Long time lurker, first time posting.

Just want to make myself known and thank everyone on here for endless knowledge and some cynical laughs over my last few years reading this forum. I have made the first crack in the egg and will be working on a sales desk for the summer. Here's a quick summary of how far I've come, thanks in no small part to you guys:

• shitty high school results, non-target uni, strong uni GPA but in the 'less prestigious' econ/fin/acc related major at my school (thanks to my HS grades), virtually no extracurriculars/sports/achievements to speak of. I also recruited to a city that is outside of my home country.
• 2nd year: applied for middle and front officeinternships. zero traction. not even a rejection in most cases.
• 3rd year: tried again, got to final round for a middle office, but no love. ended up at a regional firm working in research
• 4th year: tried again. gave it everything I had, tried to learn from my mistakes, and just received an offer at my desk and bank of choice . they have a good reputation on the street (or so i'm told), and got along super well with the team. couldn't be happier.

I get nervous posting on here since I feel like i'm giving too much away, but I wanted to share my story to show that although it can happen to anybody, it won't without time, consistent effort and plenty of failure. I recently looked back at my resume from last year and was shocked at how poorly formatted it was, for example. What a simple thing to completely mess up! Let's not even mention the improvement in my networking game and general knowledge of the markets.

If there's demand, I'll do another post when I have some more time to go in to a little more detail as to how I prepared for applications/interview/networking, but as I said I'm conscious of revealing my identity, given my somewhat unusual credentials..

Any specific questions feel free to PM and I'll share what little knowledge I have.

is this right sentence "My answer might sound Discourage", if not please correct me if any thing wrong

Hey everyone. The ink has just barely dried on my accepted offer to join a boutique private equity firm as an analyst, but I think now is a better time than any to tell you how I made the jump to private equity from a VERY non-target background.

A little bit about me: I graduated from a Canadian university with a finance degree from a relatively unknown business program (I was in the third class of graduates ever), had ho-hum grades and no relevant internships. I was pretty keen on becoming an analyst at an investment bank, but with almost no alumni network and an extremely rigid hiring process, I took the advice of my dean and began targeting commercial banks as he thought it was "a good place to start".

After interviewing with a few banks, I accepted an offer to start an 18-month training program, which upon completion, would result in a promotion to the position of account manager, commercial banking which entailed managing a portfolio, prospecting for new business, and underwriting new deals for my own deals as well as for senior bankers. I've been in that role for 18 months, and have passed all three levels of the CFA program and will be eligible for the charter with another year of work experience.

What I learned:

1) Non Traditional Backgrounds.

If you're coming from a non-traditional background, you're going to have to do something exceptional to get noticed.The truth of the matter is that for every great opportunity, there are a ton of good applicants vying for it along with you who probably fit the traditional requirements better than you do. You can either use this as an excuse and give up, or you can sack up and do something that shows an employer that you're willing to go above and beyond for you and the company you work for. For me, passing all three levels of the CFA program was huge here. Passing every level on my first attempt was icing on the cake.

2) Be honest about your weaknesses.

If you're coming from a non-traditional background, there's a good chance that your on-the-job skills aren't going to be enough to get you the job you want. Case in point, my current role requires absolutely no modelling to succeed, but the bare minimum skill for any analyst/associate role at a private equity firm is good modelling skills. To offset my weakness, I took the Wall Street Prep program (more accurately, re-took it after going through it during my senior year) and got comfortable with all the main models. I then went a step further and started modelling companies of interest.

I've probably done close to 20 models on my own now and this really came in handy as the application process for the analyst role involved building an lbo model and writing a deal summary. Supposedly there were over 100 applicants for the role so the fact that my self-taught modelling got me through was a huge boost to my technical confidence! Also, having reviewed WSO's PE interview prep pack, I think it offers good insight for someone looking to break into the field from outside traditional routes and feel comfortable with LBO modelling tests.

3) Network.

I don't know how many times I keep reading this in success stories, but I'll reiterate this point - YOU HAVE TO NETWORK!!! It's hard enough picking a resume out of a pile of good applicants, but it's next to impossible your resume will get picked up with a non-traditional background. Pretty much the only way to get your 'out-of-the-box' resume in the shortlist is for someone at the firm to have met you and vouch for you. Honestly, this can often be the hardest part of the process; just getting yourself to the interview stage. So instead of letting this be the hard part of the process, do the hard work before. Pound the pavement, email people, go for coffee. You'd be surprised at how generous other people are with their time and how willing people can be to help you out. Just don't abuse the basic human kindness that a lot of finance professionals have.

4) Patience.

If you've done the first three and things just aren't clicking, be patient! I don't know how many times I looked at all of the things I was doing, or heard "you're doing all the right things" from someone I had gone for coffee with and thought to myself "are things ever going to change?" To be honest, I think it's probably harder to stay motivated when it seems like you're doing all the right things but you're not getting any success. But you have to persevere! As your network grows, people you've never met will start hearing about you, your network will refer you jobs, you'll hear about unposted opportunities (seriously, some firms just hate going through the formal hiring process because they think it takes too much time), etc. So keep your skills sharp, stay in touch with your existing contacts regularly, and sometimes the opportunity will come to you.

5) Power of prayer.

For me, this was the most important aspect of the process, but I wouldn't be surprised if many of you ignore this part or think it's BS. I'm a Christian, so as much as it's easy to reduce my success to things that I've done, I know for a fact that my relationship with God is the biggest explanation for getting me to where I am. Case in point: for the role that I ultimately got, I was referred by three (!!!) private equity professionals to the same position. I sent an email to the guy hiring, made sure to do some name dropping about the referral, etc. Just as I was thinking that this role wasn't going to work out, I attended a local CFA society networking event.

The night before the event, I prayed and asked God to have me meet someone at the event who would help me find a new role. At the event, I ended up running into one of my contacts I had met for coffee previously. We sat at the same table and he asked me about the position he had referred me to and I told him how it was going. Anyways, this guy mentioned that he knew the person looking to hire an analyst (who I had previously emailed) was coming to the event and got him to sit next to me for the entire evening. I ended up getting the equivalent of a first round interview just by sitting next to the guy! (and he admitted my resume didn't make it through his filtering process) Needless to say, it's impossible for me to think that what happened was just a coincidence (it certainly wasn't the first time this happened either!)

All in all, I'm beyond thrilled to be taking the next step in my career, and I hope my story helps you make a change as well!

Feel free to ask me questions in this thread or via private message.

Mod Note (Andy) - Throwback Thursday, this post originally went up 1/25/2015.

I have been a long time lurker and recent poster here, I have got so much from this community, I can say I would not have done it without you so I think it is time to give something back. I am sure you heard stories like min but I hope this can be inspirational to some of you.

I come from a very low-income family in continental Europe (I am not afraid to say my family cannot make it till the end of the month). I was the first to ever attend university, I got a BSc in Finance with top grades from my hometown university because it was the only place where I could afford to study and I made it thanks to the scholarships my university paid and to my work as a tutor. Starting in university I had no target job, but towards the end of my bachelor watching some finance movies I got interested into M&A and PE. So I looked at some MSc, got a good GMAT and got admission into some top schools in the UK. Sadly, I did not attend because I did not find a way to pay the tuition.

It was heartbreaking because I thought going to a top school was the only way to get an M&A job at a BB so I spent some weeks crying (I know it sounds stupid).I decided to defer my offer with the plan to work for a year, make money and then attend the MSc. I applied to all jobs on BB job boards, I spent 3 months checking their websites day and night and networking. In the end I got a 6 month BO internship at BB, I accepted the offer because it was a good way to make money and add a good brand on my cv. While interning I was still applying to M&A jobs in the UK, through networking I got some interviews but no offer, I kept applying but nothing was working out and in the end I spent 1 year unemployed.

That time spent unemployed made me feel useless and depressed like I had no purpose on this world, in the meantime I took level 1 of the CFA and I decided to apply to M&A jobs in my country and thanks to some luck I got an analyst job at a small unknown boutique. The pay was rather low, I could barely make it till the end of the month but I was happy to finally work again. My plan was to work sometime there and then lateral to a BB in the UK. In the meantime I also passed the 2nd level of the CFA.

Even when I was unemployed I kept networking and applying, the feedback was that I could never get an M&A job with no previous M&A experience, so after I started working for the boutique in my country I was feeling it was just a matter of time until I got what I wanted. After starting at the boutique, thanks to networking I got 2 interviews, an EB in my country and a MF. I got an offer from both of them and I chose the MF because the economic offer was superior. I'd recommend the WSO private equity interview package for those of you looking to break into PE.

