Graduating with no internship/job - Advice Needed

I'm not in your position yet mate as I'm still in second year so not sure how much I can help :/. You've still got some months left, can you fit in any voluntary work, societies into your timetable especially stuff where you take a leadership or creative role? Is investment banking definitely what you want to do?

It's statements like this that make it clear why you haven't been having much success with your applications.

And it's statements like this that make it clear that you are a douchebag.

Why don't you give him positive criticism for a change rather than vague, offhanded insults.

I'm in my final year at uni and am wondering - if I am unable to land a summer internship/grad offer for Summer 2013 - and cannot afford/don't get into a Masters program - what's my next best bet post-graduation?

I have applied to leading investment banks, management consultancies, the big 4 and elite boutiques/smaller no-name places for IBD/corp finance roles but have had no luck so far. Mostly being ignored/getting rejections.

Is anyone in a similar situation? What are you planning on doing?

For anyone who was in a similar situation/knows someone who was/is - what did you do?

Thanks in advance.

Well its good to see you LSE lot stick together. I have nothing against the guy, but considering his history, background and experience, I'm frankly a little shocked at some of the posts he still makes on this site after years trying to break into the industry.

Well its good to see you LSE lot stick together. I have nothing against the guy, but considering his history, background and experience, I'm frankly a little shocked at some of the posts he still makes on this site after years trying to break into the industry.

Edit: If he doesnt know something there's noting wrong with coming on here and asking. But the stage he's at and some of the questions he's asking, makes me think he clearly has a problem that a few threads on here is not going to solve. I think it's an issue that requires him to seriously rethink how he's approaching this whole recruitment game...and for the areas he may be lacking in knowledge, he needs to get up to speed fast - because you cant afford to be behind the competition, not in this industry and especially not in this crappy job market.

a) What area are you targeting? - corporate finance / sales / structuring / trading / capital markets / strategy consulting / regulatory bodies / central banks / audit / taxation etc.?

b) How much money can you put aside for a masters degree? Are you willing to take a loan if necessary?

c) What is your current experience like? Are you multilingual? How wide is your network?

A) Corp finance/IBD/Capital Markets
B) £0
C) One rotational internship at a no name firm, MM M&A internship (more like a spring week), IBD internship at a no name firm. No I don't know any EU languages. My network is pretty focused on IBD.

A) Corp finance/IBD/Capital Markets
B) £0
C) One rotational internship at a no name firm, MM M&A internship (more like a spring week), IBD internship at a no name firm. No I don't know any EU languages. My network is pretty focused on IBD.

If you cannot register on a masters course then you will have to network more. You are in London (I think) and British (I think) so you have an advantage in that you are right where the action is. BNP, SocGen and Commerzbank are all open to graduates doing long-term internships with them, (and so are Barclays, Nomura and UBS - who all take interns who are final year/have already graduated) so I would advise finding some appropriate people on LinkedIn -emailing them for a while and possibly meeting for coffee/interviews later.

You seem strong enough for an internship/off cycle at least. I would advise to apply for summer and autumn internships i you cant land a grad.

Yup this is what I am planning on doing very soon.
Yup in London and British.
I did apply for commerzbank etc for grad schemes but was auto dinged
Networking seems the best way forward

Did you do an internship in the summer of your second year?

My timeline is a bit confusing.
Did an internship in my 1st year summer, then xmas period for 2nd year, then summer 2nd year, then deferred a year (personal reasons) so no internships were completed that year (xmas or summer), now i'm back to finish uni for 1 year. Go the internships I have done are a bit 'dated'.
And yes I still want to do IBD... haha

were any of them BB internships or big name firms?

do you have a copy of you CV to show?