Current rising senior international student at a non-target. School is visited by two BBs for general IBD interviews and a few BB group-specific IBD alumni.
Last summer I interned at a top BB in Asia, but return offer rates are only around 40% and I was, unfortunately, part of the 60%. I definitely should not have asked if it would be possible to interview for a U.S. office later, before the internship ended.
This past recruiting season was rough, and I have learned from my mistakes when I was lucky enough to have an interview. Many times I did not even make it past the resume screen for some reason. I need visa sponsorship as I really would like to stay in the U.S, and so I am somewhat limited in the firms I target.
For now, I will be doing PWM at a very small regional firm as I kept trying for banking until most opportunities were gone. Right now I plan on:
1. Try and get a US IBD FT offer at a BB/EB
2. Try and get a IBD FT offer in my home country
3. If I haven't gotten an offer by October, I will go with the Big 4
I want to start networking for FT, but how can I make a logical story of top BB IBD -> PWM -> IBD? I feel very comfortably technically. Should I openly state this in my initial emails? I don't know how to get the analysts/associates I am emailing to give me a chance instead of assuming I'm not good enough after seeing my background. Any help appreciated, thanks.