It has been some months since I started and I now feel happier than ever, I love my job and I can help my family plus I see increasing opportunities opening up for me. The matter of the story is never give up and always try, even when it seems impossible, always work hard, have a plan and you will reach your goals. There is no magic, that's life.

I was reflecting on my path the other day, and I decided that it is time to share my story with WSO. I am going to warn you in advance, it is going to be long.

Rewind to senior year in high school, I was a good student at a school of 400 kids in a rural part of fly-over country. At the same time, I was a three sport athlete that was getting recruited to play in college by numerous division three schools. Growing up, I always had a curiosity for business, but things changed forever when my Grandfather gave me a book called "The Seeds of Wealth". The book showed the power of compound interest and investing at young age. My interest in investing and finance was piqued. Shortly after, I put $1000 of my savings in a Roth IRA. I funded it with money I saved up from working weekends and summers at Burger King since sophomore year.

I decided to attend a small liberal arts school where I had received an academic scholarship with the intent to be an athlete. At this time I was oblivious, slightly awkward, and much uncultured. I was located in a city of ~150,000 people and I thought I was living in the "big city". It was also my first real exposure to ethnic diversity. It is really quite comical how naive I was about everything.

I entered school with the intent to major in accounting, but switched to economics after taking micro that first semester. Being a student athlete gave me structure and helped me build the work ethic necessary for finance. A typical day would include 5:30 A.M. practice, breakfast at the cafeteria with the team around 8:30, and class from 10-4 with maybe an hour or two break in between. After class we would workout out or hit the batting cages for a couple hours and then hit the library until 9/10. If a project or paper was due, it would obviously be much later. After the library, we would play video games or shoot the shit for a couple hours and finally hit the sack to repeat again the next day. We had one day per week where we didn't have any practice or sport-related activities. That was really our only day to actually party. Without the structure provided by collegiate sports, I definitely think I would've been a partyaholic shithead my freshman year.

The first year went by fast and everything was going well. My sport was great, I loved my Economics courses, and I had a 3.9 GPA. That summer I worked for the park and rec department cutting grass to give me some spending money for school in fall. However, I had started seriously contemplating what I wanted to do post-graduation. I started reading finance books in my spare time. Liar's Poker, Monkey Business, Graham, Buffett, everything. Eventually I found this site, and as I got through the sophomore year I decided I needed to try to get an internship.

At this point I had horrible interview skills, a bad resume, little finance knowledge, and I was at a no-name liberal arts school. I applied to any type of business internship I could find, but I didn't have many options due to geographic constraints. I got about 5 interviews ranging from helping a financial advisor to treasury at a local bank. I struck out. Due to my lack of success trying to find internships, I started contemplating transferring.

I eventually decided to transfer for two reasons:
1. I took an investments course that spring and decided I wanted to go to a school with an investment focused curriculum.
2. I wasn't enjoying my sport anymore and I wanted to get serious about my career.

It was May, and I had decided to transfer to a non-target state school with an applied investment management program. In order to get into my major immediately and remain on-time, I took 9 credits at a junior college that summer while cutting grass 40 hours/week again for the Park and Rec. I worked from 7:30-4:30 and would drive 30 minutes to the school to get to class by 5:30. After class, I would go to Starbucks to do homework because I lived in the country and had extremely poor internet.

That fall, I hit the ground running at my new school. I joined the student investment club and was able to get an internship helping a financial advisor. My passion for finance continued to grow. I spent hours a day in the student finance lab messing around on FactSet/Bloomberg, got a WSJ subscription, and read anything finance that I could. (Don't worry, I still had plenty of time to booze with the guys and mess around with women.)

I was located in a top 25 metropolitan city now, with a decent finance scene for its size. I applied to any investment related internship I could find, and eventually got an opportunity with a small buy side Asset Management firm. They threw me into the fire, and I got exposed to a lot. I got to meet with management of companies we were looking at, sit in on the daily discussions, and do my own independent research. We were generalists, so I learned a lot about a wide variety of companies and sectors. At the end of the summer, they asked me to stay on during the school year. That fall, I worked between 20-30 hours/week (more during earnings) at my internship while taking a full course load. My skills really started to improve, and I sourced a name that got into the portfolio. Later that fall, they told me that they would hire me on full-time upon graduation. I loved my role on the buy-side. After that, I started passing on interviews elsewhere....

It's the end of January, and compliance went through the yearly review. Being at a small shop with no formal process set up, I got very little compliance training. I am not going to elaborate, but they told me that I could no longer stay on after graduation.

There I was jobless, and it was past the main recruiting cycle. I had not been applying, so I had no leads. I started reaching out to people that I had turned down earlier. They all asked why I had re-considered, and despite having great experience, they considered me a risk. I decided I needed to cast a wider net geographically. I applied to every Equity Research role I could find on LinkedIn/Monster. I lived in the school finance lab and I wrote Equity Research reports on a couple companies that I included with my applications. Despite being at a no-name school, with my internship experience I was able to pull some phone interviews with boutiques. Many of them were impressed with the research reports I had sent. I also started writing on Seeking Alpha.

It was May, and I was set to walk across the stage on Sunday. I had under $500 in my bank account. I paid my own living expenses including rent throughout college, and not working that semester killed me. I woke up extremely hungover on Friday morning with a voicemail from HR at a small firm I had applied to. The message said something to the tune of "We have good news for you! Please call us back". I immediately started panicking as I was still drunk from the AYCD wrist band deal from the night before. I chugged water and talked as little as possible. I accepted the offer on Monday and was to start three weeks later.

I threw one final kegger and said goodbye to all my college friends before heading home for a week. I took my job offer to the bank, and took out a $2000 loan so I had cash to move. Two weeks later I threw as much stuff as I could fit in my dented 2003 Toyota Corolla and drove 15 hours to my new location. I worked there for 6 months, and now I am in sell-side ER at a bulge bracket in New York. The hours are long, but I honestly can say that I enjoy my job. I guess I am one of the rare people who are truly passionate about finance. My long-term goal is to get back to buy-side asset management for a value-oriented firm.

If you would have told me when I was a senior in high school that I would go from living in rural nowheresville America to Wall Street within 5 years, I would not have believed it. My family still doesn't believe it. When I come on here, it really irks me when I see posts by kids struggling with rejection, contemplating which Bulge bracket is better, or posting about getting into IB/ER with really no clue what the role entails. This is one of the most competitive industries in business, it is not easy to get in. What are you doing to separate yourself from the 1000+ others that are applying for the same position? I know I busted my ass to get into this industry, and I don't plan to stop anytime soon.

Hi everyone,

This website has been incredibly useful to me, and I owe a lot of career success to it. It's given me a lot of excellent insight into IBD and has been a great source of motivation. Therefore, I'd like to give back by sharing my experience here.

For some context I'm a foreign student at top 10 UK non-target university.

In my second year of University I found myself having landed NO spring internships during first year - I got flat out rejected EVERYWHERE I applied. Coming from a non-target I received ZERO interviews which was very discouraging but motivating at the same time. I knew I had to step my game up and create a long term plan to get into a top IB position. Finding myself in that position the positive takeaway was that I learned how competitive the industry is and learned to be realistic with myself: it's important to realise that, however smart you are, you only are what your CV shows. Nothing less, nothing more. So I decided to take a year abroad at a top univeristy to accumulate experience through spring weeks and internships and to find myself in a position to compete with other candidates and start landing interviews. The "easy route" for me would have been to do a master's degree, which was not an option for me financially. I took the "hard" route, knowing the chances of me breaking into IB would be very slim.

After doing a spring week at a tier 4 firm in my second year of uni, I spent my third year studying abroad. I applied to IBs during that period and only got 1 ib interview: made it to the final round of a top EB in London and got dinged at the last step. I was heartbroken, to put it mildly. The only interview I had, though, confirmed I was smart/good enough to break into the industry, but my prospects as a UK non-target school in penultimate year without a top IBD internship were looking very poor (especially in post-Brexit Britain - something I discovered later). Instead, I received an offer at a 2nd/3rd tier consulting firm but I knew I desperately needed IB experience going into my final year or my dream would have been crushed. Therefore, I cold emailed more than 30 boutiques, and ended up getting 5 offers. So I interned in a 2nd/3rd tier consultancy and at a MM IB firm.

