Am I doomed or is it just the market currently? I am graduating from college this year. I’ve had five interviews in the last few weeks, four of them that I thought went really well (and i am very critical of myself in this regard). I would have loved to sign on at all of the jobs i interviewed with. I just got the fifth rejection seconds ago. Is it just that the job market in finance is going through a rough patch? I interviewed for a research position and the person I heard back that the interviewer was very impressed with me…still didn’t get a call back. What else can I do?
Job market is bad in finance, competition is fierce, and finance interviewing requires large sampling sizes before you get the first offer. 0 for 5 is not totally surprising.
Yeah but 0 out of 5 interviews that I even got. After applying for a ton of positions, I got invited to apply for 5, out of those 5 got call backs for none of them
LI, on-campus recruiting at my school was garbage last year for May grads (fantastic for December grads), but I found that there was still a lot out there. Don’t get discouraged–you’ve got many many months to find a job and there are many great jobs out there that aren’t recruiting on-campus, you’ve just go to take the intitiative and look look look. But it probably won’t do much good until February, when non on-campus recruiting jobs will start to consider you. It’s a horrible mental burden, but it’s just that–mental.
Thanks kkent. I just would feel a lot more secure if I wouldn’t have to wait until Feb. I still have a few on campus interviews lined up. But with how things are going I am not getting my hopes up at all about them.
Yes, it’s confirmed. You are in fact doomed.
Well at least now I know.
…and knowing is half the battle.
Hey, I got some interviews that I thought went really well (I have a small sample of interviews though) and I didn’t make it to the 2nd or 3rd whatever (the last interview). I am unemotional myself and I just say f’ it. I know I will work my tail off at whatever job I end up with and have the company realize that they found a gem. Good luck with your search as I am in the same boat.
Yeah I’m not getting very emotional over it, I’m just worried. Niblita, we both passed CFA L1 while still in undergrad. I just felt like it would’ve given us a big edge, and I think that the market for jobs is just crushing us right now.
The jobs at my school weren’t jump for joy type of jobs. In one interview with Lehman (Ops job) the interviewer told me I was the first undergrad he has seen that has passed L1. I am pretty sure I am going to get an offer this week, but I am also pretty sure I am not going to take it. I have a contact at a BB that is helping me out in getting interviews but he just emailed me saying that ER associates for this particular bank are already filled for 08. I am starting a dialog with the recruiter and I am apparently at the top of the list if someone drops out for a chance at the job. It is definitely harder than I was expecting.
I had numerous on-campus interviews and only 2 full-time offers - however, they were 2 of the “best” (most prestigious, I guess) firms I interviewed with. This means I was rejected by several firms that you would think it would be easier to get an offer at. I think the process is pretty arbitrary - there are many nore qualified applicant than there are jobs, so it’s almost a crapshoot once the candidates are narrowed down to a certain point. I could have ended up with zero offers, or could have had 5…I know this doesn’t really help you understand what’s going wrong, but maybe the answer is nothing… Best advice I can give is to do mock interviews, to make certain that it is not something you are doing wrong, and of course to be enthusiastic and follow-up with your interviewers.
luke, great, true post.
I can second luke on the interview process being random. For our recruiting, HR limited the number of people we could call back. Last year we interviewed fewer people at the schools I am involved with and called back 1-2 more. And for the random part: all that matters is that you click with the interviewers, but given how varying personalities can be, there are no guarantees.
Niblita- I spoke with someone in Asset Management at Goldman and she said that she has seen tons of resumes, but no one coming out of ugrad w/ CFA L1. Couldn’t even get an interview there. Some of the jobs I interviewed for were jump for joy jobs (asset management, research) some weren’t but all would have been great starts. luke- thanks for the advice, but except for one of the interviews (MS asset management, which I was very nervous for) I was very confident (not over confident) I expressed myself well, and actually heard from one that they really liked me. I am very critical of my performance in interviews and I thought I did very well in these. But, as you and FIAnalyst point out, this on campus interview process seems very random and requires quite a bit of luck.
What are you emphasizing in your past experience during these interviews?
Sternwolf- it depends on the interview. I’ve worked at a bond brokerage on the telecomm desk, at a Structured Investment Vehicle, at Citi in Financial Advisement, and at Thomson Financial in Strategic Research --All Internships Now I am writing equity research articles during the school year. Are you a senior right now? I am a senior at NYU also, but I am in CAS studying econ.
How do you use your experiences to flesh out your story for research? How are you using your ER articles in interviews? I’m under the impression that pitching a stock is a risky move with an experienced ER guy. I originally wanted to go into marketing so my only related internship is a long stint in equity research for a L/S hedge fund. Problematic in certain ways. I’m senior, stern. Finance, marketing, International Business, CPA acct. want to talk sometime? What’s your gmail?
In ER interviews you generally have to pitch a stock no matter what. NYU NetID is wcp212 shoot me a message
The stock pitch makes or breaks you in ER. I can’t talk now, totally overwhelmed, but I’ll shoot you a message in a day or two.