You Didn’t Get Any Investment Banking Summer Internship Offers. Now What Do You Do?
Summer internship recruiting is over.
Bankers have come to your campus, conducted interviews, finished recruiting, and now they’re back to their pitch books.
But you don’t have any offers.
What now?
No Summer Offers vs. No Full-Time Offers
There are 3 main differences:
- Timing: You have more time to find your Plan B with full-time recruiting – sometimes a year vs. only a few months with summer internships.
- Options: You have more options if you come out of full-time recruiting empty-handed: delaying graduation, going for a Master’s program, moving to Thailand…
- Seriousness: While the lack of a good junior year internship will hurt you, it’s less of an emergency than having no post-graduation plans.
Worst-Case Scenario
You find no real internship, so you become a life guard or work in retail for the summer.
Which means that you don’t have to work 100 hours per week, you won’t get horribly out of shape, and hey, you might actually have fun for a few months.
So it’s not that bad.
But it also won’t put you in a good position for future internships, or for full-time recruiting.
Fortunately, it’s pretty easy to avoid this scenario – even if it’s the last-minute and you don’t appear to have options.
What Went Wrong… Does It Matter?
If you didn’t get a full-time offer, you need to look at what went wrong to plan your next steps: Was it your resume? Your (lack of) networking? Your interview skills?
You can still do this if you’re applying for summer internships… but it’s not as helpful.
A few problems can prevent you from getting summer internships:
- Your GPA, especially at more competitive schools.
- Lack of networking or lack of networking-in-advance.
- Interview skills / resume or too much preparation.
The first 2 are difficult to “fix” on 2-3 months’ notice.
And even if you can “fix” these 2 problems – or even #3 – you can’t get a second chance to prove yourself.
So don’t fall into the trap of analysis paralysis.
What NOT To Do
We’ll start with what not to do, because that’s easier to define.
Nothing
I’ve run across some people who just expect an internship to fall into their laps even if the magic 8-ball points to “no.”
While miracles are possible, don’t hold your breath: the harder you work the more your “luck” will improve.
Study for the CFA / Get Other Certifications
You probably already know my views on the CFA, but just in case…
While studying is a better use of time than doing nothing, that’s like saying that death via the electric chair is better than drowning: you’re dead either way, but one is slightly less terrifying.
The problem with studying or getting certifications over the summer is that you can’t write anything on your resume under “Work Experience” to describe what you did – so you’ll have a big gap on there.
All you’ll get is another 1-2 lines at the bottom of your resume: not a great reward for 500 hours of study time.
If you’re really set on doing these over the summer, you could still do them – but only if you treat them as a side project and you spend the bulk of your time on something that you can actually list as “Work Experience.”
Back Office
If you’re in your 1st or 2nd year in university, the back office isn’t as terrible as some would have you believe – if you can get a middle or back-office role at a well-known bank, that’s much better than a summer spent at Best Buy.
This one gets less attractive if you’re looking for junior year internships, because a back office internship won’t turn heads if you’re trying to move to front-office banking in full-time recruiting.
Filling the Gap: Possible Solutions
So how do you fill the gap, find something worthwhile to do over the summer, and make sure you don’t have a gaping void on your resume?
Delaying Graduation… Again
This is certainly one option – and if you have your heart set on a bulge bracket investment banking summer internship you might want to give it another shot.
But it doesn’t solve our original problem here – what you should do this summer.
So don’t make any decisions until you have summer plans in place – and keep pursuing Plan B options on the side.
If nothing works out, delaying graduation may actually hurt you because banks will say, “So, what did you do last summer? How have you improved since we saw you last time?”
Options Within Finance
If investment banking doesn’t work out, your next best option is something else in finance – sales & trading, prop trading, wealth management, public finance, or corporate finance – to give a few examples.
The only issue here is that many of these also finish summer recruiting the same time that investment banking groups do – so if you didn’t get into investment banking at Morgan Stanley and it’s March, your chances of getting an S&T summer internship there aren’t much better.
The further away you move from large investment banks, the easier it gets to find something else in finance at the last-minute: I’ve been conducting dozens of interviews with readers, and many of them pulled this off against all odds.
How do you find these options?
The same way you find a normal summer internship: job postings at your school (if they exist), alumni networking, and cold-calling, with a focus on smaller places.
Outside of Finance
These options are a notch below the finance ones, but they still beat studying for the CFA or working at Best Buy by a long shot.
In this category, you might think about marketing, sales, or accounting-type roles at “normal” companies, Big 4 firms, or anything else that’s out there.
