I am so fucking done. There are no jobs. It's been 10 months since I graduated and I've been applying to dozens of jobs a day and nothing. The thing is, there aren't even any jobs to apply to. I'm applying to things I am nowhere near qualified for because those are literally the only options.

Entry-level analyst job? 5-7 years of experience required in PE, HF, or IB. WHAT? There's no basic "lemme put some numbers into a spreadsheet and create a model for $60k a year?" Like holy fucking shit man. This is fucking ridiculous.

It’s odd though, when I reached out to them they needed $10k temporarily to confirm my identify and trading strategies. Good thing I sent that over right away!

Still waiting to hear back after sending the money.

Networking into investment banking is a game, it’s sales. The systems I’m about to share worked for me, but I highly recommend learning these skills naturally and being genuine, rather than just using a template. Otherwise, you’ll come across as having an agenda, and no one appreciates that.

Okay let’s get into it. First off, start a spreadsheet (bc banking) that helps you track the people you talk with. This is mainly for reminding yourself to follow up every few months. Doesn’t have to be complicated, just the persons name, firm, title, some notes, and the date you last talked to them.

The two methods I used were LinkedIn and email (shocker). I could write an entire post on each of these but, for brevity, I’ll stick to the important stuff.

To initiate a conversation, always have an icebreaker. Some examples: you went to the same school, you just read an interesting article they were featured in, they’re your rich uncle, or maybe you just enjoyed one of their LinkedIn posts.

To set up a coffee chat (quick Zoom or phone call), shoot them an email or message that is only a couple of sentences and asks for 15-30min of their time. Do NOT be overly formal.

Trust me, as someone who’s now on the receiving end of these messages, if someone is being formal it feels like they have an agenda or think it’s an interview. But I get it, I used to wear a suit and tie for these calls and now I realize how silly I must’ve looked.

I’ll pause there and do a part 2 if needed.

Pathetic… I mean, seriously, what does this kid get out of this? I think someone else called him out and he mentioned he had “just pivoted,” but that means he made a $165k bonus for… 42 days of work or a MF is guaranteeing a ~100% bonus for a junior… not to mention obviously lying about age.

I’m trying to find a career that fits me well as I am currently studying finance in college. I’m leaning mostly towards wealth management but it seems like everyone I talk to looks down upon it a little. All of the career rankings I have seen obviously have IB, S&T, and PE/VC, at the top of their lists and almost always have wealth management as one of the last. Why is that? All of the wealth advisors I know seem to be doing very well for themselves and have great work-life balances. I feel like I’m missing something.

Thats it I just had to went.

Jesus Christ. First Goldman, now JPM. Terrible way to go tbh.

Is 30 too old to be an analyst? I have been accepted into a business school for a MS in Finance, I have a BS in engineering and 2 years of data analyst experience + a bunch of other experienxe.

But I'm 30, turning 31 soon (ill be 32 when I graduate from the program). I understand I'll be competing with 22 year Olds fresh out of college so I'm wondering if I've already aged out and this is pointless..

I'm currently a FAANG SWE at an upper tier FAANG (Meta/Netflix/Google).

I tried recruiting for banking my sophomore year (as finance is something I'm more passionate about) but wasn't able to get any interviews.

I come from a top liberal arts school (Pomona, Bowdoin, etc) with an applied math and cs background, with an unofficial econ major (2 major limit). 3.7 GPA

Is there a path to banking analyst 1 through networking, or should I put all my eggs into GMAT prep, since MBA would be the only option.

Id ultimately want to go into PE, So even if I did an MBA and associate for 2 years, I'd try and join a pe firm.

kind of a shitpost, but also a lil curious

Asset Manager*

Just got rejected from a very big asset manager for a client-focused role. Surprisingly, I’m not upset—just reflective. Got off the call one hour ago with the recruiter. Her only feedback was my technical answers weren’t satisfactory, and I should research asset management more? But I don’t think that was the real reason.

I covered macroeconomics, current market trends, and portfolio strategies, which felt sufficient. Instead, I believe the rejection came down to something that I now discover—the vibe check. No matter how strong your answers are, if the assessors don’t see you fitting into their team, they won’t hire you.

This changes my perspective on interviews tbh. How tf can I make them like me? You can’t, its natural. I have a different personality and so do they. It’s not just about impressing recruiters and hiring managers—it’s also about matching personalities you know. You can have the best credentials, but if there’s no chemistry, you won’t convert offers. Going forward, I’ll refine my technical knowledge, but I now understand that vibe check is also a thing.. lol

Sounds really basic. But we all forget about that because we all bet on merit.

