For those that lateraled for FT to another bank after a SA position...
How exactly did you go about doing this? Did you network with other banks before/during/after the internship to get an interview or was FT through OCR? Hell, did you even interview for FT during the internship and how'd you pull that off?
Thanks in advance.
Interested too
Happy to provide some insight on this. I am sure others with experience may vary on opinions.
I went into my SA with a short list of places I was very interested in recruiting at for FT. I ended up at a pretty solid BB for summer, but it isn't exactly what I really wanted -- that was partly due to not going into recruiting knowing what I was truly interested in. At most of these places, I had already developed some kind of networking connections, mostly on the junior level (analysts and associates). During my internship, I kept in touch with a few of my contacts at each of these places I felt most comfortable chit chatting with. I wasn't giving them weekly or bi-monthly updates on how my internship was going or telling them how excited I was about FT opportunities at their firms. My goal was simply to be in semi-regular contact with them so I wasn't one of the strong candidates they forgot about after recruiting. I knew going into FT recruiting a referral from them would be enough to secure me an accelerated FT interview, so I didn't bother trying to expand my network with more senior bankers at their firms during my internship. Long story short, I just wanted to keep my foot in the door so I would be the first person to walk in as soon as I found out there was an opening. I tried to do this in a way where it wasn't super obvious I was fishing for a FT interview (these guys knew exactly what my motives were, but could at least respect the fact I wasn't doing it blatantly). I personally think it is a bit of a turn-off if a SA is already talking about how excited he is to interview somewhere else for FT without giving his current shop a fair chance -- some may disagree with me on this.
For FT recruiting banks vary a bit from what I have seen. I know a lot of the top BBs and EBs will hold interviews/superdays within the first week of everyone finishing their SA gigs. Some of these shops will finishing filling their class within this first accelerated wave. It may be due to the fact they have very limited openings for the FT class or because they are just very adamant about snatching up the top talent before others get a chance. Other banks may follow this initial wave of interviews with a more traditional FT recruiting process. In some cases, this means repeating the whole college campuses OCR process and hosting huge superdays once school is back in session during August/September. From what I have seen, it really does vary a lot by bank, number of openings, and simply the caliber of talent shopping around FT offers. What I have learned, both from FT recruiting and sitting on the side of the table, is to be as aggressive as possible once your internship is over. As soon as your done and you have a FT offer in hand I would start sending emails to contacts at all the banks you are interested in. Depending on how well you have kept in contact with them and how much value they place on your FT offer, you may be able to wrap up recruiting with the "dream job" you want in a matter of days.
Happy to answer any other or specific questions.
Great post.
Question for you: did you end up developing any of these relationships at other banks after you had already received your SA offer? If so, how did you approach people at that point? Did you disclose that you were already going somewhere else for the summer but you were an inquisitive young up and comer looking to learn more about the industry before you start your SA?
Thanks!
I interned at a certain bank for my SA stint and during the summer reached out to people at other banks saying I'm an intern at xyz bank and I would like to learn more about the industry and abc bank etc. Did this regularly and stayed in touch with people I got along with at other banks - near the end of my internship I started saying I would like to go to abc bank full time because of all the stuff I've learnt from you and that person etc. Got interviews and offer at top choice. I would highly recommend reaching out to people at other banks during your actual internship as you're then on the bank's radar for the summer and going into recruiting
Thanks for all the great info. Would you feel the same would work for a MM firm or did you find being at a BB a massive boost?
I work in Australia so it may be slightly different, but I've lived in the us and I don't think it is much different if at all - I interned at a mm firm and moved to a so called top tier bb full time so can safely say it's definitely possible. Don't let the perceptions college kids who haven't worked in banking post on wso derail you, it's simply not as black and white as they make it seem. I was fortunate to work on what was a very public and high profile deal at the time so that must have helped tremendously, but I know other interns who didn't (and who didn't even receive full time offers) got bb offers so make of that what you will
Adding a question: say you were on the waitlist and after you accepted another SA offer, the bank you wanted for FT tried to pull you off their waitlist. If this is the case, is having HR contacts enough? I planned to just give them a call in July or August since they told me to keep them in my mind for FT, but it sounds like building a strong network mat be the way to go.
Can't hurt to reach out to people anyway, will likely help - definitely do so. You can even say you wanted to work at xyz but weren't pulled off the wait list in time so went to abc, but would like to learn more about abc etc
What advice would you have for someone who didn't go through traditional recruiting channels and doesn't really have existing relationships with anyone at banks aside from the one where they're interning?
This was somewhat similar to the scenario I was in (in terms of existing relationships elsewhere) - all the more important for you to reach out to people you don't know at other banks to build contacts so you can both learn about whether you'd actually want to work there and hopefully have someone go to bat for you when the time comes
How to switch from S&T SA to FT at another bank? (Originally Posted: 06/23/2012)
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interested as well
Nothing wrong with switching. Just make sure you get a return offer because otherwise people will wonder why they didn't want you back. Also have a good reason for not accepting that return offer... without it sounding too negative obviously. Just say you didn't think the fit was great but you were able to adapt to it and enjoyed your summer, but think you'd be better suited for a different environment, blah blah.
I'd wait til you're done with the summer before you get in touch with those guys. Most banks hire for full-time in the fall anyway, so you will have time to get in touch with those guys, if not just apply through school if they recruit there.
But bottom line - get the return offer. That's good leverage and they will like the fact that you basically have other options for full-time and they'll be excited to poach a potential employee from a competing bank if your current firm happens to be a competitor.
