Will refusing an internship jeopardise your chances to land graduate position?

Many students will find themselves in a situation where they decided not to attend a second or final round of investment banking interviews and refuse an internship, because they already received and accepted an internship offer somewhere else. Many feel that this may affect their chances to apply for full time positions (or other internships) at the company in the future.

The truth is that most banks will be more than happy to receive your application again for a full time position, even if you declined an offer or quit during the process, provided that you declined politely.

In most cases, students that received multiple offers will be in high demand because this shows that you did well at interviews, and banks will be keen to keep touch with those they met through the interview process.

Although banks aim to do most of their hiring through their internship programmes, a typically offer ratio is about 70%. The remaining 30% will thefore come from straight hiring from campuses, and, often, this is done by getting back in touch with prior applicants.

If you know the recruiter you were dealing with, you should not hesitate to get in touch again to discuss the process and timelines.