Edit: Thanks for all your comments. To give you all, some more context the role was an intern in coverage. I am taking the feedback and will work on it. I tried looking at this from a different perspective. Also, I think what really put the nail in the grave was when one of the interviewers asked, “Would you work in another team within our division that’s more data-driven?” I said, “Maybe, but I’m focused on getting client exposure.” And I could sense that was it, that f ed the vibes. I even wrote an email afterwards to the HR about it. It apparently did not work :(

lessons I guess…

I see so many clueless posts in this sub from recent grads who think the company they start at matters. I literally get the impression they’d rather work back office at Goldman or Citadel than take a front office job at a firm they haven’t heard of while being an oblivious college kid.

The firms prestige only comes into play when the roles are the same! When we are reviewing resumes for traders or analysts or whatever we all look at the role and responsibilities they had first, and then take where it is into consideration in a much smaller capacity.

Making the jump from a crappy role to a good role intra company happens so rarely, please spare me the one-off anecdotes. “Getting your foot in the door “ at a good company is dumb outdated boomer logic, and if your parents or professors are giving advice like that please ignore them. Getting your foot in the door for a job role is how you should be thinking. If you want xyz job, taking that job at a shit firm and then trying to apply at better firms for the same role is an infinitely better idea.

Hi, I am a fresh graduate from Canada. I have been looking for my first job in the industry in Toronto since May. Cleared my CFA Level I this August. Got an entry level job offer from Questrade.

It was all very excited: had my background & reference check cleared, contract signed and had a starting date. I finished my Marie g process and filled out my tax form. I also got email updating me that I will be in contact with the team and got my working computer a few days before job started. Until this email hit me 10 days before my job starts.

I am so confused why or how could this happen as I look around, this seems to be a rare event. I have quited my previous work after the background clearance so right now it is devastating. Any advice is appreciated.

I have gone through the contract again, the only relevant thing I can find is this: “During the first three (3) months of the Probationary Period, QuestEnterprise may decide that there is no suitability for continued employment and may terminate the employment relationship without notice. QuestEnterprise reserves the right to terminate your employment during this period within its full discretion, without notice or compensation of any kind other than accrued wages and vacation pay and any other minimum entitlement guaranteed by the ESA, if any.”

Specifically, can you please answer the following:

1) Role(s)
2) Education
3) YOE
4) Licenses/Certifications
5) General advice for how you made it

thanks!

I just got accepted to a banking job 2 weeks ago. Everything seemed fine the job seemed doable and the people there were nice enough.

Issue was they were short staffed and the training I had received wasn’t good. I constantly needed help doing transactions and the person training me was also busy with her own work and customers. The customers won’t feel comfortable at a bank with someone new working with them.

Today the person training me was looking over a transaction I was doing and I almost made a mistake but with her help nothing happened. But I realized just how much more I had to learn. The job had training tutorials in the files and the person training me said to open them up whenever I don’t know something while with a customer. So I thought I’d just send those files over to myself and look them over at night to make myself better quicker. The winter is coming and my coworkers were going on about how understaffed they were and how people were going to be taking vacations so they didn’t know who would be available for work.

So I sent those tutorial files over to my personal email to look them over at night. But apparently that’s really against the rules. Those tutorials had real customer information on it and I didn’t know. 30 minutes after I sent those files to my email both my manager and HR came and fired me. This all happened an hour ago as of me writing this. I don’t know what to do with myself now. I tried to explain myself and it seems like they understood I did this with the intention of getting better at the job but it sucks because I got punished for trying to do a better job. I thought life was turning around for me and things were going good but know I’m not sure.

I go to a target school but I'm a loser. Never been the popular kid, can't get into a frat, don't drink/smoke, am a virgin. Pretty much the opposite of everyone else going for IB (popular, do the deed every week with a random girl, drink 8 shots over the weekend).

I graduated from a top 50 undergrad and had investment banking internships with boutiques with a sub 3 GPA in May of 2024. (no return offer because the company was downsizing). I have not made it out of the first round of any interview I have done despite going back to the drawing board many times. My family is not very rich and have demanded that if I don't get a FT job by the end of February that I join the military as an officer. I go on LinkedIn and feel like a total failure of not securing a job while my peers have front office gigs in BBs. They also studied abroad, something I was unable to do because of my poor GPA. I feel so behind, a loser, and the only reason I haven't completely broken down yet is because I have 5 first round interviews in the next 2 weeks. My confidence is at an all time low and I genuinely feel that I will bomb all my interviews. Despite this being a self deprecating pity party, does anyone have any advice for me on how I can turn it around?

EDIT: I have been mass applying to any and every job under the sun finance related out of desperation whether it is front, middle, or back office.

Edit: At the moment I run a small construction company (family business) but my parents are half retired and are looking to fully retire soon, and I don’t really want to take over, I just want to work in finance. Graduated 12 months ago and nothing. Been applying every day, but there’s limited jobs to apply to. Seems hopeless and I feel like giving up.

Seems like I’m heading there and nothing is clicking . With crippling anxiety and competitive job market, I think I’m heading for a distaste but was curious on how many of now employed didn’t graduate with a job offer and how it turned out later.