How does FT recruiting differ from SA recruiting?

I was very curious what some of the big differences were between FT and SA recruiting. I am pretty sure that FT is much harder (assuming) and it is much more of a smaller pool of applicants that get interviews for FT. Am I right? What are the other differences?

 

There are generally far fewer FT openings than for SA for the reasons mentioned above. The FT recruiting environment also varies greatly from one year to the next - in some years there are a number of openings at good groups, while in other years (this past FT cycle, for example), spots are extremely limited due to the banks over-hiring during SA recruiting.

Ultimately, to make the switch for FT, you need to (i) land a return offer (this is crucial as every one of your interviewers will ask whether you received a return offer), and (ii) network extensively with your target banks to try to get yourself in "accelerated" processes, which usually occur in mid- to late-August. You need to be proactive since the BBs/EBs will usually scramble to fill their FT class in August, with very little (to no) full-time recruiting taking place thereafter.

As far as the interviews, they tend to be fairly similar to SA, maybe a bit more technical. They also focus a lot on your summer experience, so you need to be able to speak intelligently about all of the deals you've worked on.

 
Best Response

If you thought networking was important for SA recruiting, FT recruiting is a different beast entirely. Given the small amount of openings, most places won't run a formal recruitment process/job application and will fill spots specifically through employee referrals. A lot of times it will be immediately after summer intern return offers are handed out - a group will realize they are short by one analyst and will interview a handful of students based off referrals (handful being like FT referrals have a much higher hit rate than just having some connections to get you one of 30 OCR interviews, you'll need much stronger connections to the professionals. A simple phone call/coffee chat doesn't do the trick anymore; the person other side needs to really believe you have the personality and ability to step in right away. That usually means having a personal connection (schools, clubs, etc.) that you can leverage and maybe a strong referral from someone at your current firm that 1) isn't super loyal to the current firm (usually analyst/early associate) and 2) has connections to put in a good word for you at another bank.

 

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