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Getting a graduate job at investment bank with no internship/experience

Posted on: 29 July 2008 - 9:38am
Getting a graduate job at investment bank with no internship/experience

Hey Wikijob. This is my first post on the forums so go easy!

I've just finished my second year of uni studying maths at a decent university (not oxford or cambridge). I didn't manage to get an internship this summer, or work experience anywhere. It's looking like I might be getting a first next year ad I have generally good A Levels (ABB). I have heard stories that unless you have an internship there's no point applying to Investment Banks for front office roles or grad schemes. Is this true? ..and if it is, what can I do?

Looking forward to some help!

~C~

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Posted on: 29 July 2008 - 3:19pm #1

I am in the same boat here, recent graduate, no experience, are you applying for an internship at Rothschild?

Posted on: 30 July 2008 - 9:21am #2

It is really useful to have an internship or work experience. It looks like you know you want to work in IB if you have experience, and it means less work for the firm too - you need less training because you already have an idea what to do/ what you'll be doing.

I know people who have got jobs at investment banks without experience, and actually with academic qualifications not as good as yours.. but they did get those jobs before the credit crunch, when there were more jobs about in IB.

If you really struggle to get a graduate job at an IB there are a couple of things you can do:

  • You could apply for accounting and try to get a job at a good accounting firm, get the ACA or ACCA and get trained up and then re-apply for IB in three years with all that experience behind you. IB's and consulting firms love applicants with accounting experience - and doing all this to get in to IB shows you really want to do it, also a very attractive characteristic for an employer.
  • You could apply for middle or back office roles at Investment banks, and once in, try to move to front office. (See this article - http://timelessthinking.blogspot.com/2008/06/can-i-move-from-back-office-role-to.html - about doing exactly this).

For more information on Internships, have a look at these two articles Internships and The importance of internships. Also have a look at the Investment banking section. Good luck!

Posted on: 3 August 2008 - 4:53am #3

I wouldn't worry. Having an internship is a great benefit, but really they are just looking for bright people. If you get a first on your degree course then you should absolutely apply- and apply a lot. Make sure you apply not just to the bulge bracket banks but also to smaller institutions (see list of investment banks).

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