Drumroll Please....

Remember when I said I had exciting news that I couldn’t share right away? Well, guess what! I’m still not pregnant. Whew. Thank goodness for that. But, in order for you to find my news as exciting as I do you’ll need to know what I went through to get there.

When I went back to school I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do with the Finance degree I was pursuing. The more I learned and talked to people who were in the business, I learned that I was really interested in Investment Banking (from here on out referred to as IB). I was told numerous times by everyone I talked to that IB was super competitive and a degree from my “non-ivy league” university was not going to cut it. Since my university was pretty much my only option at the time I decided to strive for a 4.0 to give me a leg up. Mission accomplished (the 4.0, not the leg up).

I applied to a hundred jobs and made connections at every big bank I could find. Everyone told me the same thing… my university wasn’t prestigious enough to land me a job in IB. Well crap.

When I graduated I asked my favorite professor (who happened to be a prominent market consultant in the community) if he had any ideas how to get into IB. He gave me a few names and wished me well.

Fast forward two months and 100 more job applications, I FINALLY got a call back from one of my professor’s contacts. She happened to be a recruiting VP for a well-known leadership program at a big bank. Open door, insert foot. Yes! I interviewed with her and found out soon after that they wanted me back for a second interview. Turns out this was a big deal, out of 2500+ applicants/interviews, only about 300 get called back for a second interview. Go me!

Side note for informational purposes: The program I was trying to get into is a leadership program where you spend the first 10 months of employment in training. They teach you all about the bank and give you detailed knowledge and training for the area of the bank that you will be working in. Also, since it’s a leadership program, they monitor your career and make sure you are progressing nicely. After the program you are a regular employee just like everyone else, just one that gets special treatment because you’re special. It comes with a lot of perks. This training program is kind of like school with “majors” depending on the career field you want to pursue. Each January and July the program accepts about 50 people. Capital Markets (i.e. Investment Banking) only has 3 slots. Yikes.
Back to my story…

At the end of the second interview they ask you to name your top 3 choices for “major”. When they called to offer me a position in the program they gave me my third choice. Now, I’m not one to look a gift horse in the mouth (an expression that I’ve never understood, but I’m pretty sure it applies here), but I was a little disappointed. Capital Markets is so competitive that I felt like this was my last hope for getting into IB. When they offered me the position they mentioned how well I interviewed and how impressed they were. I saw this as an opportunity to ask questions… why not Capital Markets? You’ll never guess what he said. No really, guess.

Of course he said what everyone else said. Most of the candidates for that major come from a more prestigious university and have had an internship on the street (wall street, that is). Damnitt man! After talking for a while he decided he liked my gumption and offered to talk to some people to see what he could land me another interview with the Capital Markets guys. He ended up talking to three or four different people about me. I interviewed with three of them. Talk about exhausting.

After all was said and done, I did it. I finally convinced them that despite the institution that awarded my degree, despite my lack of internship, and despite my lack of experience in anything IB related, that I can do this job.

I GOT IT! Beginning in January of 2013, I will officially be working in Capital Markets, one of the most competitive industries on the job market.

I’m pretty sure my cute smile and stellar personality only had a little bit to do with it.