Women are almost twice as likely to get banking internship interviews... but not offers

It's rarely easy getting an internship in finance and, for those that haven't won the parent lottery, applying for 50+ roles is essential. According to a report today from Trackr, women are much more likely to bear the fruit of those applications.

Who is your Ideal Employer in finance? 💥 Answer our survey for a chance to win $1k

Trackr's 2024/25 summer internships season report said that male applicants applied to 73.1 roles on average this season, but were invited to just 4.46 interviews, a 6.1% interview rate. Female applicants had an interview rate of 10.7%: they applied to 52.1 internships on average and were invited to 5.58 interviews. Trackr said that women's advantage in CV screening had tripled from 26% to 76%.

Despite that, the rate at which interviews were converted to internship offers were largely similar. Male candidates received offers from interviews 19.1% of the time, while women did so 19.3% of the time. Therefore, being a woman might help get you in the room, but it won't keep you there. Trackr said the diverse candidates that had a statistical advantage in interviews were black heritage students, who converted 33.3% of their interviews into offers. 

The UK government's gender pay gap reporting tool suggests that women are increasingly populating the junior rungs of the banking ladder. In 11 of 14 banks we analyzed for 2024, women made up the majority of the bottom 25% of earners. Outside of boutique Lazard, women never occupied more than 30% of top quartile among those banks. Data from our 2024/25 salary and bonus report suggests that women in finance receive $144k on average in total compensation (TC), just over half the average TC of men.

Your gender alone doesn't affect your chances of an internship offer; the role you're applying for plays a big part. Applicants receiving the fewest offers regardless of gender were applying to banks' investment banking divisions: they applied to 66.7 roles on average, were invited to 4.24 interviews, and received just 0.68 offers. Internship applicants on the buy side received 0.92 offers on average, but they applied to ~9 extra roles per head.

Have a confidential story, tip, or comment you’d like to share? Contact: Telegram: @AlexMcMurray, WhatsApp: (+1 269 237 3950). Signal: @AlexMcMurrayEFC.88 Click here to fill in our anonymous form, or email editortips@efinancialcareers.com.

Bear with us if you leave a comment at the bottom of this article: all our comments are moderated by human beings. Sometimes these humans might be asleep, or away from their desks, so it may take a while for your comment to appear. Eventually it will – unless it’s offensive or libellous (in which case it won’t.)