Uh, oh. You didn’t get a summer internship offer.

The Bankers have come to your campus, conducted their interviews and finished recruiting.

Uh oh. You didn’t get an offer. 

Not only did you not get an offer at a Bulge Bracket bank, you didn’t even get an offer at the small boutique you had never heard of but decided to take the interview anyway. Yikes!

Now what?

Post-mortem

After weeks of feeling confident that your IB interviews at MS, GS, CSFB, and BofA, would pay off, the honeymoon has come to an end. You got dinged. Super dinged. Welcome to reality. 

The good news is at least you got an interview. Several of your peers didn’t even make the first cut. So congrats on that. 

BUT…if you didn’t get an offer, you need to look at what went wrong so that you don’t repeat the same mistakes. Was it your resume? Your (lack of) networking? Your interview skills? 

Here are a few well-known roadblocks that can prevent you from landing a summer internship:

• Low GPA, especially at more competitive schools. Your 3.1 GPA at Dartmouth is not looked on as favorably as her 3.9 GPA from State U.

• Bad interviewing skills.

• Not clearly explaining your lifelong desire to work in investment banking.

• Not showing enough love and deference to the firms where you interviewed.

• Did I mention bad interviewing skills?

• Overconfidence? How much did you tailor your pitch to each firm? How much did you prepare?

• Non-quantitative? Most bankers are not impressed that you took AP Calc in high school. Did you know that they offer math, finance, and statistics at most colleges? If you haven’t already done it,  think about enrolling in some of those classes.

• Again, how much did you really prepare? Did you do your due diligence on the firm? Recent deals closed? Announced strategic initiatives? (Go back to bullet 4 and show the love).

• Lack of networking. Awkward asks and interactions. Are you too pushy? Are you not reaching out at all?

• Smug and generally annoying. Did you brag about having an interview at Goldman Sachs? Guess what, no one cares. 

How Can Prospect Rock Partners Help?

We understand the financial recruiting landscape and have extensive experience working with hiring managers at Bulge bracket banks, Elite Boutiques and Private Equity firms. We can help you pinpoint what went wrong and help you course correct so that it doesn’t happen again.

Prospect Rock Partners Services

• Clean-up, reformat and retarget your resume so that you can secure more interviews
• Linkedin profile analysis
• Sample mock interview questions
• Sample technical interview questions
• Target Company recommendations
• Target Company Prep Exercises
• Mock-interviews
• General guidance and support

We know the banks and know what they are looking for. With our guidance and support we will help you navigate this ultra-competitive job market and land your dream role.