Blackhat is right. If it is anything like IB, you need the return offer. Hiring could also be tough FT, depending on the market...it is a huge comfort to know that you have a job.
how long do you typically have to decide on your offer from the firm that you interned at? (assuming its a BB)
For what it's worth, I hear a lot of the time what they'll do is give you like an October-November deadline, but a higher signing bonus if you give them an answer by like the end of September or something. That way they can lock you in and not risk you to full-time recruiting. Not entirely certain on the deadline but I'm guessing that's when most are since it's right around FT recruiting.
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Inside Track on FT Accelerated (Originally Posted: 07/16/2014)
Doing an SA at a lower BB, but am leaning very heavily towards trying to jump ship for FT. Just don't see myself enjoying two years in the group I got put in.
I'm wondering: 1. Advice/anecdotes from people who have made this transition. 2. The methodology. My school had a big OCR, and while I am a big networker I still don't have experience recruiting directly into FT jobs from school.
Basically I'm going from SA bank 1 --> FT bank 2. What places notoriously recruit straight for full time, and what places are known for just giving the whole SA class offers (and offering right amount of SA slots in the first place) and not needing to find ringers for FT? I know Goldman doesn't have a high SA offer rate, would that be a good place to start? I realize just cast a wide net but I have contacts at most banks so it's more a question of what has traditionally been done in the past? IE should I look specifically for certain banks that need to get other FT laterals?
If it looks good on your resume, does it matter? My understanding is you are basically signing up for misery and soul sucking either way. I guess, does it matter if you are going to get punched in the face or the balls, still getting hit regardless.
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bump. interested as well.
Bumping, I'm really wondering about the timelines. I understand some BB's have already stopped accepting full time applications? Does anyone know what places still are beginning the interview process?
Network.
Reach out to all your contacts at banks you'd be interested in working in and ask about the process....
Need help with internship lateral advice (Originally Posted: 06/25/2013)
Currently interning at a top BB in the commercial banking side doing analyst work for the summer. Definitely enjoy it but I couldn't land an IBD internship this summer.
I want to network and attempt to try to get something for next year or a FT job if thats even possible at all.
How do interns that yall have known lateraled around in the firm. I don't want to set off my boss or something cause i still want a FT offer.
Should I just start emailing md's in the firm asking for coffee? Or should I just go straight to the head HR who I have a really good relationship with, but that would probably lead to no offer.
Really having a hard time figuring out how to go about doing this
Its a tough situation for sure. What you do sort of depends on how supportive the people in your group are about you moving elsewhere. If they hired you with the intent of giving you a FT offer in their group, they might not take so kindly to the idea of you moving to another group. However, sometimes groups that perpetually have interns throughout the year are more interested in your development and whats best for you. If that's the case you can be more open about your intentions.
That said, still tread very carefully. I was in a similar position one summer when I was in S&T, but towards the end I realized I was better suited to IBD. My boss was "supportive" but not in the same way as if I were looking for another job with in an S&T group. I knew that IBD was the direction I wanted to take, so I went for it anyway and it worked out in the end but I did so at the expense of what would probably have turned into another internship in S&T at the firm I was at.
If I were you I would network within your firm and try and develop relationships in groups where you would want to work. However, take the angle that you want to learn more about the firm's different businesses as opposed to "I don't like my current group, I want to move to IBD" as that will make you look terrible. Lastly, make sure your work is flawless where you are now, if you are really good word will travel around.
I'm in a very similar position, and would also appreciate input on how to flush out a transition. The group I'm with is very supportive and encouraging - I honestly really like the CB people where I'm at, they're all very down to earth and genuine. That being said, my heart has always been more on the equity side, which I personally find more interesting than structuring term loans (just a personal preference). Obviously, networking is key, but how do you network in a non-obnoxious way? Would it help to include networking with PWM/AM and other LoB (so that it's not like I'm solely reaching out to IB people?). I definitely don't want to be /that/ intern that comes to CB for the sole purpose of jumping to IB, but on the other hand, I don't know if I want to be doing credit in 10 years, even if I have enjoyed learning about it for a few weeks.
Agreed. I don't particulary find much joy on the credit side...especially being in middle market where your capped on company revenues. Pay is ok out of school like 60 in my firm from what i'v heard, 5k signing, and like a 3-7k yearly bonus which is pretty small.
Seems to me atleast in my group that CB has a pretty weak future. Very capped pay for the most part and very small chance of moving up the ranks. Everyone in the c suite in the CB or even the regional managers all came over from the corporate client bank or the IB.
I think im going to grab some coffee with some MD's and try to see what type of insight they have to say for making the jump.
Lateraling from SA to FT at BB with Low GPA (Originally Posted: 12/27/2016)
Hey guys,
I'm going to be an SA at a mid-tier bank in IB (think Wells Fargo type) and I am looking to move to a BB. Not looking into GS or MS, but more BAML, CS, Citi types.
I'll make sure to kill it and get the return offer for sure, but I was wondering how my GPA would affect the lateraling process. It currently stands at a 3.35, and I'll bring up above a 3.40 for sure by the end of my junior year. How will this affect the lateraling process, and is there anything I can do to compensate for this?
There is no lateraling process for BBs anymore. They will fill 100% of their class with interns.
Wrong. It's really hard but it still happens more than one would think. Key is to start networking really early and get in the summer cocktail events etc.
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