In my final year I applied to a mix of FT positions and SA positions. Instead of simply applying online, I realised the crucial importance of networking. In the UK, networking is not as important as it is in the U.S (based on what I understand from reading WSO posts), but it's crucial if you're from a non-target. I reached out to complete strangers for a chat and showed my hunger and passion for IB. Every call I had with alumni but mostly random people (due to lack of alumni in IB) ended up with me being referred to HR. I got interviews at 7 firms (EBS and BBs), compared to 1 the previous year and NONE in the two years before. I started to understand that IB is simply a game of people. I was naive and believed online screening is fair/efficient - that my application would actually be read. Don't make my same mistake. As soon as you enter your non target school name in your online application, there's a solid chance you'll get cut. I couldn't stress the importance of networking more! After networking my ass off and landing multiple recommendations, I prepared diligently, practiced lots of mock interviews, read the FT obsessively and got a few offers and got to final rounds of other BBs and EBs. I received and accepted a full time position at a top tier independent advisory firm/ EB, where I'll be starting work as a full time analyst in M&A. Years of hard work, frustration and stress ended up paying off. I'll admit that at times I thought of quitting, to stop trying and give up on my IB dream, but don't let those rejections put you off. Put your head down, prepare and - I couldn't stress this more - NETWORK! However many rejections you get, do not give up. I tallied up all the IB rejections I received in the past few years: 126! If you really want it, work hard and smart for it, you can get into top BBs and EBs regardless of your school.

Good luck to everyone!

I don't know how I ended up at a Notre Dame lacrosse alumni pregame but low and behold there I was Saturday night wondering if I was the only person in the entire apartment who was jewish / could hit a curveball. The walls were decorated so that everyone there knew that these kids for sure definitely played lax but also crushed beers but were also fucking chill but were also IB. The best piece was framed and hung high above the tv in the middle of the living room - 10 Things That Require Zero Talent. Here was the list:

1. Being on time
2. Work ethic
3. Effort
4. Body language
5. Energy
6. Attitude
7. Passion
8. Being coachable
9. Doing extra
10. Being prepared

I understand now that this is a pretty popular motivational poster but this was my first time seeing it. It really made me think and in the moment wonder if there was maybe roof access or a balcony that I could go and jump off of. Ignoring the fact that like 4 of the items on the list are the same fucking thing I still have a problem with it and everything it stands for. This bullshit list sounds absolutely exhausting. Effort? Fuck. Doing extra?? FUCK. Being prepared??? All that really tells me is you lack the ability to think on your feet.

I decided to make my own list. I think this version is more valuable towards being ultimately successful and leading a happy and fulfilling lifestyle.

Randy's 10 Things That Require Zero Talent:

1. Doing whippits
2. Sending bullshit work to India that you don't actually need done just for the power trip of not feeling like a bottom bucket analyst bitch for a brief moment
3. Delaying your emails to send at like 3am so it looks like you've been cranking but you were actually watching School of Rock start to finish for the 2nd time this month
4. Coming from money
5. Being tall
6. Finding a little bit of blow in your wallet while you're going through TSA, having a panic attack, and not getting caught
7. Lying about your alcohol consumption to your parents in your 20's
8. Fighting with your girlfriend
9. Ignoring real world issues / social plight
10. Committing credit card fraud every couple years on big ticket items and/or lying about your charitable contributions on your tax return

If you agree with this list be sure to forward it along to your MD to let him or her (but let's be real probably him) know that you're constantly focused on self improvement and staying motivated.

What are 10 things in your life that require zero talent?

While taking the time to clean and organize my desk after a hectic 4-6 weeks engaged in a deal, I came across my old WSO IB interview materials I used in the past. Seeing these old packets of paper made me realize how grateful I should be instead of being annoyed about how I put in hours of work on a deal that ultimately fell through the cracks. Fueled by my reminiscing, I wanted to take this time to share my story and open the floor for any Q&A.

I am currently a PE analyst at a fairly well-known industry-specific buyout shop and here is my story...

I attended a fairly well known private high school where most of the students ended up in ivy universities. However, due to my own undoing, I ended up at a non-target university in a remote part of the country. There I set myself up to go to med school. But like most students who start off with the dream of being a doctor, I realized that it wasn't my cup of tea. I eventually switched gears and decided to go with a liberal arts degree. Fortunately, the new major I ended up with had a significant quant focus, which helped tremendously in getting me to where I am now. But more importantly, my first full-time summer job was what really change my life.

My first full time job during the summer was nowhere near as glamourous as one might expect from an Ivy League student. My first job was in the pits of a restaurant. I dealt with the grimiest and nastiest things you could ever imagine at a crappy restaurant. Despite being paid minimum wage for working past midnight and smelling like garbage after work, I learned more about myself than I would elsewhere. I realized how much I loved money. Coming from a lower-income family, I never really had the luxury of having nice things. So when I got my tiny paychecks every two weeks, it was the best feeling ever. I also learned that I never wanted to end up working with my hands doing manual labor ever. I wanted to sit in a nice air conditioned room and work an office job. While I didn't realize this then, these two realizations about my own self would propel me into the situation I am in now.

Returning to school after my time at the restaurant, I made it a priority to find an internship in an office. Luckily, I was able to spin off my quant knowledge from my classes to a consulting internship. This was not your MBB but rather a small start up that assisted clients in developing marketing strategies based on data driven science. While the work there was most similar to what I did in school, I realized that real-life application wasn't all that exciting. I was putting together decks to recommend X, Y and Z but the client would never execute it without having a financial or strategic reason to do so. This is where I discovered the career path of finance. Most decisions are never made without a financial reason. So I set off to try and break into some finance role in the hopes to drive the decision making processes at a firm. This was fairly daunting since I was not in the business school at my university and not one of my relatives could provide insight (the closest to finance would be an uncle who is a public accountant).

Heading back to school this time around, I tried to put together a strategy on how to get a finance internship. Whenever I tried to apply through my school's careers page or online job sites, I couldn't even apply since most finance internships required that you have a major in a business-related study. Luckily, I was able to close this gap by saying that I was "going to" get a second major in economics (close enough!). I took a few econ classes to back up my claim of grabbing an econ major and started to apply. While most firms rejected me outright, one F500 company hired me on as an intern in their capital planning group. At that point I was so excited that I finally broke in.

Enter the first day of my finance internship. I rode my way up to the top floor of the building where all the finance people worked. I felt like a king going to the top floor. Doors open and what I saw wasn't that glamorous. The office floor was lit by a dim soft yellow fluorescent light and it was so quiet that you could almost hear the guy at the furthest cubicle chew his gum. Not to mention the tall cube walls. To keep thing short, it was fun at first but soon got boring. I wanted something with a faster pace with more interaction between folks.

So I networked my way trying to find the job that fit my wants. Enter private equity. I met a guy who worked as a portfolio company manager who worked for a PE shop. He gave me the quick n dirty 30 minute run down of what PE was. Most of what he said blew over my head but when I went back home, I research the shit out of it to get a general understanding of what it was about. After keeping in touch with this guy, I eventually landed an interview with the PE shop in their investment team group. I got the spot along with someone from an M7 B-school. The experience was great. Got to build models from scratch, read CIMS, see how investment professionals screen investments, put together memos and do their diligence. In the end I didn't get a full time offer. Neither did the B-school kid. I was now a senior without a full time job lined up. I panicked. I had to go back out and find a job.

But with three solid internships on my resume it became fairly easy to land interviews for back/middle-office finance roles. But I wanted something more exciting. So after I got a full time offer at a firm and job I settle for, I went ahead and delayed my graduation my senior year. This way, my expected graduation date would suggest that I was still a junior. With a robust resume in hand, I started to network with all the bankers I interacted with during my PE internship. I'd say 80% responded but it only took one guy at a BB to go out of his way to pull me in the loop. He got my interviews. Since we've worked on a deal together at that point, he just asked me the generic why iBanking questions and after 2-3 phone calls with VPs and Directors, I made it to my superday late December my senior year. After acing the interviews, I was on my way to the coveted summer analyst gig later that summer. At that point, I called HR at the firm I signed a full time gig with and reneged. I then delayed graduation by a semester to make it official (didn't sign up for any classes so didn't have to pay extra in tuition).

