eFinancialCareers

Meera Judge, 280 days ago

It is a difficult environment at the moment. You have said you have poor alevel grades, indirectly stated you have poor first year results. This means you have nothing really going for you. My advice, aim for a first, do a msc at reading (easy for you to get into) and don't really bother applying now. You have no chance. I work in the industry and its a dog eat dog world.

Anon, 282 days ago

Bear in mind that these banks look for the best of the best and even Oxbridge students with straight A's from the start are finding it tough to break into IB in the current climate. Furthermore, a number of banks will have minimum requirements such as A Level grades and target universities. Most banks will also ask for your module marks to date. I'm personally a fan of the aim high and see where you land philosophy, but bear in mind the odds are firmly stacked against you. I would certainly consider trying to get work experience with other, smaller FS firms in order to maximise chances of getting anything at all. Calling up departments personally is probably your best bet as your application is likely to be auto-rejected if you fail to meet minimum requirements. Good luck.

Success100, 284 days ago

Thank you for advice George Trower. With regards to the CFA that's something I can only really apply for either in my last year of my degree or soon thereafter. So you believe that taking a professional qualification this summer is not particularly necessary in order for my application to stand out?

GeorgeTrower, Sales & Marketing, 284 days ago

The bad news is that you are entering one of the worst graduate recruitment markets in a long time and jobs and internships are extremely hard to come by. It does not help that you are not coming from a name university, but you can massively help yourself if you put yourself in contention for a first class degree regardless of which kind of job you are after as that will mitigate the A-levels issue. Operations is easier than the front office to get into but you can also look for front office roles in smaller less prestigious firms e.g. brokerages and get front office experience there and seek to trade that in for a role at one of the big banks down the line. I would also worry a little about taking an operations focused qualification although you need not declare it if you want to pitch yourself elsewhere. For front office suggest you look at the CFA.