Job Hunting Lessons

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Sefian Kasem is a PhD student at the Centre for Quantitative Finance at Imperial College, London University. He has applied for a graduate traineeship at several investment banks, but been turned down. However he has not given up and believes there are several routes to success:As Bear turns to Bull, investment banks are increasing their recruitment of trainees. But they are still hiring fewer than in the boom years of 2000 and 2001, in case the economy turns sour.

This means many applicants are still receiving rejections en masse. I know the feeling; I have applied to six banks without success in the last two years. I got as far as the second round of interviews at two of …