On December 31 2011, my friends and I huddled together with cold bottles of beers and glasses of whisky in our hands, waiting for the clock to strike midnight. We desperately hoped the ancient Mayans were right — that apocalypse would arrive and our job search would be over. Alas, it was not to be and we returned to our laptops, waiting for acceptance or rejection emails and the chance to interview at our dream firms.

Days into 2012 and most major bulge brackets have already completed their offers to “deserving and qualified” graduate candidates, so what options are we left with? We made several resolutions to give our resumes some “oomph” factor. I proceeded to go through that list with a few career counsellors and here is some of their feedback that I thought was interesting:

1) Start my CFA Level 1

This came from a friend who still lusts after an investment banking job. However, according to the career advisors, embarking on a CFA just before a job hunt has almost no effect on swaying the minds of HR managers screening your resumes. Furthermore, it can prove very expensive and time consuming. The time spent could better be used working without pay, or on short-term contracts with financial institutions.

2) Speak to line managers real early

Many US investment banking “walk-through” forums advocate arranging meetings and informational interviews before the recruiting period has even started.

3) Consider other sectors

This is my personal view and my counsellor agrees that it could be a prudent move to make. Go into a relevant industry like technology and media or real estate development, develop the insight from the business point of view and eventually break into banking again as a subject matter expert in this industry.

To all finance industry hopefuls like me, I urge you to keep pressing on and not give up if you truly believe that this is the right path for you. If you think out of the box and find new ways to access this elusive industry, I have faith that despite the looming bad news, the rewards will be satisfying and encouraging. Until then, it is back to the laptops for the rest of us, wishing and praying for that friendly email from campus recruiters.

The author is a final-year finance undergraduate.