies to at least a hundred companies—and gets some bites. He rushes to video interviews when he should be rushing to classes. He even flies to NYC on a Tuesday. He applies to a non-academic travel grant that he's a shoo-in for; Guatemala's a good back-up plan, he thinks.

COVID-19 comes to town. He goes home for spring break and gets stuck in his parent's house. A sense of dread starts to set in, but he still has interviews lined up. Finally! After four rounds, he gets something like a verbal offer from a Fortune 100-equivalent healthcare "nonprofit." It's FP&A but seems promising. A week later, the call comes: the internship is canceled.

Now, April's halfway over. Where in the world did the time go? He applies, half-heartedly, to a few uninteresting positions when he surfaces from his schoolwork, but what's the point? Still, he dreams of a successful fall recruiting season, of that wonderful-horrible-mythical consulting lifestyle. What can he do over the summer to land an offer next year?

Source: Me

True story. What do I do now? I'll probably work on my senior thesis and some personal projects, but I think the fact that my resume is lacking in team experiences hurt during the last recruiting season. I just feel discouraged and lost.

GPA: mediocre, 3.5
School: state school
Extracurriculars: unimpressive; I haven't done anything of interest since sophomore year due to personal reasons I wouldn't be able to bring up in an interview

 
 

Just don't give up. Keep applying. Keep grinding. Something HAS to come through. It is a numbers game and it sucks to be recruiting right now but you just need to power through. Stay mentally strong.

My Brother. My Captain. My King.
 
Most Helpful

> Despite receiving numerous interviews at good consultancies during the fall semester

This is reassuring. They thought you were an interesting enough candidate to interview. Whatever you did to get those interviews, I'd do at least that again and then go further by being ready to execute and get the job.

I wouldn't focus on not having an internship this summer, just because unfortunately a lot of people are going to be in your situation, and I have to imagine recruiters will understand that and adjust expectations a bit accordingly. Try to do something else that you can tell a compelling story about during interviews.

 

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