The summer analyst opportunity was fantastic. I met a bunch of people who I could relate with. Ambitious young folks who just wanted to do their best to be the best. Many of whom I'd consider good friends were met there. We stayed up late, stayed out late, and held our breath together when the day came for full time offers to be handed out. Having had more experience and direct working experience with the IB team from my previous PE internship, I had it a little easier. The work was a bit easier and I caught on quicker but that's really because I had an extra year of practice. I ultimately got the full time offer and was wined and dined by the associates and VPs to get me to sign ASAP. After negotiating an earlier start date, I was ready to sign.

The day I was ready to sign the paper, I got a call from the PE firm I interned for. They essentially wanted me back as a full time analyst. They knew I had an offer with the BB (they supported me and even pulled a few strings). What was a straight forward answer of "do I want to do IB full time" became more complicated... "IB or PE?" I ultimately chose PE for a variety of reasons - 1) more intellectually challenging, 2) better pay, 3) better work-life balance and 4) personal reasons. So here I am as an analyst at a private equity firm looking back at what got me to where I am now. While I worked hard, thoughtfully planned things out and hustled, many have helped me get to where I am now. So that being said, I am open to answering any questions you fellow monkeys have for me. I'll try to respond as best as I can.

Cheers~

Hi fellow monkeys...

I'm a brand new poster but have been reading through these boards for a couple of months to pass the time. The preponderance of posts on here regarding happiness and the work life balance have compelled me to add my own .02 cents on these issues, mostly because I think that I have a unique perspective to offer, having actually quit the rat race for some adventure. Take it for what it's worth, with plenty of salt on the side! I'm trying to get back into the game after a 1 yr sabbatical, and I wanted to share my story about what happens just after you give your boss the finger and "go out and enjoy life"

Some background about me:

Nothing phenomenal whatsoever. I've always worked just hard enough to get that next paycheck. I've never been particularly motivated, smart, distinguished, pedigreed, accomplished, or exceptional. Never cared about advancement, personal growth, potential, or any of that stuff. Where I'm from, it's a victory just to avoid getting shot or harassed by the police each day (Cliched as it may be, I'm black and from "the hood"). It goes without saying that I was just a "B" student when I applied myself.

My story:

I joined the Army at 17 after my parents died precisely because I had no direction. Absolutely hated it. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate what it taught me about life being unfair, having bosses who frequently went on power trips, doing shyt work, being a grunt, "looking" busy at all times, and having absolutely no freedom or autonomy-and these are all valuable lessons for going into Corporate America and/or banking fyi-however, the 3 yr delay set me way behind my peers, I was homesick and miserable, I hated waking up at 5am each day to go run mini marathons, I hated getting tasked out to details that included grass cutting or trash removal, and I hated having all of my weekend plans blown up at the drop of a hat at the whims of some senior NCO. It sucked hard

I took the GI Bill and Army College Fund and ran. I ended up at some tier 3 shythole college in NY (I'd say the name but you've likely never heard of it). I majored in Political Science (later added Econ). Obviously, my prospects were bleak. I didn't intern anywhere-I spent my summers selling Insurance at GEICO and Working in Accounts Receivable at Worldcom (try handling their A/R during the collapse!). My grades were decent (3.5), but I had an easy major at a shythole school and avoided math/science/computers/engineering like the plague. Goldman was not going to come calling.

Senior year I got dragged to a college fair, and "clicked" with a recruiter from the Walt Disney Co. who happened to be an alumnus. I still have no idea what they saw in me, but as I look back, I probably came off nonchalant and confident since I didn't really care about the outcome. Everyone else there was trying way too hard to impress. I was cracking jokes and asking questions that were probably a little different from your standard "tell me about the culture there" type fluff. Anyways, I was extended an offer in their corporate finance dept-and had a job lined up after college as a Finance Analyst (it is all about who you know).

The job itself was OK. It was mostly financial reporting, some valuations, some forecasting, auditing, and Sarbanes Oxley compliance work. I worked on some cool Disney properties (their entire media/TV division, including ABC and ESPN), and learned some pretty useful finance concepts on the job. I wasn't a quant by any means, but I was pretty good with Excel, and most finance "math" isn't rocket science to begin with. The sheer repetition got me up to speed in a heartbeat. Had I "made" it? Hardly. The hours were great, the money was OK for a single 25 yr. old, but I had no real life. My friends were all dead, military, or imprisoned. Chased some skirts, but that got old (and expensive) fast. My problem was that I'd never cared about anything up until that point, so had trouble really finding my passion. Books, women, trips, video games, museums, etc...all of it bored me. So I just started saving 30-40% of my income each month. I never owned any property or got married, so this started adding up fast.

After about 3 yrs at Disney, I got a call from a headhunter looking to place me into a major financial data/information firm looking to expand their media presence (I think it's fairly obvious where). I'd have basically the same exact responsibilities as before, but I'd be getting a significant pay increase with bonus opportunities as well. I figured "why not?". I would then spend the next 4 yrs in abject misery. The company itself is great, but my particular division had some real "go getters" who had set some ridiculously aggressive targets, and they started to work us to the bone. I went from 45 hour weeks at my last gig to over 80 in a heartbeat. Holy shyt.
I tried to look elsewhere in 08 but the sky was falling back then. Next thing I know it's 2012 and I'm still there! Needless to say I looked terrible and even now had high blood pressure. At that point I'd saved up a mint, and stumbled upon WSO. I read enough hard luck IB stories to realize that 1) I wasn't getting paid enough to be doing banker hours 2) I was in danger of getting locked in if I stayed there long term 3) I was in danger of getting pigeonholed as a spreadsheet bytch 4)Life was passing me by

One day it was 10:30pm and I was helping the corp dev. team price some products for an acquisition target when I got into it with my boss, who was calling from home (of course) to a)make sure I was still there and b) chew me out for missing a deadline earlier (I missed it by less than 2 hours, only because he had tasked me out to the corp dev team!) I told him to "fukk off" because I was busy and hung up on him. I quit the next morning. He tried to get me to stay but I was done. I shook his hand, though. I had enough in savings to take a nice long break and reassess, so while it was an impulsive move, I'd been thinking about it for months.

1st month I just relaxed and watched TV. That got boring

2nd month I started taking Spanish lessons on skype with someone who lived in Central America. Turns out I enjoyed it...and started to acquire the language really quickly. Could this be my passion?

3rd Month I bought a one way ticket to Nicaragua on the cheap. I spent the next 5 months backpacking in and out of various locales in Central and South America. I felt alive. It was the most fun I'd EVER had-and I even managed to become a near fluent Spanish speaker. I went all in-10 hours of lessons a day, homestay families, cultural tours, etc. Even better was that it was so cheap down there I got to live like a king (you can get a 4 course meal in Guatemala for about 7 bucks USD). The most interesting part was running into all of the expats living/backpacking out there-many of them former bankers or big law attorneys. Some of them had quit life entirely and had no intention of ever returning to the States! I also had a blast running into all of the Australian, Canadian, Malaysian, British, Israeli, and Western European folks on the gringo trail-I became part of a great community of backpackers and with Facebook and linked in it's easy to stay in touch. Meeting these people changed my life-I'd never really made friends with anyone "different" before-never really made "friends", period- but listening to their travel stories and details about their lives at home awakened something in me. Sure some were hippies and slackers...but most were on gap years and/or had plans to go home and do big things.

It got me thinking about where I wanted to be, how I wanted my life to be perceived, and what kind of legacy I wanted to leave. Sure it was fun sleeping in and waking up to the best females the developing world had to offer, but surely there was...more? Put it this way-when someone Googles me in 50 yrs, what will they see? My list of misdemeanors from my youth and a Facebook page? Is that what my life would have been worth? I Googled my parents and found nothing. It's as if they'd never existed. No one will ever remember them. The possibility of going out like that really started to bother me...

Didn't realize how long this would be. I'll split this into 2 parts and detail what I've done since the return from my "pilgrimage", along with the actual advice on the next installment!

Mod Note (Andy): Throwback Thursday, this interesting tale was originally posted 3/7/13

Long time lurker, first time posting.

