What did you do when you didn't get an IB internship?

I was talking to some recently graduated friends this week, and noticed an interesting trend: the kids who didn't get IB SA offers during accelerated recruiting or the normal processes either got something at the last minute, or did something non-finance related and ended up with FT offers. Of course, my sample is quite small, so I wanted to reach out to my fellow monkeys and hear your stories.

How did you handle not getting an internship your junior year (or getting it too late), and what happened to you during the FT process?

 

I didn't end up getting an internship my junior summer, did econ research for 2 months instead, and now senior year I've gotten interviews at 70-80% of the firms where I've blindly sent resumes online. Not getting an internship really doesn't take you out of the running, it just makes it harder to sound informed when you actually get an interview. In my case I think my school + GPA probably got me the interviews

 

That's great; congrats! I assume you go to a target?

Also, was there anything that you did differently once it came time to recruit for FT positions?

 

Thanks! I went to a prestigious non-target (think Swarthmore/Carleton/Vassar). I applied for fewer positions (15-20 rather than 60-70) when I went for FT and instead heavily customized my cover letters, always making sure to include the firm's name, address, and the name of someone who works there (anyone you can find on Linkedin; in my case none were alums) at the top of it.

 

Ironically, I'm in the same boat -- think Middlebury/Bowdoin/Colgate. That sounds like a smart idea, re: customization. What type of bank will you be at (BB, MM, etc)?

 

I actually eventually decided to not go with any bank positions (got disillusioned with finance.. guess this is why they don't hire LAC students? :P ) and am looking for positions at startups abroad now! Maybe I'll end up going back to finance though after hearing about others' experiences. Best of luck~

 

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