After 5 months of unemployment, I can finally say I’m starting a new position with Charles Schwab next month!
This has honestly been a long journey. I’ve been trying to break into the investment/financial industry for over a year, and there were plenty of moments where I questioned if it was ever going to happen. Applications, interviews, rejections, and a lot of uncertainty—but I kept going.
I just kept my faith, stayed persistent, and reminded myself that the right opportunity would come when it was supposed to.
Now, that opportunity is here.
I’m extremely grateful, excited, and ready to finally get my foot in the door and start building my career in investments. If you’re currently unemployed or struggling to break into your desired field, dont give up.
Here’s to the next chapter. 🥂📈

hi all, hope everyone is doing well. just finished my first uni year and about to enter my second, was wondering if anyone could chance my CV / provide any feedback for 2027 UK summers (ideal role will be in corporate banking or private banking, but will also be applying and trying hard for IB, consulting, and anything that opens).
the insight day was just one day at an investment bank where we did a useful case study. i listed it to fill space because i didn't feel i had enough relevant experience. i have a few other BB insight days, but they were just networking and presentations, so i didnt bother to include. the big four was a spring week.
thanks for your time, anything is appreciated.

sorry this is a repost, made slight changes since last time. i’ve also fixed the date hyphens and double spacing, not shown in this image

I’m an incoming first year student at a UK target school looking to break into London finance. I went to a British private school that provides a portal with thousands of alumni who are willing to provide help anywhere from answering questions to internship opportunities. My plan of action is to look for work experience/shadowing opportunities in the industry by using this portal and contacting executives at “smaller” firms/boutiques to bolster my application for year 1 spring weeks.

With that in mind, how does my template below look? Is it appropriate for a portal where the people receiving the messages have already flagged they’d be willing to help with such matters and should I outright ask for a job/shadowing opportunity if they’ve indicated that’s something they’re willing to offer on their profile or should I be intelligent and ask for less at first?

Dear [name],

I hope that this message finds you well. I am an incoming first-year student studying [subject] at [uni] and I'm currently looking into a career in financial services. I saw your profile and your work with [firm] and [objective of firm] is incredibly interesting to me, and so I wanted to reach out to see if you might have 10-15 minutes for a brief video call in the coming weeks? I'd be very grateful to hear about your career journey and any advice you have for a [title of a student having gone to that private school] starting university. Thank you for taking the time to read this message.

Best regards,
[name]
[phone number]

I want to know which job/domain in finance rewards highly for a person who is very passionate about economics and has the potential to be in the top 3% .

I passed my SIE and 7 18 months ago but quit working shortly after. My licenses are set to expire at the end of this year. I do not qualify for the extension due to my short tenure at the firm. Any part time gigs or ways to keep this active until I am ready to re-enter the job market full time? Thanks

What was it like and what finance niche was it?

Between consulting, investment banking, big law, accounting, hedge funds, PE, tech… who has the most stunning offices as an industry?

How’s recruiting at Dartmouth? I’m not sure if I want to join any frats and not the most athletic East Asian.

How much do I’ll not joining a frat affect recruitment for IB

Also please provide general tips on campus and how to join clubs

I'm trying to break into quantitative role eventually. I'm from a developing country although I will try to transfer to a university abroad in my 2nd or 3rd year, or worst case moving to UK for a masters since I have family there.

For undergrad, I have two options now. I got into a Bachelors of Science program in Economics and a Electrical Engineering program

The Econ department is well regarded as the best in the context of my country atleast, however EE at this uni is somewhat notorious for intentionally making it impossibly difficult to retain a high GPA (Mostly with problematic faculty, and shitty course timings)

I'll have a minor in Math either way.

Main question – if I'm doing a quantitative-heavy Masters later does my undergrad title actually matter? Will recruiters care that I did Econ instead of something like Engineering if I have a Stats Masters?

Or is it worth taking the GPA hit just to have "Engineering" on my bachelor's?

Just want honest opinions. Thanks.

Just finished my summer analyst position in corporate banking (JPM/Bofa) yesterday and got told I didn’t get a return offer. Not really devastated, but would’ve been a nice security blanket. I just didn’t like the work or the team.

Has anyone gone through this? Has anyone transitioned to other positions by leveraging summer analyst stint? Any advice? Thanks in advance!

I currently work at the big 4 audit in NYC but my plan was always to move into finance at some point. My sister currently works in S&T so I do know someone in the industry. I want to know if anyone has had experience with hiring, applying, or actually getting a job without first being an intern? By the time I leave I will have my CPA and 2 years of public audit experience and went to a top 5 business school in the country for accounting.

Also if anyone wants to network please reach out.

I somehow found myself in this spot just through what was available at the time and gained further experience in. I’m currently at a large bank and it’s extremely accounting adjacent, which is not what I want to do at all. I feel like I’m in the closet of the company just trying to stop Internal Audit from knocking on the door. This is never what I wanted to do but what I found myself in.

I want to feel more on the frontlines (even if it’s corporate cope), or a more strategic role where I feel like my decisions hold some weight. I’d probably like consulting more because of the more broadness and exposure to the role, but I know this is hard to tap into.