Just want to make myself known and thank everyone on here for endless knowledge and some cynical laughs over my last few years reading this forum. I have made the first crack in the egg and will be working on a sales desk for the summer. Here's a quick summary of how far I've come, thanks in no small part to you guys:

• shitty high school results, non-target uni, strong uni GPA but in the 'less prestigious' econ/fin/acc related major at my school (thanks to my HS grades), virtually no extracurriculars/sports/achievements to speak of. I also recruited to a city that is outside of my home country.
• 2nd year: applied for middle and front officeinternships. zero traction. not even a rejection in most cases.
• 3rd year: tried again, got to final round for a middle office, but no love. ended up at a regional firm working in research
• 4th year: tried again. gave it everything I had, tried to learn from my mistakes, and just received an offer at my desk and bank of choice . they have a good reputation on the street (or so i'm told), and got along super well with the team. couldn't be happier.

I get nervous posting on here since I feel like i'm giving too much away, but I wanted to share my story to show that although it can happen to anybody, it won't without time, consistent effort and plenty of failure. I recently looked back at my resume from last year and was shocked at how poorly formatted it was, for example. What a simple thing to completely mess up! Let's not even mention the improvement in my networking game and general knowledge of the markets.

If there's demand, I'll do another post when I have some more time to go in to a little more detail as to how I prepared for applications/interview/networking, but as I said I'm conscious of revealing my identity, given my somewhat unusual credentials..

Any specific questions feel free to PM and I'll share what little knowledge I have.

is this right sentence "My answer might sound Discourage", if not please correct me if any thing wrong

Hey everyone. The ink has just barely dried on my accepted offer to join a boutique private equity firm as an analyst, but I think now is a better time than any to tell you how I made the jump to private equity from a VERY non-target background.

My Bio:

A little bit about me: I graduated from a Canadian university with a finance degree from a relatively unknown business program (I was in the third class of graduates ever), had ho-hum grades and no relevant internships. I was pretty keen on becoming an analyst at an investment bank, but with almost no alumni network and an extremely rigid hiring process, I took the advice of my dean and began targeting commercial banks as he thought it was "a good place to start".

After interviewing with a few banks, I accepted an offer to start an 18-month training program, which upon completion, would result in a promotion to the position of account manager, commercial banking which entailed managing a portfolio, prospecting for new business, and underwriting new deals for my own deals as well as for senior bankers. I've been in that role for 18 months, and have passed all three levels of the CFA program and will be eligible for the charter with another year of work experience.

What I learned:

1) Non Traditional Backgrounds.

If you're coming from a non-traditional background, you're going to have to do something exceptional to get noticed.The truth of the matter is that for every great opportunity, there are a ton of good applicants vying for it along with you who probably fit the traditional requirements better than you do. You can either use this as an excuse and give up, or you can sack up and do something that shows an employer that you're willing to go above and beyond for you and the company you work for. For me, passing all three levels of the CFA program was huge here. Passing every level on my first attempt was icing on the cake.

2) Be honest about your weaknesses.

If you're coming from a non-traditional background, there's a good chance that your on-the-job skills aren't going to be enough to get you the job you want. Case in point, my current role requires absolutely no modelling to succeed, but the bare minimum skill for any analyst/associate role at a private equity firm is good modelling skills. To offset my weakness, I took the Wall Street Prep program (more accurately, re-took it after going through it during my senior year) and got comfortable with all the main models. I then went a step further and started modelling companies of interest.

I've probably done close to 20 models on my own now and this really came in handy as the application process for the analyst role involved building an lbo model and writing a deal summary. Supposedly there were over 100 applicants for the role so the fact that my self-taught modelling got me through was a huge boost to my technical confidence! Also, having reviewed WSO's PE interview course, it offers great insight for someone looking to break into the field from outside traditional routes and also helps you feel comfortable with tough LBO modeling tests.

3) Network.

I don't know how many times I keep reading this in success stories, but I'll reiterate this point - YOU HAVE TO NETWORK!!! It's hard enough picking a resume out of a pile of good applicants, but it's next to impossible your resume will get picked up with a non-traditional background. Pretty much the only way to get your 'out-of-the-box' resume in the shortlist is for someone at the firm to have met you and vouch for you. Honestly, this can often be the hardest part of the process; just getting yourself to the interview stage. So instead of letting this be the hard part of the process, do the hard work before. Pound the pavement, email people, go for coffee. You'd be surprised at how generous other people are with their time and how willing people can be to help you out. Just don't abuse the basic human kindness that a lot of finance professionals have.

4) Patience.

If you've done the first three and things just aren't clicking, be patient! I don't know how many times I looked at all of the things I was doing, or heard "you're doing all the right things" from someone I had gone for coffee with and thought to myself "are things ever going to change?" To be honest, I think it's probably harder to stay motivated when it seems like you're doing all the right things but you're not getting any success. But you have to persevere! As your network grows, people you've never met will start hearing about you, your network will refer you jobs, you'll hear about unposted opportunities (seriously, some firms just hate going through the formal hiring process because they think it takes too much time), etc. So keep your skills sharp, stay in touch with your existing contacts regularly, and sometimes the opportunity will come to you.

5) Power of prayer.

For me, this was the most important aspect of the process, but I wouldn't be surprised if many of you ignore this part or think it's BS. I'm a Christian, so as much as it's easy to reduce my success to things that I've done, I know for a fact that my relationship with God is the biggest explanation for getting me to where I am. Case in point: for the role that I ultimately got, I was referred by three (!!!) private equity professionals to the same position. I sent an email to the guy hiring, made sure to do some name dropping about the referral, etc. Just as I was thinking that this role wasn't going to work out, I attended a local CFA society networking event.

The night before the event, I prayed and asked God to have me meet someone at the event who would help me find a new role. At the event, I ended up running into one of my contacts I had met for coffee previously. We sat at the same table and he asked me about the position he had referred me to and I told him how it was going. Anyways, this guy mentioned that he knew the person looking to hire an analyst (who I had previously emailed) was coming to the event and got him to sit next to me for the entire evening. I ended up getting the equivalent of a first round interview just by sitting next to the guy! (and he admitted my resume didn't make it through his filtering process) Needless to say, it's impossible for me to think that what happened was just a coincidence (it certainly wasn't the first time this happened either!)

All in all, I'm beyond thrilled to be taking the next step in my career, and I hope my story helps you make a change as well!

Feel free to ask me questions in this thread or via private message.

Mod Note (Andy) - Throwback Thursday, this post originally went up 1/25/2015.

I have been a long time lurker and recent poster here, I have got so much from this community, I can say I would not have done it without you so I think it is time to give something back. I am sure you heard stories like mine but I hope this can be inspirational to some of you.

My background:

I come from a very low-income family in continental Europe (I am not afraid to say my family cannot make it till the end of the month). I was the first to ever attend university, I got a BSc in Finance with top grades from my hometown university because it was the only place where I could afford to study and I made it thanks to the scholarships my university paid and to my work as a tutor. Starting in university I had no target job, but towards the end of my bachelor watching some finance movies I got interested into M&A and PE. So I looked at some MSc, got a good GMAT and got admission into some top schools in the UK. Sadly, I did not attend because I did not find a way to pay the tuition.

The heartbreak:

It was heartbreaking because I thought going to a top school was the only way to get an M&A job at a BB so I spent some weeks crying (I know it sounds stupid).I decided to defer my offer with the plan to work for a year, make money and then attend the MSc. I applied to all jobs on BB job boards, I spent 3 months checking their websites day and night and networking. In the end I got a 6 month BO internship at BB, I accepted the offer because it was a good way to make money and add a good brand on my cv. While interning I was still applying to M&A jobs in the UK, through networking I got some interviews but no offer, I kept applying but nothing was working out and in the end I spent 1 year unemployed.

Picking myself up:

That time spent unemployed made me feel useless and depressed like I had no purpose on this world, in the meantime I took level 1 of the CFA and I decided to apply to M&A jobs in my country and thanks to some luck I got an analyst job at a small unknown boutique. The pay was rather low, I could barely make it till the end of the month but I was happy to finally work again. My plan was to work sometime there and then lateral to a BB in the UK. In the meantime I also passed the 2nd level of the CFA.

Networking paid off:

Even when I was unemployed I kept networking and applying, the feedback was that I could never get an M&A job with no previous M&A experience, so after I started working for the boutique in my country I was feeling it was just a matter of time until I got what I wanted. After starting at the boutique, thanks to networking I got 2 interviews, an EB in my country and a MF. I got an offer from both of them and I chose the MF because the economic offer was superior. I'd recommend the WSO private equity interview package for those of you looking to break into PE.

It has been some months since I started and I now feel happier than ever, I love my job and I can help my family plus I see increasing opportunities opening up for me. The matter of the story is never give up and always try, even when it seems impossible, always work hard, have a plan and you will reach your goals. There is no magic, that's life.

