Can anyone help or reassure me? I am a student and I have been looking for a job in banking but despite what seem like hundreds of applications I have nothing lined up. Now I fear that I won’t even get a good degree as I’ve wasted so much time on these application forms and stupid games. What do I do if I graduate with no degree? It’s not a possibility for me to move back with my folks. Please offer serious advice
3 Likes
Sorry to hear this. At this stage focus on your degree. Life is long. Things will change
3 Likes
I’m sorry to hear it, friend.
FWIW - assuming you are in the UK - if you have at least a 2:1, you are safely on track for lots of grad schemes, at places that might not even cross your mind right now, such as BP or Shell or Glencore or something like that.
And, truth be told, finance isn’t for everyone. It’s not for me. Funnily enough, it’s not for most people who work in finance. It very well might not be for you, either, and God is saving you from some inevitable stress and pain this early on.
2 Likes
Pains me to to say but the hundreds of applications must continue. If you’re optimizing everything by hand, use AI to save yourself some time (it might hurt your chances on a job by job basis but will allow you to apply for plenty more jobs and overall improve your odds of landing an interview).
Also, since you haven’t said much about your networking efforts, I have to assume you’ve been lacking in that regard. Reach out to as many people as you can and try to build good relationships. At the least you’ll get a decent reference/referral on your CV (which goes a long way), at best they can direct you towards opportunities that you’ll be a perfect fit for.
2 Likes
As someone chronically bad at networking, how do you “reach out and build relationships”? Surely not many people on LinkedIn would fancy a long chat with a stranger who intends to ask for a referral (sooner or later).
2 Likes
Being a friendly and approachable person who makes the effort to maintain relationships is 99% of the work tbh. I think these people who purposefully try to network are low-key psychopaths
1 Like
Sadly it’s a volume game. There are people out there who really would fancy a chat but you have to ask as many people as possible to unearth them.
Your best bet is to find people with common ground. University alumni networks are a great starting place, hence why so many people come from target schools, but you can also look for people from your secondary school or maybe look for secondary connections to your close friends where applicable. In the lattermost case you might then also be able to get your friend to help organize a meeting.
I’d also note that, when connecting to these people on linkedin, make sure to use the add a note function for the people you want to speak to most. Don’t ask for anything at that point, but highlight your common ground or anything else interesting you’ve noticed about them.
1 Like
I agree with all of the above. I’d also keep an eye out for networking events or if people you’re interested in connecting to are holding talks in your city.
1 Like
Thank you for all this advice everyone. I have messaged as many people as I can on LinkedIn and asked for coffee meetings but everyone has ignored me and now I have run out of free messages
1 Like
You are not alone in feeling this pressure and I feel really sorry for fresh graduates.
Shall we start a movement asking government to cancel 100% or 50% of student debt?
2 Likes
Nowadays, if you want to land a position at banking & finance, you need to kick off at sales, then business development positions, they won’t hire fresh grads unless you outstand at your Uni scores. This scenario is the same globally. Banks sent me invitations prior to my graduation many years ago.
1 Like
Bigger contest also’’’ /
This is a basic city feeling/
Please clarify
1 Like
I feel like, once you’re earning enough money that student loan repayments meaningfully eat into your income, you should have more than enough money to sustain a good lifestyle. I don’t expect I’ll ever fully repay mine.
I’d prefer if they increased funding for scholarship programs for underprivileged people since they’re the ones that really need that extra cash to build up long-term wealth.
Parents need to learn how to be generous these days. It would make much more sense for them to take on the debt than their children, financially…