So you worked 10 weeks for an investment bank this past summer. You hauled yourself to the office every morning only to return home at 2 a.m. You spent your days slaving on Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint. You wrote weekly summaries on exotic derivatives and initial public offerings and pushed your way through the financial lexicon. Now, you don’t have an offer. Take a number.
With the economy in the gutter, investment banks up and down Wall Street are handing out a shrinking number of job offers to graduating seniors. Conventional wisdom may hold that scoring an internship will guarantee a full-time position, but this summer’s economic woes have proven that even hard work can leave you empty-handed.
This year, investment banks like Merrill Lynch are making full-time job offers to 40 percent of their summer interns, down from 70 percent a year ago. And with full-time recruitment gearing up in the weeks to come, it will be interesting to see how many finance hopefuls get those remaining coveted spots.
For the Class of 2009, next week’s Career Fair could not come at a better time. Didn’t get that offer for Sales and Trading? Don’t worry about it. Check out Advertising Sales. Credit Research didn’t work out for you? Try Teach for America. This year’s senior class is embarking on a job search in a historically weak job market, and members of that class are sure to be on the lookout for alternatives to investment and finance.
But things aren’t all bad. The silver lining for the Class of 2009 is that the end of college does not have to mean the end of academic or professional exploration. There are worse things than spending a year teaching English abroad or a few more years studying Anthropology in graduate school.
So for those seniors dealt the crushing blow of a Wall Street rejection: do not dwell. Your summer internships trained you well. Now is the time to harness your creative edge and find something different. Stick it to the man and capitalize on your free agent status. If all else fails, you can always short their stock.