To all the chimps with no return offers, there is hope

I am sure a few kids at this point or in the next week will be told they will not get return offers from their summers. I remember exactly two years ago being told the same thing during my summer at a BB. At the time (and for quite a while after), I was very demoralized. A few months ago, however, I joined a group that is one of the groups WSO regularly goes nuts over (much better than my SA group). So for those who are feeling down, focus on locking down a solid FT role (I wasn't one of the lucky ones who could pull off a BB FT with no return but some do), crush your first year or two, and you will have plenty of options. 

 

For FT interviews, I just said that it was a culture related issues and had a plausible explanation. I also did have a lot of people in the group who were willing to vouch for me and they often served as references on my behalf. It didn't come up in my lateral interviews.

 

This is the way to go. I don't know the specifics of how it works in finance, but I didn't get a return offer from my summer internship during my MBA and the line I used was "It was a good experience and I learned a lot but ultimately I wanted to be in a different area of real estate" (my internship was in consulting, I'm working now in development), just sidestepped the entire question of if I even got a return offer by pre-empting the question. It worked for me because it shows a more rounded knowledge of the market and industry, but I don't know if it's applicable in finance. Could you discuss coverage or industry as a transitional point (i.e. I was covering tech and want to switch to CPG, or some bs like that)?

Culture is nebulous enough that people won't probe too deep, although it's always useful to have one or two vague anecdotes if they ask a follow-up. Just don't name names or actually tell a damning story, the industry is small and you don't want to be shitting on someone unnecessarily. 

 

I was already recruiting to switch groups FT, so it didn't really impact me. It was also during COVID summer, so people were understanding for the most part. Got 4 IB offers (3 MM / 1 BB) and 1 buyside offer. Ended up taking the buyside job out of college then lateralling back to IB (realized I didn't want to start in the buyside). 

 

Do you think FT recruiting will be as hot next year as it is now? Probably not, but how steep will the dropoff be?

 

Hoping FT hiring this fall (for summer 2022 start) is popping off because I’m looking to lateral into the industry 

 

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