London Banking Pipeline Tracker
This conversation was generated using Cook'd AI's career assistant and reviewed by Fallon Han from our editorial team for accuracy.
Help me spot which EBs are dead ends versus which ones still have a path after the video interview stage. I am a senior finance major at a non-target, applying to elite boutique investment banking roles in London on a UK graduate visa, and I need to know where to push harder.
You need a tracker that separates status from probability. For each bank, log the current stage, date submitted, whether you have an alumni referral, and the last human touchpoint. Then use color coding for three buckets: stalled after HireVue, active and progressing, and likely dead end. If a role has sat at HireVue for more than 10 business days with no recruiter follow-up and no referral, mark it as low probability. If there is an alumnus, recruiter reply, or superday invite history at that firm, keep it in the active bucket even if it looks quiet.
That makes sense. I have 18 applications and I cannot tell which ones are just slow versus actually dead. Some EBs asked for HireVue and then went silent. Others never had any referral to begin with. How do I track this without making it messy?
Keep it simple and recruiter-facing. Use columns for firm, office, role, submit date, referral status, HireVue date, first round date, superday date, current stage, days since last update, and next action. Add one extra field called path score. Give it 3 points for alumni referral, 2 for recruiter response, 2 for interview movement, and 1 for UK visa fit if the posting explicitly accepts it. Anything with a low score and no update after HireVue should move to your dead-end watchlist. Anything with a score above 4 stays on active follow-up.
How should I tell if a firm is stalled after HireVue versus genuinely done? A few of them are elite boutiques in London and I do not want to give up too early.
Use evidence, not vibes. A firm is stalled if the timeline is still open, other candidates are moving forward, or the recruiter has not closed the loop. It is probably done if you have a rejection email, the job posting disappeared long ago, and there has been no movement after two follow-ups. For London EBs, a quiet HireVue can still convert if they are batching interviews, so mark it as stalled until you pass a hard cutoff. I would use 12 business days after HireVue as the point to downgrade it unless you have a referral or a direct recruiter contact.
Can the tracker help me prioritize outreach too? I want to know which alumni to ask for help on the applications that still have a real shot.
Yes. Sort by highest path score and oldest stage first. Prioritize firms where you are pre-HireVue or just post-HireVue, because those are the easiest to rescue with a referral. For each stalled role, assign one outreach task only: either alumni referral, recruiter follow-up, or internal contact check. Do not spam every connection. Your tracker should show a clear action like request referral from London alum in coverage or send polite follow-up to recruiter after 10 business days.
What does a good status setup look like for me specifically, since I am on a UK graduate visa and targeting London only?
Use stages that match the process exactly: submitted, HireVue sent, HireVue completed, first round scheduled, first round done, superday, offer, rejected, on hold. Then add flags for alumni referral missing, visa okay, and stalled after HireVue. For your situation, the most useful view is a pipeline board with three filters: London office only, EB only, and stalled after HireVue. That lets you instantly see which firms still have a path and which ones need a referral to keep moving.