I was reflecting on my path the other day, and I decided that it is time to share my story with WSO. I am going to warn you in advance, it is going to be long.

Rewind to senior year in high school, I was a good student at a school of 400 kids in a rural part of fly-over country. At the same time, I was a three sport athlete that was getting recruited to play in college by numerous division three schools. Growing up, I always had a curiosity for business, but things changed forever when my Grandfather gave me a book called "The Seeds of Wealth". The book showed the power of compound interest and investing at young age. My interest in investing and finance was piqued. Shortly after, I put $1000 of my savings in a Roth IRA. I funded it with money I saved up from working weekends and summers at Burger King since sophomore year.

I decided to attend a small liberal arts school where I had received an academic scholarship with the intent to be an athlete. At this time I was oblivious, slightly awkward, and much uncultured. I was located in a city of ~150,000 people and I thought I was living in the "big city". It was also my first real exposure to ethnic diversity. It is really quite comical how naive I was about everything.

I entered school with the intent to major in accounting, but switched to economics after taking micro that first semester. Being a student athlete gave me structure and helped me build the work ethic necessary for finance. A typical day would include 5:30 A.M. practice, breakfast at the cafeteria with the team around 8:30, and class from 10-4 with maybe an hour or two break in between. After class we would workout out or hit the batting cages for a couple hours and then hit the library until 9/10. If a project or paper was due, it would obviously be much later. After the library, we would play video games or shoot the shit for a couple hours and finally hit the sack to repeat again the next day. We had one day per week where we didn't have any practice or sport-related activities. That was really our only day to actually party. Without the structure provided by collegiate sports, I definitely think I would've been a partyaholic shithead my freshman year.

The first year went by fast and everything was going well. My sport was great, I loved my Economics courses, and I had a 3.9 GPA. That summer I worked for the park and rec department cutting grass to give me some spending money for school in fall. However, I had started seriously contemplating what I wanted to do post-graduation. I started reading finance books in my spare time. Liar's Poker, Monkey Business, Graham, Buffett, everything. Eventually I found this site, and as I got through the sophomore year I decided I needed to try to get an internship.

At this point I had horrible interview skills, a bad resume, little finance knowledge, and I was at a no-name liberal arts school. I applied to any type of business internship I could find, but I didn't have many options due to geographic constraints. I got about 5 interviews ranging from helping a financial advisor to treasury at a local bank. I struck out. Due to my lack of success trying to find internships, I started contemplating transferring.

I eventually decided to transfer for two reasons:
1. I took an investments course that spring and decided I wanted to go to a school with an investment focused curriculum.
2. I wasn't enjoying my sport anymore and I wanted to get serious about my career.

It was May, and I had decided to transfer to a non-target state school with an applied investment management program. In order to get into my major immediately and remain on-time, I took 9 credits at a junior college that summer while cutting grass 40 hours/week again for the Park and Rec. I worked from 7:30-4:30 and would drive 30 minutes to the school to get to class by 5:30. After class, I would go to Starbucks to do homework because I lived in the country and had extremely poor internet.

That fall, I hit the ground running at my new school. I joined the student investment club and was able to get an internship helping a financial advisor. My passion for finance continued to grow. I spent hours a day in the student finance lab messing around on FactSet/Bloomberg, got a WSJ subscription, and read anything finance that I could. (Don't worry, I still had plenty of time to booze with the guys and mess around with women.)

I was located in a top 25 metropolitan city now, with a decent finance scene for its size. I applied to any investment related internship I could find, and eventually got an opportunity with a small buy side Asset Management firm. They threw me into the fire, and I got exposed to a lot. I got to meet with management of companies we were looking at, sit in on the daily discussions, and do my own independent research. We were generalists, so I learned a lot about a wide variety of companies and sectors. At the end of the summer, they asked me to stay on during the school year. That fall, I worked between 20-30 hours/week (more during earnings) at my internship while taking a full course load. My skills really started to improve, and I sourced a name that got into the portfolio. Later that fall, they told me that they would hire me on full-time upon graduation. I loved my role on the buy-side. After that, I started passing on interviews elsewhere....

It's the end of January, and compliance went through the yearly review. Being at a small shop with no formal process set up, I got very little compliance training. I am not going to elaborate, but they told me that I could no longer stay on after graduation.

There I was jobless, and it was past the main recruiting cycle. I had not been applying, so I had no leads. I started reaching out to people that I had turned down earlier. They all asked why I had re-considered, and despite having great experience, they considered me a risk. I decided I needed to cast a wider net geographically. I applied to every Equity Research role I could find on LinkedIn/Monster. I lived in the school finance lab and I wrote Equity Research reports on a couple companies that I included with my applications. Despite being at a no-name school, with my internship experience I was able to pull some phone interviews with boutiques. Many of them were impressed with the research reports I had sent. I also started writing on Seeking Alpha.

It was May, and I was set to walk across the stage on Sunday. I had under $500 in my bank account. I paid my own living expenses including rent throughout college, and not working that semester killed me. I woke up extremely hungover on Friday morning with a voicemail from HR at a small firm I had applied to. The message said something to the tune of "We have good news for you! Please call us back". I immediately started panicking as I was still drunk from the AYCD wrist band deal from the night before. I chugged water and talked as little as possible. I accepted the offer on Monday and was to start three weeks later.

I threw one final kegger and said goodbye to all my college friends before heading home for a week. I took my job offer to the bank, and took out a $2000 loan so I had cash to move. Two weeks later I threw as much stuff as I could fit in my dented 2003 Toyota Corolla and drove 15 hours to my new location. I worked there for 6 months, and now I am in sell-side ER at a bulge bracket in New York. The hours are long, but I honestly can say that I enjoy my job. I guess I am one of the rare people who are truly passionate about finance. My long-term goal is to get back to buy-side asset management for a value-oriented firm.

If you would have told me when I was a senior in high school that I would go from living in rural nowheresville America to Wall Street within 5 years, I would not have believed it. My family still doesn't believe it. When I come on here, it really irks me when I see posts by kids struggling with rejection, contemplating which Bulge bracket is better, or posting about getting into IB/ER with really no clue what the role entails. This is one of the most competitive industries in business, it is not easy to get in. What are you doing to separate yourself from the 1000+ others that are applying for the same position? I know I busted my ass to get into this industry, and I don't plan to stop anytime soon.

Hi everyone,

This website has been incredibly useful to me, and I owe a lot of career success to it. It's given me a lot of excellent insight into IBD and has been a great source of motivation. Therefore, I'd like to give back by sharing my experience here.

For some context I'm a foreign student at top 10 UK non-target university.

In my second year of University I found myself having landed NO spring internships during first year - I got flat out rejected EVERYWHERE I applied. Coming from a non-target I received ZERO interviews which was very discouraging but motivating at the same time. I knew I had to step my game up and create a long term plan to get into a top IB position. Finding myself in that position the positive takeaway was that I learned how competitive the industry is and learned to be realistic with myself: it's important to realise that, however smart you are, you only are what your CV shows. Nothing less, nothing more. So I decided to take a year abroad at a top univeristy to accumulate experience through spring weeks and internships and to find myself in a position to compete with other candidates and start landing interviews. The "easy route" for me would have been to do a master's degree, which was not an option for me financially. I took the "hard" route, knowing the chances of me breaking into IB would be very slim.

After doing a spring week at a tier 4 firm in my second year of uni, I spent my third year studying abroad. I applied to IBs during that period and only got 1 ib interview: made it to the final round of a top EB in London and got dinged at the last step. I was heartbroken, to put it mildly. The only interview I had, though, confirmed I was smart/good enough to break into the industry, but my prospects as a UK non-target school in penultimate year without a top IBD internship were looking very poor (especially in post-Brexit Britain - something I discovered later). Instead, I received an offer at a 2nd/3rd tier consulting firm but I knew I desperately needed IB experience going into my final year or my dream would have been crushed. Therefore, I cold emailed more than 30 boutiques, and ended up getting 5 offers. So I interned in a 2nd/3rd tier consultancy and at a MM IB firm.

