Should I even Try FT IB Recruiting?
I am a junior at a regional target (think UC Berkeley, UNC, USC) with a 3.9+ GPA. I am currently doing a boutique IB internship and previously did a internship at a pension fund and a PWM internship at a no name shop. I am doing a big 4 valuation internship this summer. I was planning on recruiting FT for IB this fall. With the current economy though, is it even worth trying? If it is worth trying, which banks should I target? I would guess mm and boutiques. I plan to graduate in December, so I could likely start at the big 4 in January and switch over to IB within a year versus possible having to wait until to July to start at an IB gig. Should I say I am looking for FT when networking? Thank you in advance for any advise.
Good school, high gpa, relevant experience...of course it’s worth recruiting. Get out there bud, you can do it.
you miss 100% of the shots you don't take
By the end of the summer, you'll either have the FT job, or you won't. If you threw everything you had but didn't get it, at least you'll know you tried your best, and you'll have put in work for a skill that you can use later (lateral recruiting, if you're still interested). If you don't try, and if it was really that important to you, you're going to suffer with all the regret.
Don't leave the possibility for regret, give it a shot and really prep for it.
For background, I'm at a top target with less than stellar gpa. People highly doubted my success in FT recruiting given the caliber of place I SA'd at but ended up getting a FT offer at an EB. Got super super super lucky to get the offer, but if I hadn't tried, I wouldn't have been there to scoop up the luck.
Good luck!
Would you be willing to provide more details? Also in a similar situation (junior at top target going into solid MM firm for IB looking to make the jump to a BB or EB FT after graduation)
What details specifically? I do not want to say too much more about myself.
The full time recruitment process is rather foreign to me -- I am unfamiliar with timeline or other differences that may exist between the full time and summer analyst recruitment processes. If you are familiar with some of these, would you be willing to share, or link me to a comprehensive thread? Thanks in advance, and props for proving the doubters wrong.
I hope you don’t take this the wrong way.
Of everything you listed (school, gpa, economy, etc) the biggest problem I see is your attitude (granted there isn’t much info to go off of). You are looking at a hard problem, with what you consider low probably of success, and instead of working your a** off to see if you can make this work your option is to just give up. There are times when this might make sense, but the cost here is just your time, right? Worst case scenario you put time and effort into this and you didn’t get it, that’s all you lose (and in the process you practice interviewing and learn about there industry, banks, networking, etc), what are you going to do with that time?
If you really want a career in this field you need to have a strong work ethic/determination and you can’t be afraid to fail, because you’ll fail many times over. Many of the most successful people I know failed on their way to where they are and continue to fail, if you aren’t you probably aren’t tackling hard enough problems.
You are right though, recruiting right now will be very tough, graduating off cycle (I think that’s what you are saying) also makes it tough, but if you are graduating this coming December I would definitely recruit heavily in the fall if you want to break in. It won’t be easy but your school + GPA are both good enough to break in.
Won't be easy for the reasons mentioned, but definitely worth a shot. Totally doable.
Be transparent during your networking, of course mention you're looking for full-time, let them know you'll be graduating in December (so able to start right away, or with the rest of the new hires in June/July), etc.
I totally agree with what T5R said about prepping. Learn everything in all the guides and try to actually understand it, not just memorize. Technicals are an easy place for them to ding people looking for FT. They often assume FT candidates' technical knowledge is subpar to that of people who interned. Know your stuff.
For context, I also recruited FT during the summer. Got an offer at EB in August. Don't lose hope.
Obviously, we're headed into a rough patch, but you're the kind of student with a lot of cards to play. Go for the internship you thought you'd get. Maybe it'll work out. Also aim for less volatile groups, corporate and commercial banking groups will be very busy with monitoring and compliance for the next year. That's an upside!
Honestly, I believe commercial banking is a better career move. No one will doubt your motivation if you land there in a downturn, if anything it proves your resilience and commitment to the industry. Any commercial banker worth their salt will fight to get the kid who wants IB and happened to matriculate during a recession into IB. Usually we're not the best fit for those groups, and have no desire to be, but we know the people who can pull up the analyst who wants their shot.
edit: Your career will not be determined by your position post-grad in December. Take a position that you feel will last AND develop skills.
If you have to ask...
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