<p>junior business major studying abroad for fall 2012 semester. i'm a bit worried to be missing out on major networking events back at my home university.</p>
<p>when do consulting firms and investment banks start their official recruiting process? i'm looking at firms like deloitte, accenture, pwc, etc. </p>
<p>advice from anyone with a similar experience would be helpful thanks</p>
<p>Most consultancies and I-banks start recruiting as soon as you get back from winter break in January, but there are a few rogue companies that recruit FT and interns at the same time and another few that do information sessions right before winter break. The vast, vast majority do their recruiting in mid-January; I-banks tend to recruit a week or so earlier than consultancies.</p>
<p>@chrisw,</p>
<p>thanks for the reply!
I will def. be on campus by mid january so i can be there for campus interviews, i presume. but let’s say the companies i want to apply for have info sessions in nov/dec when I am still abroad. how can i go about networking with these people then?</p>
<p>I’m not sure how it works at your particular school, but at mine, the information sessions weren’t terribly important; they were truly information sessions, not critical pre-screening events. If you aren’t completely certain about what a company does and want to get information, it is certainly a good idea to email the primary contact (you can find this person through career services) and let him know that you cannot attend the info session but are interested in learning about the internship.</p>
<p>Realistically, there probably won’t be very many (if any) info sessions in November and December. Recruiters have their hell season from August until mid-November, and they spend most of the rest of November and December working on administrative nonsense. They also aren’t going to hold info sessions during reading days / finals week, so that pretty much eliminates December anyway.</p>
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<p>Have you contacted your career placement office or looked the at the firms websites? This information is published early in the fall.</p>
<p>They usually start right when the spring semester begins.</p>