Screwed up my MBA summer banking recruiting, seeking advice

So I go to one of the target banking schools (think Wharton, Columbia, Booth) and had prior finance background in top-tier BBs, think (GS/JP/MS). However, I wasn't able to manage the banking summer associates recruiting process. The first semester was pretty challenging to me to adjust to a new location and lifestyle, and the networking intensive banking recruiting moved too fast. I wasn't dedicated enough from the beginning and didn't do many informationals. Now I am invited for interview by a few lower-tier boutique banks but not happy with the result. What I really want is to get into those top BBs. What should I be doing and what can I do? I even applied elsewhere for non-banking jobs because they are with more prestigious companies compared with the boutique banks I currently got. Should I focus on banking and definitely get one summer internship regardless where it is? How should I treat the contacts I accumulated during the process but didn't reach out to earlier?

 
Best Response

As a graduate from one of the schools you listed who is currently working in IB - it sounds like you tried to coast through a competitive process. You found other buy side opportunities "quite competitive"? No shit...getting into a top-tier business school isn't the goal - getting the job you want is the goal...you need to work hard. Network. Do informationals. Put in some effort.

At this point - if you want to make it into a "top" BB you should eat some humble pie and get a job a summer internship offer at one of the boutiques you are interviewing with. Stay in touch over the summer with the contacts you hopefully made during your recruiting process. If you get an offer coming out of summer, then approach the BB's who spurned you during the summer internship process.

 

DoddFrank's comments are probably the most useful thus far. Don't assume you are entitled to a BB job just because you made it to a top BSchool. Take the summer internship, work hard, and then reassess after the summer. Alternatively you may find that you actually enjoyed your summer and want to return, ease up on the prestige search and look for something you like/want to do versus a brand name. Otherwise you will be miserable no matter what you do. GS is sexy, but being depressed/regretting your decision working for GS because you realize this is not what you want to do is not sexy.

 

I agree with what you guys said... I did expect myself to work hard, but I guess I was a bit bewildered in the first semester.It took me a while to find the right focus...The recruiting window for IB is pretty short in our school. After two weeks from their first presence on campus, many banks sent closed-list events. And there was some family issues made me stressed out..I got pretty discouraged and lost my pace for the process.

I definitely would put 200% of my effort going forward to get a BB stint. How would those contacts view me if I approach them now? How should I explain my failure in the recruiting process?

I mean..there is tons of regret from me, but I do think the BB recruiting process at our school is much more challenging to manage than I expected..

 

What exactly did you do before business school?

At kellogg, hardly a finance school, people with no finance experience - mostly people who dropped out of consulting recruiting because it was too hard - all got BB offers this week. I don't understand how you could mess up the process, with even 50% effort, if you have a finance background.

I'd say best bet if to go at a MM or boutique firm, but I think you've left out some data. Are you bad at networking?

 

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