"You've got good grades, the right major, interesting and relevant work experience and extracurriculars, but your CV looks a lot like all the other CVs in this pile".
- My career advisor in Sophomore year of university, when I expressed interest in investment banking
It was true. I had good grades, was a finance major and was a member of the faculty's Investment Club in addition to holding a leadership position at a student-run non-for-profit.
But I didn't make the ranks of those with a 3.9 or 4.0, who's CVs were usually picked up first. My work experience, although in the financial services industry, had nothing to do with investment banking, corporate finance or the financial markets. Furthermore, I did not hold an executive position at my faculty's investment club, as I preferred engaging in various projects while still in university.
But most importantly, I was attending a Canadian semi-target university as a non-US international student. With the important supply of quality candidates, banks in Canada and the US often lean towards students that check all the boxes. One of those boxes obviously being practicality, and thus, Visa clearance.
"You've got to find an edge, something to differentiate yourself from the other candidates. Find a niche where you can excel, your own comparative advantage".
Although this might sound obvious, my advisor's advice changed my way of approaching investment banking recruitment.
I took a good look at myself and my peers and realized that proportionally, there weren't a lot of competitive Europeans with language skills in the finance program of my Canadian university. I decided to focus my efforts on London, UK.
This meant applying for an exchange semester at one of the best business schools in the old continent (which coincidentally was near my hometown) for next Fall, networking intensively with London-based professionals during my summer stint in The City, and also reshaping my CVs and cover letters to highlight my multicultural background and experience.
This was a long shot, not to mention a big personal investment, but it worked -- I will be joining a top EB in London this summer.
And now, it's your turn to take a good look at who you are and what you have to offer. It can be anything, as long as it's relevant and useful to the position you're gunning for.
General Guidelines: Finding & Exploiting Your Comparative Advantage
- Identify what makes you an outlier amongst your peers (i.e: origins, skills, education...)
- Rebrand yourself through your CVs and cover letters to highlight and focus on this characteristic
- Join organizations, clubs or activities that will increase the weight of your differentiating factor
- Reach out to professionals that are linked to your differentiating factor and use it as a mean to break the ice (i.e: location, group, origins...)
Are you studying Computer Science on the side, or at school? Figure out which banks are having a high deal flow in their TMT teams and brand yourself as someone that can not only put together a pitch book and spread comps, but that can also understand the specifics of the companies you'd be working on.
Are you an international student at a good university with the hopes of making it big on Wall Street, Bay Street or in The City? Maybe it's time to refocus yourself on your homeland and show them what you learned from your professors and peers at that prestigious western university you went to. You can always figure out a way to move to the city of your dreams once you have a couple years of experience in the industry.
Are your parents in real estate? Great. Try to express how much the exposure to the industry sparked your interest for property deals and reach out to as many RE bankers as you can. Chances are, maybe you can try to get a part-time internship at your parents' business to seal the deal.
These are just examples, but the concept is applicable to many things. And yes, the tall, charismatic and handsome American kid, president of the Investment Club and on the Dean's List will still get that well-deserved MS M&A stint, but that doesn't mean there's no room for you too.
Now show them what you're made of.