I’m not going to “rank” any of these because it’s impossible to quantify and because “ranking” is one of my least favorite topics (just after the CFA and GPA rounding).
Just like a lawyer, accountant, or engineer trying to break into finance, you want to get experience that can be spun into sounding relevant.
So if you do accounting at a Big 4 firm, working with financial services companies or helping out with due diligence on transactions is better than auditing Wal-Mart’s 10-K.
At F500 companies it’s still hard to get something at the last-minute, but overall competition is far less than in investment banking.
Keep At It But Adjust Your Focus
You should be doing this no matter what option you decide to pursue – it’s still worth spending at least a few hours per week cold-calling banks and emailing alumni just to see if anything turns up.
If it’s May and you still have nothing, you shouldn’t decide to suddenly spend 80 hours per week cold-calling – at that stage, no amount of effort will produce miracles.
But if you still have a few months left, continuing to network is always worth it.
Go Off the Beaten Path
This is a great idea if you have some time before you start your full-time investment banking job, but it’s not so great if you’re looking for a solid internship.
Banks are biased toward anyone with previous corporate finance experience – so if you’ve done something that looks completely unrelated they’ll be suspicious of you.
If you really want to start your own surf shop or you want to spend the summer climbing mountains, go ahead – but be aware that it’s not much better than the “doing nothing” option in the eyes of investment banks.
This is stupid and unfair because you often do more work and get more responsibility with these options, but that’s just how banks work.
The one exception here: if you can spin this experience into sounding relevant to finance, it may be a good idea. Certain fellowships, study abroad programs, and research opportunities may qualify.
Brand Name vs. Quality Experience
One issue that comes up with all these options is the the brand name of a firm vs. your experience.
Some people think it’s all about brand name, while others say it’s more about the experience you get.
If you’re interested in investment banking (or private equity, or hedge funds…) then you should think about it like this:
For summer internships, brand name within the same role matters more than your exact experience.
So a front-office internship at a boutique will still beat a back-office internship at Goldman Sachs.
But a front-office internship at Goldman would beat a front-office internship at a boutique, even if you work on a dozen deals at the boutique and learn advanced modeling and all you do at GS is fetch coffee for people.
It’s just the way things work: bankers scan resumes very quickly and have a strong bias for brand names and anything that reads “Investment Banking Analyst.”
Attack!
So, what’s your plan of attack?
First, figure out how much time you have left before internships begin and what the lowest-hanging fruit is: Have you already done a lot of networking in one industry? Do you have good contacts at one firm, or are there a lot of alumni in one field of finance?
Then, start reaching out to your contacts in other fields while you continue to spend at least a few hours per week calling and emailing bankers. You can up this if you have a few months left.
If you’re not getting good results, keep broadening your search to consider anything that’s even tangentially related to finance.
And if nothing works out, find something else cool to do and spin it into sounding relevant to finance.
Or you could just work at Best Buy.
(Kidding, don’t do that).
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Hi,
So I’m a junior and I didn’t get an offer from any IBs. I did get an offer from a corporate finance role and am about to interview for some consulting companies. So what’s going to put me in a better position for full-time recruiting? Or should I risk it and keep trying to find an internship with an IB?
I’d continue interviewing with the consulting companies and see how it goes. For FT recruiting, having IB experience will put you in a better position. However, most firms’ recruiting season is over. While I’d suggest you to network and increase your chances of landing an IB internship at a boutique/third/second tier (don’t give up), I’d also interview with other companies because having experience is better than no experience. If you end up getting an offer at the consulting firm, you’ll just have to figure out how to spin that to IB
Hey – I got the Google offer and posted on here but cant seem to find the post anymore. Sorry! Thanks for the reply though.
Everyones telling me to stick to Google and progress my career. But don’t they pay less? Even long term? (this not an extremely important factor – just saying).
I have got previous IBD experience (small boutiques) and this is my first ‘brand name’ internship. People still are telling me to stick to Google long term. Why? Is there something I am missing here?
Also, does it matter where/what I work in division wise so long as its ‘similar to IBD work’ i.e. forecasting, building models, client relationship management and so on? I can do a MBA and move over? Or stick to Google for as long as I live? haha I will never be on the ‘technical’ side e.g. engineering/development so just wanted to know my options as there is not much info about Google out there.
If you have any links/resources/comments please do let me know!
Maybe because the quality of life and the outlook for the industry are more promising though I may be wrong.
Yes, you can always get your MBA after a stint at Google and move back to finance. Having some sort of finance experience at Google, if you want to move into finance, will give you a leg-up when you start looking for roles in the industry.
Thanks for the reply. I agree with the quality of life/industry outlook comment.