In my final year I applied to a mix of FT positions and SA positions. Instead of simply applying online, I realised the crucial importance of networking. In the UK, networking is not as important as it is in the U.S (based on what I understand from reading WSO posts), but it's crucial if you're from a non-target. I reached out to complete strangers for a chat and showed my hunger and passion for IB. Every call I had with alumni but mostly random people (due to lack of alumni in IB) ended up with me being referred to HR. I got interviews at 7 firms (EBS and BBs), compared to 1 the previous year and NONE in the two years before. I started to understand that IB is simply a game of people. I was naive and believed online screening is fair/efficient - that my application would actually be read. Don't make my same mistake. As soon as you enter your non target school name in your online application, there's a solid chance you'll get cut. I couldn't stress the importance of networking more!

After networking my ass off and landing multiple recommendations, I prepared diligently, practiced lots of mock interviews, read the FT obsessively and studied the WSO Investment Banking guide like the bible. I highly recommend this resource as it covers the vast majority of questions you'll get. I got a few offers and got to final rounds of other BBs and EBs. I received and accepted a full time position at a top tier independent advisory firm/ EB, where I'll be starting work as a full time analyst in M&A. Years of hard work, frustration and stress ended up paying off. I'll admit that at times I thought of quitting, to stop trying and give up on my IB dream, but don't let those rejections put you off. Put your head down, prepare and - I couldn't stress this more - NETWORK! However many rejections you get, do not give up. I tallied up all the IB rejections I received in the past few years: 126! If you really want it, work hard and smart for it, you can get into top BBs and EBs regardless of your school.

Good luck to everyone!

I don't know how I ended up at a Notre Dame lacrosse alumni pregame but low and behold there I was Saturday night wondering if I was the only person in the entire apartment who was jewish / could hit a curveball. The walls were decorated so that everyone there knew that these kids for sure definitely played lax but also crushed beers but were also fucking chill but were also IB. The best piece was framed and hung high above the tv in the middle of the living room - 10 Things That Require Zero Talent. Here was the list:

1. Being on time
2. Work ethic
3. Effort
4. Body language
5. Energy
6. Attitude
7. Passion
8. Being coachable
9. Doing extra
10. Being prepared

I understand now that this is a pretty popular motivational poster but this was my first time seeing it. It really made me think and in the moment wonder if there was maybe roof access or a balcony that I could go and jump off of. Ignoring the fact that like 4 of the items on the list are the same fucking thing I still have a problem with it and everything it stands for. This bullshit list sounds absolutely exhausting. Effort? Fuck. Doing extra?? FUCK. Being prepared??? All that really tells me is you lack the ability to think on your feet.

I decided to make my own list. I think this version is more valuable towards being ultimately successful and leading a happy and fulfilling lifestyle.

Randy's 10 Things That Require Zero Talent:

1. Doing whippits
2. Sending bullshit work to India that you don't actually need done just for the power trip of not feeling like a bottom bucket analyst bitch for a brief moment
3. Delaying your emails to send at like 3am so it looks like you've been cranking but you were actually watching School of Rock start to finish for the 2nd time this month
4. Coming from money
5. Being tall
6. Finding a little bit of blow in your wallet while you're going through TSA, having a panic attack, and not getting caught
7. Lying about your alcohol consumption to your parents in your 20's
8. Fighting with your girlfriend
9. Ignoring real world issues / social plight
10. Committing credit card fraud every couple years on big ticket items and/or lying about your charitable contributions on your tax return

If you agree with this list be sure to forward it along to your MD to let him or her (but let's be real probably him) know that you're constantly focused on self improvement and staying motivated.

What are 10 things in your life that require zero talent?

While taking the time to clean and organize my desk after a hectic 4-6 weeks engaged in a deal, I came across my old WSO IB interview materials I used in the past. Seeing these old packets of paper made me realize how grateful I should be instead of being annoyed about how I put in hours of work on a deal that ultimately fell through the cracks. Fueled by my reminiscing, I wanted to take this time to share my story and open the floor for any Q&A.

I am currently a PE analyst at a fairly well-known industry-specific buyout shop and here is my story...

My Story:

I attended a fairly well known private high school where most of the students ended up in ivy universities. However, due to my own undoing, I ended up at a non-target university in a remote part of the country. There I set myself up to go to med school. But like most students who start off with the dream of being a doctor, I realized that it wasn't my cup of tea. I eventually switched gears and decided to go with a liberal arts degree. Fortunately, the new major I ended up with had a significant quant focus, which helped tremendously in getting me to where I am now. But more importantly, my first full-time summer job was what really change my life.

First full time job:

My first full time job during the summer was nowhere near as glamorous as one might expect from an Ivy League student. My first job was in the pits of a restaurant. I dealt with the grimiest and nastiest things you could ever imagine at a crappy restaurant. Despite being paid minimum wage for working past midnight and smelling like garbage after work, I learned more about myself than I would elsewhere. I realized how much I loved money. Coming from a lower-income family, I never really had the luxury of having nice things. So when I got my tiny paychecks every two weeks, it was the best feeling ever. I also learned that I never wanted to end up working with my hands doing manual labor ever. I wanted to sit in a nice air conditioned room and work an office job. While I didn't realize this then, these two realizations about my own self would propel me into the situation I am in now.

Consulting Internship:

Returning to school after my time at the restaurant, I made it a priority to find an internship in an office. Luckily, I was able to spin off my quant knowledge from my classes to a consulting internship. This was not your MBB but rather a small start up that assisted clients in developing marketing strategies based on data driven science. While the work there was most similar to what I did in school, I realized that real-life application wasn't all that exciting. I was putting together decks to recommend X, Y and Z but the client would never execute it without having a financial or strategic reason to do so. This is where I discovered the career path of finance. Most decisions are never made without a financial reason. So I set off to try and break into some finance role in the hopes to drive the decision making processes at a firm. This was fairly daunting since I was not in the business school at my university and not one of my relatives could provide insight (the closest to finance would be an uncle who is a public accountant).

F500 Internship:

Heading back to school this time around, I tried to put together a strategy on how to get a finance internship. Whenever I tried to apply through my school's careers page or online job sites, I couldn't even apply since most finance internships required that you have a major in a business-related study. Luckily, I was able to close this gap by saying that I was "going to" get a second major in economics (close enough!). I took a few econ classes to back up my claim of grabbing an econ major and started to apply. While most firms rejected me outright, one F500 company hired me on as an intern in their capital planning group. At that point I was so excited that I finally broke in.

Enter the first day of my finance internship. I rode my way up to the top floor of the building where all the finance people worked. I felt like a king going to the top floor. Doors open and what I saw wasn't that glamorous. The office floor was lit by a dim soft yellow fluorescent light and it was so quiet that you could almost hear the guy at the furthest cubicle chew his gum. Not to mention the tall cube walls. To keep thing short, it was fun at first but soon got boring. I wanted something with a faster pace with more interaction between folks.

Networking to PE:

So I networked my way trying to find the job that fit my wants. Enter private equity. I met a guy who worked as a portfolio company manager who worked for a PE shop. He gave me the quick n dirty 30 minute run down of what PE was. Most of what he said blew over my head but when I went back home, I research the shit out of it to get a general understanding of what it was about. After keeping in touch with this guy, I eventually landed an interview with the PE shop in their investment team group. I got the spot along with someone from an M7 B-school. The experience was great. Got to build models from scratch, read CIMS, see how investment professionals screen investments, put together memos and do their diligence. In the end I didn't get a full time offer. Neither did the B-school kid. I was now a senior without a full time job lined up. I panicked. I had to go back out and find a job.

Delayed graduation / Networking:

But with three solid internships on my resume it became fairly easy to land interviews for back/middle-office finance roles. But I wanted something more exciting. So after I got a full time offer at a firm and job I settle for, I went ahead and delayed my graduation my senior year. This way, my expected graduation date would suggest that I was still a junior. With a robust resume in hand, I started to network with all the bankers I interacted with during my PE internship. I'd say 80% responded but it only took one guy at a BB to go out of his way to pull me in the loop. He got my interviews. Since we've worked on a deal together at that point, he just asked me the generic why iBanking questions and after 2-3 phone calls with VPs and Directors, I made it to my superday late December my senior year. After acing the interviews, I was on my way to the coveted summer analyst gig later that summer. At that point, I called HR at the firm I signed a full time gig with and reneged. I then delayed graduation by a semester to make it official (didn't sign up for any classes so didn't have to pay extra in tuition).

