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anyone applying to Bank of America?
 

jason's picture
ST
(Baboon, 114
 
Points)
 on 10/18/08 at 9:55pm

Had a first round on campus interview for Bank of America with some recent alums. Was told to wait but haven't heard back in 10 days. Just wondering if anyone's been invited to their superday.

Tags:
bearing's picture

I'm surprised that Bank of

ER
(Neanderthal, 2,082
 
Points)
 on 10/18/08 at 10:31pm

I'm surprised that Bank of America is hiring considering that they have their own SAs plus Merrill's SAs as a hiring pool.

Hephaestus's picture

I know undergrads who have

O
(Baboon, 129
 
Points)
 on 10/19/08 at 3:26pm

I know undergrads who have recieved repeated queries from Merill HR, really surprising as I expected things to at least start going through BOA. Somewhat confused about how this is supposed to work out and if/why Merill is still hiring like a nutcase.

yanks234's picture

Same old stuff

(Monkey, 30
 
Points)
 on 10/19/08 at 4:38pm

Again, I will reiterate, as I've posted close to 4 responses on this topic. FEW, If ANY firms are actually recruiting. The firms have relationships with target schools to maintain, so they merely have alums come down to campus, give their pitch, make you feel wanted, then kick you to the curb after a first round, because "it was a difficult and competitive process."

Seriously, put 2+2 together, and realize, why on EARTH would B of A be hiring when there's imminent overlap with ML, not to mention pending layoffs due to redundancies?

In this market, and, given the arbitrary nature of IB recruiting, assume nothing and expect to be rejected. Being given an offer is equivalent to putting your finger to the wind, there's basically NO science behind it, whether you interned at 5 BBs or no BBs.

I'm not trying to belittle the poster, but if Lehman was going bankrupt and they were still recruiting, would you think its a legitimate opportunity to be hired? This is roughly equivalent to the same situation

bigmonkey31's picture

yanks234, i had a superday

IB
(Orangutan, 271
 
Points)
 on 10/19/08 at 6:01pm

yanks234,

i had a superday with bank of america a couple weekends ago. so you think they flew me out, paid for my hotel and my expenses for 2 days just to keep relations with the school?

but then again this was their RE group which is their stronger group..

yanks234's picture

Yep, bigmonkey31, I do

(Monkey, 30
 
Points)
 on 10/19/08 at 6:42pm

Yep, bigmonkey31, I do believe that they did that to keep relations with the school. It happened in Fall 07 also, as I had friends from targets who went through the same motions with B of A, RBS and MS. Yet, right after the B of A superday CEO Ken Lewis proclaims he "had all the fun in B of A's IB division for now...."

Spending the amount on flying you out, etc, is an inconsequential expense relative to bringing on a larger analyst class and expanding headcount.

Your situation could be legit, but I'm just giving my 2 cents on the situation from what happened in 2007 and 2008.

lurker's picture

Just confirming

ST
(Monkey, 30
 
Points)
 on 10/19/08 at 8:02pm

that bofa is actually hiring. I went to a superday for them 2 weeks ago, and got an offer the following week (industry group in IBD).

ibdizzle's picture

yanks234, stop giving out false information

IB
(Monkey, 58
 
Points)
 on 10/20/08 at 2:51pm

Banks are hiring, albeit with smaller, reduced classes. Peers (and I go to a semi-target) have been getting offers from bulges and boutiques alike.

Bigger problem may be that there is just so much talent out there right now (people that had IBD experience but with no return offers) that it becomes increasingly more difficult to break into the industry.

yanks234's picture

trojandizzle, I'm not

(Monkey, 30
 
Points)
 on 10/20/08 at 3:06pm

trojandizzle, I'm not refuting in anyway your information. I have had friends who are part of the campus recruiting teams at several BBs tell me that they go down to campus, and oftentimes do not actually have any intent on hiring people, and if they do, its maybe 1 or 2 students.

I suggest you look at the most recent 60 Minutes Clip with Ken Lewis of B of A...he predicts a need to do some $6bn of cost savings. Cost savings = elimination of redundancies in IB, S&T, etc. There will be a shakeout of former ML employees and B of A employees alike.

http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/20/bofa-...

bearing's picture

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps

ER
(Neanderthal, 2,082
 
Points)
 on 10/20/08 at 4:13pm

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&si...

From the horse's mouth

Clueless Wanderer's picture

It makes no sense to me why

IB
(Baboon, 142
 
Points)
 on 10/20/08 at 4:23pm

It makes no sense to me why BofA would be giving offers when it has to decide what to do with 2 summer analyst classes

ibdizzle's picture

Fair enough

IB
(Monkey, 58
 
Points)
 on 10/21/08 at 12:40am

You're absolutely right, it is 1-2 students that most firms are looking to hire...but that is still 1-2 spots that prospective analysts can strive towards attaining. In general, takes a lot of persistence and determination to break into the industry--posts with absolutes (such as firms holding superdays with absolutely no intent to hire) kill any kind of optimism.

