How I Almost Landed A Job :in the Finance Industry ( Part 2)

Hay guys!

Decided to share some of my other " How I almost" by the way not all my job application stories are sob stories. But I felt it was better to start with the sob story just to give you an insight of what it really was like and if you are currently job hunting I hope my stories encourage you to continue you are not alone!

And if you haven't read the first part of the story on How I almost Landed my dream job there's a part one and its on my blog feed now.

me searching for job opportunities during every free time I get

During my compulsory one year service , I decided to job hunt one afternoon when I had finished my work for the day. And then I came across the Big 4 Investment Banks . At this point I was like might as well apply and see. I love challenges so I decided to apply despite not having a background in finance or economics ( I studied International Relations).

And then I discovered most of the openings for entry level where closed till 2020, it was a bummer. And so I started reading more about the recruitment process and then preparing my motivation letter, cover letter and CV.

January 2020 came and I started my applications I started applying some opened theirs in February so I applied then.

In about 2 weeks I got invited for apptitude tests . The interesting thing was that all the investment banking firms I applied to invited me for an apptitude test I mean these are the big 4 I read how difficult getting selected for this stage was. So I was really surprised they considered me despite not having a background in finance. I went all out linking with all the people I could find that worked in the positions I applied for in LinkedIn and most of them were so helpful.

some good news final1y!

The apptitude tests where focused on situational judgement, numerical reasoning, logical reasoning, math. Might I add that I had to revisit my math books again . And then I moved on to the next stage with 2 investment firms out of the 8 I had applied to.

Next was a video interview where I would do a presentation, I was all nerves that day whew! I prayed as much as I could and prepared as much as I could . Now I must say hats off to the finance and investment gurus cause mehn! while reading their coursework and possible questions I was perplexed people actually study and understand that.

The interviews were quite ok but I do remember not being able to properly answer one of the investment questions in one if the interviews. They stated they would get back to me and so I waited.

Now from what I read they usually do not take over a month to get back to candidates but it was already mid March and I was not getting any response.

And the April I got a mail from one of the banks the junior analyst level( internship) I had applied to was cancelled. By then Covid had become a pandemic I was so sad.

But I did love the experience the hiring process of this investment banks are more responsive and you will always get feedback after every step which was what I loved about it.

If you've read my last blog post and then this post you'd see that LinkedIn played major roles in getting me far in my applications.

I recently read a post by someone on LinkedIn sharing how he landed his dream job by networking on Twitter.

Don't hesitate to reach out to as many as you can networking will take you places. You'd often find the best relationships from networking, don't let other people's sob stories deter you there are still so many kind people out there.

And if you are still on the job hunt I wish you goodluck! any questions or suggestions? feel free to leave a comment in the comment box. And if you find my content interesting please subscribe.

I am always rooting for you

As always , I am always rooting for you!

Your cheerleader,

Gimbiya.