Summer Analyst experience:

The summer analyst opportunity was fantastic. I met a bunch of people who I could relate with. Ambitious young folks who just wanted to do their best to be the best. Many of whom I'd consider good friends were met there. We stayed up late, stayed out late, and held our breath together when the day came for full time offers to be handed out. Having had more experience and direct working experience with the IB team from my previous PE internship, I had it a little easier. The work was a bit easier and I caught on quicker but that's really because I had an extra year of practice. I ultimately got the full time offer and was wined and dined by the associates and VPs to get me to sign ASAP. After negotiating an earlier start date, I was ready to sign.

Back to PE...

The day I was ready to sign the paper, I got a call from the PE firm I interned for. They essentially wanted me back as a full time analyst. They knew I had an offer with the BB (they supported me and even pulled a few strings). What was a straight forward answer of "do I want to do IB full time" became more complicated... "IB or PE?" I ultimately chose PE for a variety of reasons - 1) more intellectually challenging, 2) better pay, 3) better work-life balance and 4) personal reasons. So here I am as an analyst at a private equity firm looking back at what got me to where I am now. While I worked hard, thoughtfully planned things out and hustled, many have helped me get to where I am now. So that being said, I am open to answering any questions you fellow monkeys have for me. I'll try to respond as best as I can.

Cheers~

Hi fellow monkeys...

I'm a brand new poster but have been reading through these boards for a couple of months to pass the time. The preponderance of posts on here regarding happiness and the work life balance have compelled me to add my own .02 cents on these issues, mostly because I think that I have a unique perspective to offer, having actually quit the rat race for some adventure. Take it for what it's worth, with plenty of salt on the side! I'm trying to get back into the game after a 1 yr sabbatical, and I wanted to share my story about what happens just after you give your boss the finger and "go out and enjoy life"

Some background about me:

Nothing phenomenal whatsoever. I've always worked just hard enough to get that next paycheck. I've never been particularly motivated, smart, distinguished, pedigreed, accomplished, or exceptional. Never cared about advancement, personal growth, potential, or any of that stuff. Where I'm from, it's a victory just to avoid getting shot or harassed by the police each day (Cliched as it may be, I'm black and from "the hood"). It goes without saying that I was just a "B" student when I applied myself.

My story:

I joined the Army at 17 after my parents died precisely because I had no direction. Absolutely hated it. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate what it taught me about life being unfair, having bosses who frequently went on power trips, doing shyt work, being a grunt, "looking" busy at all times, and having absolutely no freedom or autonomy-and these are all valuable lessons for going into Corporate America and/or banking fyi-however, the 3 yr delay set me way behind my peers, I was homesick and miserable, I hated waking up at 5am each day to go run mini marathons, I hated getting tasked out to details that included grass cutting or trash removal, and I hated having all of my weekend plans blown up at the drop of a hat at the whims of some senior NCO. It sucked hard

I took the GI Bill and Army College Fund and ran. I ended up at some tier 3 shythole college in NY (I'd say the name but you've likely never heard of it). I majored in Political Science (later added Econ). Obviously, my prospects were bleak. I didn't intern anywhere-I spent my summers selling Insurance at GEICO and Working in Accounts Receivable at Worldcom (try handling their A/R during the collapse!). My grades were decent (3.5), but I had an easy major at a shythole school and avoided math/science/computers/engineering like the plague. Goldman was not going to come calling.

Senior year I got dragged to a college fair, and "clicked" with a recruiter from the Walt Disney Co. who happened to be an alumnus. I still have no idea what they saw in me, but as I look back, I probably came off nonchalant and confident since I didn't really care about the outcome. Everyone else there was trying way too hard to impress. I was cracking jokes and asking questions that were probably a little different from your standard "tell me about the culture there" type fluff. Anyways, I was extended an offer in their corporate finance dept-and had a job lined up after college as a Finance Analyst (it is all about who you know).

The job itself was OK. It was mostly financial reporting, some valuations, some forecasting, auditing, and Sarbanes Oxley compliance work. I worked on some cool Disney properties (their entire media/TV division, including ABC and ESPN), and learned some pretty useful finance concepts on the job. I wasn't a quant by any means, but I was pretty good with Excel, and most finance "math" isn't rocket science to begin with. The sheer repetition got me up to speed in a heartbeat. Had I "made" it? Hardly. The hours were great, the money was OK for a single 25 yr. old, but I had no real life. My friends were all dead, military, or imprisoned. Chased some skirts, but that got old (and expensive) fast. My problem was that I'd never cared about anything up until that point, so had trouble really finding my passion. Books, women, trips, video games, museums, etc...all of it bored me. So I just started saving 30-40% of my income each month. I never owned any property or got married, so this started adding up fast.

After about 3 yrs at Disney, I got a call from a headhunter looking to place me into a major financial data/information firm looking to expand their media presence (I think it's fairly obvious where). I'd have basically the same exact responsibilities as before, but I'd be getting a significant pay increase with bonus opportunities as well. I figured "why not?". I would then spend the next 4 yrs in abject misery. The company itself is great, but my particular division had some real "go getters" who had set some ridiculously aggressive targets, and they started to work us to the bone. I went from 45 hour weeks at my last gig to over 80 in a heartbeat. Holy shyt.
I tried to look elsewhere in 08 but the sky was falling back then. Next thing I know it's 2012 and I'm still there! Needless to say I looked terrible and even now had high blood pressure. At that point I'd saved up a mint, and stumbled upon WSO. I read enough hard luck IB stories to realize that 1) I wasn't getting paid enough to be doing banker hours 2) I was in danger of getting locked in if I stayed there long term 3) I was in danger of getting pigeonholed as a spreadsheet bytch 4)Life was passing me by

One day it was 10:30pm and I was helping the corp dev. team price some products for an acquisition target when I got into it with my boss, who was calling from home (of course) to a)make sure I was still there and b) chew me out for missing a deadline earlier (I missed it by less than 2 hours, only because he had tasked me out to the corp dev team!) I told him to "fukk off" because I was busy and hung up on him. I quit the next morning. He tried to get me to stay but I was done. I shook his hand, though. I had enough in savings to take a nice long break and reassess, so while it was an impulsive move, I'd been thinking about it for months.

1st month I just relaxed and watched TV. That got boring

2nd month I started taking Spanish lessons on skype with someone who lived in Central America. Turns out I enjoyed it...and started to acquire the language really quickly. Could this be my passion?

3rd Month I bought a one way ticket to Nicaragua on the cheap. I spent the next 5 months backpacking in and out of various locales in Central and South America. I felt alive. It was the most fun I'd EVER had-and I even managed to become a near fluent Spanish speaker. I went all in-10 hours of lessons a day, homestay families, cultural tours, etc. Even better was that it was so cheap down there I got to live like a king (you can get a 4 course meal in Guatemala for about 7 bucks USD). The most interesting part was running into all of the expats living/backpacking out there-many of them former bankers or big law attorneys. Some of them had quit life entirely and had no intention of ever returning to the States! I also had a blast running into all of the Australian, Canadian, Malaysian, British, Israeli, and Western European folks on the gringo trail-I became part of a great community of backpackers and with Facebook and linked in it's easy to stay in touch. Meeting these people changed my life-I'd never really made friends with anyone "different" before-never really made "friends", period- but listening to their travel stories and details about their lives at home awakened something in me. Sure some were hippies and slackers...but most were on gap years and/or had plans to go home and do big things.

It got me thinking about where I wanted to be, how I wanted my life to be perceived, and what kind of legacy I wanted to leave. Sure it was fun sleeping in and waking up to the best females the developing world had to offer, but surely there was...more? Put it this way-when someone Googles me in 50 yrs, what will they see? My list of misdemeanors from my youth and a Facebook page? Is that what my life would have been worth? I Googled my parents and found nothing. It's as if they'd never existed. No one will ever remember them. The possibility of going out like that really started to bother me...

Didn't realize how long this would be. I'll split this into 2 parts and detail what I've done since the return from my "pilgrimage", along with the actual advice on the next installment!

Mod Note (Andy): Throwback Thursday, this interesting tale was originally posted 3/7/13

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Want to provide advice on networking, applying to jobs strategically, and whatever it is someone in a similar boat might want to ask me.

Also, want to get advice from experienced finance folks - how to break into HF from the Consulting world? I am definitely not planning on going to B-School at the moment - not willing to give up my income.

Short story: Graduated from Big 10 in December, no job lined up, fucked around for a few months and networked my ass off - landed at F200, then after around a year switched into Big 4 Consulting - better pay and opportunity to fluff up my resume. Been here for a while, but realize consulting is not my thing...