While firms in the past may have come onto campus to preserve recruitment relations, this environment is unprecedented and extraordinary to say the least. Firms that hired their FT class entirely from their SA class have canceled the interview process entirely (UBS, MER, etc.). That being said, I think its safe to assume that the ones that still are coming to campus ARE still hiring, even if its for those 1-2 students.

I don't know whats going on with BofA but I do know that they are still hiring and have held multiple superdays. There will without a doubt be cost reductions, but even if you are fortunate enough to attain an offer there and then be unfortunate enough to be axed, there is still a chance the group will bring you along to another shop.

yanks234's picture

And, to further substantiate

(Monkey, 30
 
Points)
 on 10/21/08 at 6:10pm

And, to further substantiate my claim about firms "preserving relations with no intent of hiring." I cite this Dealbreaker post:

http://dealbreaker.com/2008/10/hiring-watch-08-mer...

So, while 1-2 offers might be given out, the odds are LARGELY stacked against applicants. Given these odds, it's probably easier to get into Harvard/Yale u-grad or HBS.

Bottom line--Superdays are irrelevant. Last year, MS did the same thing. Sent down the campus recruiting team, wined and dined the students, superday etc. No intent of hiring. I rest my case.

In case all of you on this board seem to doubt the press clippings I've cited, that's ok. I'm not making this stuff up.

AND...here's a post on Dealbreaker on this topic:

Posted by guest, Oct 21, 2008 5:30PM

Yeah, we used to do that all the time too - run the meet & greet recruiting sessions when we had no intention of hiring. The schools/prospectives don't know that - they might think we filled the roster at a different school.

But in lean times like this, the career people really love you for giving the students some (false) hope - and it makes them look good because there are lots of big name firms coming to campus.

That can pay off in a more competitive year when you want a good slot or for the counselors to put in a good word for you.

Ivar Kreuger's picture

First round thursday, told

ST
 
Points)
 on 10/21/08 at 9:37pm

First round thursday, told to put time aside for superday on friday.

sounds pretty safe to say i can put this one on the shelf next to the MS s&t first round.

ginNtonic's picture

Our group is cutting back

(Gorilla, 562
 
Points)
 on 10/22/08 at 9:41am

Our group is cutting back our 2009 analyst class by about 1/4. So about half are coming from summers while the other qurater is coming from on-campus. So people are still hiring and don't let the cynics let you guys know otherwise.

Warhawk_1's picture

BoA actually gave out a

IB
 
Points)
 on 10/22/08 at 9:53am

BoA actually gave out a surprisingly high number of offers on-campus at Penn this year.

wso1021's picture

how common is that...to give

O
 
Points)
 on 10/22/08 at 11:19am
ChelseaFC85's picture

i can confirm that they are

IB
(Orangutan, 258
 
Points)
 on 10/22/08 at 4:40pm
ibdizzle's picture

Not common

IB
(Monkey, 58
 
Points)
 on 10/22/08 at 7:14pm
Worth's picture

Merill not BofA

ER
 
Points)
 on 10/22/08 at 11:28pm
neutralnuke's picture

yeah, related to the above

O
(Baboon, 132
 
Points)
 on 10/23/08 at 12:15am
Clueless Wanderer's picture

Friend got an offer from

IB
(Baboon, 142
 
Points)
 on 10/23/08 at 12:17am
bearing's picture

Merrill and BoA are still

ER
(Neanderthal, 2,082
 
Points)
 on 10/23/08 at 12:26am
big unit's picture

Merrill and BOA's merger

IB
(Gorilla, 590
 
Points)
 on 10/25/08 at 12:48pm
coverthis's picture

look at merger arb... those

IB
(Baboon, 121
 
Points)
 on 10/29/08 at 1:19am
indian-banker's picture

It would actually be

IB
 
Points)
 on 10/29/08 at 4:29am
Clueless Wanderer's picture

Isn't Merrill f-ucked if

IB
(Baboon, 142
 
Points)
 on 10/29/08 at 12:20pm
CatsLHP's picture

Well if you guys saw the

IB
 
Points)
 on 10/29/08 at 1:25pm
woody_banker's picture

SuperDay Halloween

IB
(Chimp, 14
 
Points)
 on 10/29/08 at 3:51pm
4u2bnvs's picture

I get the whole "maintain

HF
 
Points)
 on 10/29/08 at 4:11pm
woody_banker's picture

I think they are hiring

IB
(Chimp, 14
 
Points)
 on 10/29/08 at 4:55pm
PirateEquity's picture

woody, went through it last

IB
(Chimp, 9
 
Points)
 on 10/29/08 at 8:02pm
ChelseaFC85's picture

t

IB
(Orangutan, 258
 
Points)
 on 11/2/08 at 12:39am
jason's picture

anyone?

ST
(Baboon, 114
 
Points)
 on 11/9/08 at 2:37pm
bigmonkey31's picture

no offer for me. From

IB
(Orangutan, 271
 
Points)
 on 12/7/08 at 12:07am
jpuck9's picture

whoever said they got an

ER
(Monkey, 59
 
Points)
 on 12/7/08 at 2:39am

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