Resham Sapru played all her cards right.

She did everything an aspiring investment banker should do: she was a devoted student, networked ardently and interned with Citibank during the summer. Any other year, that internship with Citibank would have basically guaranteed a full-time position right after graduation, she said.

That’s why it came as a bit of a surprise when Sapru discovered she had not received an offer.

“Unfortunately, I was one of the people who didn’t get an offer because of the way markets have been,” said Sapru, senior in LAS. “Finding internships is really competitive because banks are hiring a limited amount of interns.”

Sapru, like many other students with investment banking intern positions, have been victims of the current state of the economy. Interning at an investment bank and actually being offered a position is becoming increasingly difficult, especially after the economic crisis that began in August last year, she said.

“At this point, I’m playing it by ear,” Sapru said. “I think investment banking is one of the best fields but what really worries me is that it is so unpredictable. I don’t know how it’s going to be next year so I’m not putting all of my eggs in one basket.”

Bobby Schuster, senior in Business, interned at Deutsche Bank with three other students this summer.

Typically, all interns would be offered a position, but Schuster said Deutsche Bank offered only one investment banking analyst title to him.

“There’s a lot of great candidates out there, but there’s not a lot of spots,” Schuster said.

“All these banks are failing. They’re just taking huge losses, and they can’t afford to pay everyone.”

Lois Meerdink, assistant dean at Business Career Services, said there is no data yet on whether the amount of full-time positions offered is down from last year, but that she has seen many students not receiving offers after their summer internship.

“We definitely have seen evidence of the tightening of the market,” she said

Meerdink said Business Career Services has been working to combat the downturn in the economy by providing students with as many opportunities as possible.

About 240 companies came to recruit at the Fall Business Career Fair on Sept. 15 and 16, 20 more than last year.

Meerdink said that 2,300 students attended on the first day and 2,100 attended on the second.

“We have students recognizing that they are going to have to work harder to find a job,” she said.

Though the school may be doing everything it can to help students find employment after graduation, Sapru advised that underclassmen consider other alternatives to investment banking.

“Investment banking is extremely competitive because there aren’t a lot of firms coming to recruit,” she said. “Take what you can get instead of being choosy and selective.”

For the students who want to stick with investment banking, Schuster advised students to maintain a very high GPA, go to information sessions and to network.

“Network, network, network,” Sapru said.

“That’s the key to an internship: keep networking. Pick up as many opportunities as you can.”