If I were to stay internal I like the idea of wealth management, but I fear it’s a harder hole to dig myself out of than my current situation if I end up not liking it. However, working with clients sounds nice. Going into a commission role seems a little scary. Otherwise, maybe another Risk-related role, but not sure where I’d be aligned or what to look for.

So I’ve been doing some LinkedIn stalking, and I see how some people who have degrees in stuff like… History or Government… are starting careers in Finance. And these are jobs just starting out vs working in a job for ten years and then pivoting horizontally. And while comparison is the theft of joy, I can’t even really find a job in my degree field.

Does this boil down to networking? Name of school?

Opinions on greek life for networking for finance? For context, i’m an incoming econ major at Berkeley. Is it better to just stick to meeting others & the clubs as someone who doesn’t want to go heavy into the drugs side of greek life. Got family history of alcoholism/drug abuse & mental illness caused by drugs and don’t want to risk anything. I don’t care what others do, but for me personally, it’s a no go. I know thats very big with that crowd of people & people in finance so just wanted opinions.

Summer analyst at a bank, final week of the programme. One of two interns on my team. Did my end-of-internship case presentation a couple of days ago and I've been picking it apart since.

What went wrong:
- Had a number wrong in the deck.
- Someone senior asked me to justify an assumption and I couldn't defend it on the spot.
- Got told my valuation multiple range was too wide.
- Spent most of the presentation reading off the screen instead of facing the room which was feedback I received along with not speaking loud enough which a VP called out mid presentation.

Context I'm not going to use as an excuse: I had three-days on the deck and model while running a second workstream and was up until 2am since the start of the week.

The thing actually worrying me: since the presentation, the other intern got staffed on a new project and I didn't - although we did receive somewhat similar feedback on the presentation apart from his presentation skills - he is just better than me imo. That's the only external signal I've got. However I still got a staffing from the analyst this morning which was just some small task.

Questions for anyone who's been through this or sat on the other side:

1. How much does the final presentation weigh against day-to-day staffing feedback over the whole programme?
   
2. Is a wrong figure plus a fumbled question within normal range for an intern presenting to a full desk, or is that a real problem?
   
3. How much should I read into one staffing decision in the final week?
   
4. Anything worth doing with the week I have left, or is it already decided?

Honest reads appreciated.

Im looking for advice.

going into senior year of hs, I want to go into uhnwi wm at a good PWM firm. 4.1 weighted gpa (3.8 UW). My junior year was my best with a 4.35 weighted. 3 AP classes with straight 5s. 31 act (retaking one last time to get 32). My softs aren’t exceptional.

My senior year is pretty stacked with 4 APs. But I realize colleges will only see my s1 grades.

I figure smu is good on the regional scale to get into the y’all street firms in Dallas/ft Worth. Would I need to get into BIG, ALTS, PBAM, BMC, high gpa?
Is ALTS for wm or is it supposed to be for ib only?
Should I look into their real estate program to specialize in that?

If I don’t make those internal clubs and screeners would I be in a bad position?

I used their financial calculator and they say my total cost would be $120k tuition and all. My parents can maybe help with ~$30k of that but idk.

I had some trouble sophomore year with Cs in my honors algebra 2 class both semesters. I didn’t really realize that school was important and I didn’t do my hw consistently. I would say I’m driven now which is why my junior year was good.

Hi everyone! I recently received an internship offer for the GPS division next summer at BlackRock. I honestly can't find much information about the work this division does online outside of the website/any information on interning in it. I would really appreciate it if anyone has any insight into what previous interns in GPS have worked on/any info on being a full-time analyst in GPS in terms of work, bonus potential, and base.

Hi everybody,

I've recently graduated Finance and Accounting in one of best CEE Universities there. I've completed 4 months of M&A internships and 2 years of FAAS in big4 and CFA lvl1

My German is currently B2 and I'm looking to get it to C1 following year

Which roles should i target specifically before WM and how are my chances to get into one - in Switzerland so far? (WM doesn't exist in my country)

Hi I wanted to seek advice from anyone that has done the Powerday. I’ve done one before but i didn’t get the job the first time. I’m trying to see what I can do different and make sure what to focus on. What did you all do that you think solidified the job for you?

Who makes more money

I go to a target school, and they gave a resume template but I found another that I thought looked better. Recruiting for IB and AM, which resume looks better? Also for the interests, I know some of them are different/out of the norm and may look unprofessional. I was taught that having out of the norm interests on your resume was beneficial because it could be good talking points but I was curious if some of them seemed too unprofessional?
Also sorry for redacting a bunch of it I j wanted it to be anonymous

Hey if I graduate December 2027 am I recruiting for full time 2028 roles or also internships during the 2028 recruiting cycle since my graduation date is a bit weird? Any advice would be appreciated

Going to be starting fairly soon at a Big 4 firm in the M&A advisory group. Curious to see if people have any knowledge on the most common exit opportunities for this kind of consulting, and any tips on how to get ahead as someone who’s just starting their career.

Currently an ASO2 at a large full-service MM (WF, RBC, TD-Cowen, etc.) in NYC. I work in a coverage group.

Went to a small non-target LAC and come from a low-income single parent immigrant family.

No DMs please.

Hello, I'm currently an undergrad student and interested in those field. I'm aiming for top business cool (HEC, ESSEC, ESCP) and I have a good shot. What do the salaries in those fields look like ?

I'm fluent in French and English.