Career advice

bleadingheart · August 13

Our son just graduated from oxbridge. He studied math and thinking of working in investment banking or tech industry. The problem is he only did internship one summer in AI. He is tech savy and doing a certificate course to update his analytical skills at the local university. He is applying for jobs now but I have a feeling the IB industry is looking for undergrads with internship experience. Could someone please advice the best way to land on an entry level job in a large firm where he can learn the ropes. Thanks.

blossom · August 13

Where does he live right now? US citizen? Did he participate at all in campus recruiting which is how most young grads get hired? One internship is fine, did he get an offer from that company to return as a full time employee (which is how many young grads get launched)?

bleadingheart · August 13

He is back in US. US citizen. The place where he interned had all PHds, so no chance of going there. He didn't participate in campus recruiting which is done only in senior year and he can't work there after graduation.

OHMomof2 · August 14

He may still qualify for many bank/tech campus"programs, often they want recent grads (2018+ or whatever) as well as those recruited before they graduate.

Any college career center software like Handshake he should be registered for, have resume on, and looking at jobs posted there? Does he have a Linkedin account with all his professional info and made it open to recruiters? Has he searched for campus programs that interest him to see if he can apply?

Finally, there have to be some Oxbridge alumni working in the US he might reach out to? Via college directory or similar?

Publisher · August 14

IB firms hire mostly from their internship programs.

Agree that best option is to contact alumni from his university who currently work in IB.

blossom · August 14

Where in the US is he living now?

And by "work there" I assume you mean the UK-- but the IBank's recruit globally. He needs to get in touch with the recruiting team's contact at each bank that participates in on-campus recruiting at his university, and ask them to forward his resume to their US counterpart.

He needs to hustle, or else he'll be put into the 2020 pool. And with talk of a recession, hiring targets for 2020 are likely to be flat or down, so the firms aren't caught the way they were in October of 2008....

If he isn't 100% sold on banking, he can launch a job search like any other "soon to launch" grad across a number of industries- lots of companies like to hire new grads with strong math and analytical skills. So he needs to cast a wide net- Insurance, Airlines, Credit Card and consumer banking, Energy. Getting on Linkedin to network with recent grads of his university, as well as more established alums is going to be more efficient than responding to random job postings.

bleadingheart · August 14

Good info. Thanks. He is enrolled in a certificate program at the local university where he will have access to career center.

blossom · August 14

He can't wait until he finishes the certificate program- he needs to hustle. The first "resume drops" at US colleges will be happening in a few weeks, which is what kicks off the hiring process for seniors (and for juniors interviewing for internships) so he needs to move.....

bleadingheart · August 14

He is registered in linkedin and AfterCollege. Also looking at jobs at tech industry. UK college career services are not as helpful as in US. Asking to forward a resume to us is a long shot. Will try the alumni contacts. Thanks again for your time.

OHMomof2 · August 14

Some googling can help too. Some banks/fintech take in new "classes" of recent grads every 6 months. Some companies only 1x a year, some more often.

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