What actually got them the offer.

I am a double major in Finance and Data Analytics at a non-target school. I had an incoming hedge fund internship and had not completed any internships prior to recruiting for banking. The only somewhat relevant experience on my resume was my school's banking club and the business that I ran throughout high school. These two and the incoming hedge fund internship were practically the only things talked about from my resume in interviews. More specifically, the entrepreneurship came up the most, and this was something that really caught people's attention. I am involved in three organizations on campus, not in any leadership positions in any, but I am active and take advantage of everything they all offer.

My strategy coming into recruiting was a little funny, since I really didn't know I wanted to do banking until around the winter of my sophomore year. I caught on pretty quickly, and before even looking at technicals, I started firing off cold emails. Not knowing much about banking during the first five to ten calls definitely did not help, but the more bankers I spoke with and the more reps I got, the better the calls started going.

At that point, I started studying technicals daily. Whether it was going through guides, reading Faceless Finance, or something else, I made sure to study for at least two hours each day. I also made sure to maintain relationships with my networking contacts and keep them updated on my progress.

When interviews came up, I mock interviewed with friends and upperclassmen, and would even go on Zoom to speak my answers out loud.

The biggest role Faceless Finance played in my recruiting process was helping me realize that a huge part of the decision-making process is about who you are as a person, not just whether you can nail 100 percent of the technicals. Through the EQ and Behavioral Interviews courses, I learned how to structure my answers and express genuine interest in banking. More importantly, I learned how to come across as someone others could see themselves working with for 12 or more hours a day.

I would say the biggest thing that I know now is to get involved and gain experience from day one. I think that not having any prior internship experience really limited me and caused bankers to dive much deeper into the experience I did have. Looking back, getting an unpaid internship in anything finance related would have worked wonders for me during recruiting. That being said, extracurriculars at school also play a huge role, and being able to show that you're involved and well rounded goes a long way. The last thing I can say is that the basic technicals are non-negotiable, and especially in interviews, the biggest thing is not to act like you know everything, because you will pigeonhole yourself into getting questions you don't know how to answer.