The issue with Google is that I’m a little confused what they define as ‘finance’. People are telling me to try for consulting/banking next year as it will give me a broader background for the future. Others are saying Google will open more doors. To be honest, I’m not sure what to do long-term. I will, of course, perform as well as I can during the internship and try and secure the FT offer – but long term I’m not sure whats best for me.
I do want to move around a bit – perhaps move country (ie Google office) – is this possible?
Also I’m in the UK so the MBA route may not be necessary…?
Any further comments are greatly appreciated. :)
Yes moving geographically is possible in Google I believe.
MBA – depends on what you want to do. If you want to break into/progress in VC/PE, yes you will have an advantage having taken the MBA. It doesn’t matter if you’re from UK or not.
Cool – thanks!
So Google London –> Google Mountain View –> MBA –> VC/PE is definitely a plausible route (if I want to leave Google long term)? Is the a better route than IBD –> MBA –> VC/PE or doesn’t it matter?
It’s possible, but I’ll warn you right now that it’s tough to get into PE without having worked full-time in IB first. So I think the Google to MBA route is better for VC than PE (your internship will help a bit, though).
Thanks for the reply!
May I ask what my (realistic) exit opps are after a Google stint in the business strategy/development etc area (and perhaps an MBA) apart from PE? Could I move to a HF? Could I work in IBD and then move to PE? Could I get into ER? Is there anything I ‘cant’ do?
Basically – how do I get a quality salary – but still maintain some sort of work-life balance? Or am I dreaming? lol
As Brian mentioned earlier, you can look at VC roles. You’ll get a quality salary if you break in, and work-life is likely to be better. It may be more challenging for you to break into a HF unless you have experience with the markets/very quantitative. Yes you can still work in IBD then move to PE but your work life balance may not be great. ER – yes you can look at the ER in tech; hours can still be somewhat long.
Cool thanks.
Just wondering – would I be better off getting into a BB/elite boutique for IBD in terms of exit opps then as a graduate? I don’t want to narrow myself to VC early on and ‘get stuck’. Not sure what to do. Please let me know what you think.
It depends on what you want to do with your career. I don’t think you’ll get stuck in VC because I believe there are numerous other options after VC (starting your own company, joining a startup, starting your own fund), and I believe most people in VC love what they do so they probably don’t feel stuck they I may be wrong. If you want work-life balance, I don’t think IBD can offer you that.
I appreciate all the comments – thank you very much! This website helped loads to help me break into Google (loads of ques I was asked were really ‘banking’ style) so I appreciate it :)
Brian,
Just wanted to get your opinion on my decision process for the summer. I am a junior finance major from a non-target school on the west coast that has no investment banking presence whatsoever. I networked hard and made it to final round superday at piper in their NYC office. However, I was extended an offer in their Minneapolis office. NYC is where I ultimately want to be.
2 questions:
1. Should I take this in hope that if I receive a FT offer I can negotiate into the NYC office or possibly use this experience as a means to get a FT offer in NYC with another BB or middle market firm?
2. Do you think it would be advantageous to take the internship over any other options I have since it would be even more difficult to salvage another offer in ibanking as a graduate with no ibanking experience from a non-target school. (assuming I don’t take the offer)
1. Yes, if you don’t have other offers on hand, I’d take this to 1. negotiate into NY office when opportunity presents itself 2. leverage this experience and apply for other banks in NYC
2. Yes, if you want to break into IB and you don’t have other offers on hand right now, I believe it is best to take this offer given your lack of experience and the uncertainty of the markets (unless you are in negotiations with another bank and are close to final stage of discussions)
Hi, I’m currently in my penultimate year in a private university, following a really bad diploma grade in Banking and Finance (way way low GPA, below 2 because I had to retake 2 modules). I have since turned around and have been working really hard in university, but because of my related diploma, I was able to skip a year in my current course of study (Bsc Hons in Econs and Finance). So far, all my job experience has been in marketing and research companies. I have been applying to every single financial institution that I can find here, in Singapore, but we don’t have that many boutique banks/firms that take in summer interns. So far, the only offer for an interview I have had is at SGX, the Singapore Exchange, as either a Corporate Secretarial intern, or a retail sales intern. When you said in your article that a front office position in a boutique bank would be present better than a back office position in a big name firm, would that apply here? There are a couple more smaller firms that I could apply to that deal solely in IB and CF. I am at a complete loss at how I can turn my CV around and get one foot into the Corporate/IB sector. Your advice would be greatly appreciated! Thank you.
That wouldn’t really apply here because SGX is not a bank, and admin/retail sales isn’t the same as MO/BO. I’d look at the smaller firms. To turn your CV around, it will be best if you can gain an internship, paid or unpaid, with a bank/financial institution, in a front office role ideally. I’d also join a finance/investment club.
Hi there, amazing site btw – I’ve spent hours on it helping me through this season’s recruitment.
I’m from the UK, 2nd year undergrad studying Economics and from UCL (I guess it’s a target school, ranked 4th this year) and I’ve applied to over 30 summer internships and have had final rounds/assessment centres for MS, BlackRock, Barclays and ICAP but just no luck unfortunately.
My question is, recruitment seasons almost over coming the end of March now in the UK: what do you think I should do?
I don’t think I can obtain a formal internship at a bank (back or front office) or professional services firm now and I would preferably like to work at a financial firm: my experience contains a lot of non-profit, varied experiences (e.g. microfinance, film directing) already – I believe I need something concretely “finance/investment/market” based this summer to leverage for next season where I’ll be trying again for front office roles at investment banks. Sorry if a similar question has been asked or if the answer is blatantly in front of me.
Thank you for being our customer!
I’m sorry to hear regarding your experience with the banks; keep at it – it takes determination and patience.
Perhaps you can contact boutique banks in UK. Otherwise, given your experience with microfinance and nonprofits, I’d look at the European Investment Bank, social venture or other microfinance funds in Europe – you may find these experiences more interesting.
Thanks for replying!
I’m currently trying to contact boutique banks in the UK. Could you give me more information on how I could look into social ventures in the UK? I’m not exactly wealthy enough to do internships abroad.
You may want to contact the organizations below:
http://www.svneurope.com/
http://evpa.eu.com/
Very sorry for the double post! Was not intended, stupid web script -_-
No worries, please see my response above.
I tried to apply for a summer internship at a middle market firm and sent my resume via email. Guess what happened: The email that I sent bounced back. Maybe they didn’t check off the “delivery of emails from outsiders” restrictions.
Perhaps you can find another email address from a firm’s recruiter? This may help you.
What would be the difference between an internship in corporate finance and an internship in accounting?
Also, what do you think would be easier to spin off relevant experiences from: private accounting or public accounting? I know that in general, public accounting provides much broader experiences, yet I don’t see how tax advisory and auditing is really beneficial when aiming for traditional finance roles in the future.
I have not worked in accounting so I can’t say, but pls refer to http://www.mergersandinquisitions.com/investment-banking-summer-analyst-work/
I am not 100% sure because it depends on what you’ve been doing in private accounting, please refer to http://www.mergersandinquisitions.com/breaking-into-investment-banking-accountant/
I know that submitting resumes online through companies’ websites is basically a blackhole, but what can you say about applying through a university’s online career/job portal without much networking? It’s a non-ivy target (some consider semitarget).
I also asked a question a few weeks ago, on having a gap on my resume due to family reasons and taking time off from school, and Nicole advised that I take on finance courses or projects around my area. It’s a bit hard to describe my situation but for now the best I could think of is to self-study finance (which I am doing). How would I mention this on my resume (I am following your template)?
Because my graduation is delayed, I will be able to do a junior year internship instead of looking straight into full time jobs. So with everything pushed back a year, my resume looks like I’ve had a PWM internship + leadership activity freshman to sophomore year, and then a leave of absence my sophomore year. Would this lack of sophomore internship hurt a lot?
So my problem was I got into the game a little late (didn’t know how to break into banking,non-target school only found this site very recently). I have good grades, but am a junior and don’t have an IB internship. I got an internship last summer on the retail side of a pretty big firm, working for a couple of financial advisers,and am currently working part time there while going to school. I don’t particularly want to build my career as a financial adviser, and somehow want to break into banking, however without a proper internship, I was told this was pretty much impossible. What’s my best bet? Should I attempt to apply for work at boutique banks? Is my current internship/job at all helpful for me? Should I just try to get an associate level position after an MBA?
Networking with boutiques will help. Your current job may not be that relevant if you want to break into IB. An MBA at a target may help you retool yourself. If IB is what you’re interested in, yes that may be a better option. And, if you can network with boutiques and convince them to give you a chance, it may help you get your foot in the door.
http://www.mergersandinquisitions.com/mba-investment-banking/
Hey Brian,
I am Julio. I am spanish and I am in my fourth year of university. In spain, university last for 5 years so I still have one year and 3 months more of university. During this winter I had several interviews with bulge bracket investment banks(GS,MS,CS,Nomura) but because I was making an internship with a spanish bank during the mornings and going to university at afternoons I did not have many time to prepare for the technical part so I did not get to the 2nd round in most of my interviews. In fact I only did the 2nd round at Nomura but didn´t ace it so I didn´t have the chance to do the final round.
Because I really want to work on the M&A department of an Investment Bank, when I finished the internship I decide to study a lot the technical staff and ended finding your web. After 1 week I decided to sign up for BIWS Premium and I will sign up for the new Excel course you just mentioned yesterday and probably for oil and gas modelling course.
I am having a lot of exams and study cases so I don´t have many time and I will probably finish the course during the summer.I am going to make a 3 day course about M&A at Instituto de Empresa (Nº1 Business School in Europe according to FT).I know your course is better, but the teachers of that course at IE have a good background at Investment Banking so I think might be good. I have received a summer internship offer from the Spanish Central Bank and I am going to take it. I am telling you that not to try to impress, just because I am not sure if I am in the right way to receive a full time offer at an Investment Bank next year or if you think that I should make a Master in Finance in a good business school to get an offer.
Thank you very much for your time and appreciate your advice,
Julio
Julio, thank you for your comment and for signing up for BIWS Premium! We are deeply honored that you find our course valuable. In-person training have their value, and we are glad you found a training that suits you. The summer internship may help you, though you will be competing against people who have had IB experience. Since you don’t have any IB offers on hand now, perhaps you can make the most out of this internship and use it to break into IB in your final year. If you don’t break into IB your final year, a Masters/MBA may help:
http://www.mergersandinquisitions.com/degrees-certifications/
http://www.mergersandinquisitions.com/investment-banking-masters-programs/
Hi, I am in a very weird situation. I’m majoring in Economics and Math right now with an expected 3.5 at the end of this semester (3.9 in both majors). I’m at a non-target school and I’m currently a sophomore. I’m still waiting to hear back from a bank for a finance internship (it isn’t bulge bracket but it is well known). Nevertheless, my issue lies down the road. I plan on going for a master’s program in India two study philosophy because it’s something i’ve wanted to do for a very long time. It’s a once in a life time thing (literally – you can only apply once you complete undergraduate studies, before you are 23 and you can apply only once. It’s extremely selective). I want to go into investment banking after I return from there so what do you suggest I do?
I’m on a path to finish a semester early (unless I can get an internship during the next spring semester at a bank. In that case I plan on strengthening my resume for junior year recruiting). If I don’t get that internship, I will finish a semester early and hopefully start working and either i’ll be in India or ill continue working once june/july swings around. What can I do? Would you recommend working after finishing a semester early or try to shoot for a bulge bracket internship for the junior year? Also, what do you suggest I could do once I get back? Network with alumni and apply to boutiques i’m assuming. There are summer breaks during that program (I think) and I could apply for internships then as well. Sorry for the wordy post but I just wanted you to have a complete understanding of the situation so you can better answer the question (and not waste your time).
Hi
I will be a junior in the upcoming fall semester, but I was not able to get an IB internship. There were several reasons to this – I did not know I wanted to do IB until a few months ago and even then, was clueless of how I would break in. I also live in a rural area so I could not find boutiques or any major firms around home, where I would be for the summer.
Last summer, I did a PWM internship at a prestigious/name brand firm. This summer, I do not have an IB internship but I did find a HR operations internship at a tech firm. HR internships don’t really involve much quantitative thinking (or other IB related skills) but I thought it would be better than nothing. Do you think having this on my resume will be any plus at all, or will it be a waste of my time?
Yes, it would be better than having nothing on your resume. If there’s anything you’ve done which is finance related/shows your analytical skills, perhaps you can list than on there.
Hi,
I’m currently a junior at a non-ivy target school with a decent, but not stellar GPA (Over 3.5). I was unable to secure an investment banking summer analyst offer and am working in commercial banking this summer. How do you think this experience will position me for full-time recruiting if I wish to secure a FO position in DCM, Research, or IB?
What steps do you recommend I take over the summer so I can hit the ground running when FT recruiting starts?
I really appreciate the advice
I don’t think it is directly relevant. I’d suggest you to network a lot and start reaching out to people before FT recruiting starts to have a head start.
Just been offered a 1-month summer internship at a bulge brakcet (Im a first year). I applied for the investment banking division but the contract says human resources. I really want a front office position, should I politely email them enquiring or just leave it?
Thanks,
Michael
Yes you’ll most likely being in HR vs IB if this is stated on the contract. I’d suggest you to gently ask your contact at the bank if you’ll be assisting HR vs IB. If they say yes you’ll be in HR, I’d probably leave it as is because you’re only a first year and you still have 2 summers for IB roles!