I've posted before about how brutal hiring will be this coming fall, and people seem to get upset.
I "keep it real" and "tell it like it is" (for the 50th time, you're not going to get an interview with a 3.6 coming out of UMD, no matter how hard you try!), only to be countered by, "don't listen to that f*'er, try your best, work hard, network, and you'll be sure to get a position!" (by college freshmen, nonetheless, who are obviously quite in the know about this stuff)
As I forewarned earlier, Merrill's hiring freeze has just been enacted, and will likely be made public in the coming week. I'm 1 for 3 so far... just wait until the other 2 make anouncements...
But don't worry - I'm sure that your blind optimisim and touchy-feely kindness will snag you that job of your dreams!
Can you hear me now?
Obviously all this news of hiring freezes makes it tougher to get in, no one will argue with that.
And truthfully, most bulge brackets will not be doing much hiring beyond their 2008 summer analyst classes. Sure, if you have a killer connection, go in and reap the benefits, but most people are not in that position.
But as I've been saying and have been writing about as a recurring theme, when things get tough, you go smaller. Yes, boutiques and MMs are affected by the downturn as well... but most of them are not enacting hiring freezes, and they tend to be more flexible with hiring those from non-targets, unconventional backgrounds and such.
After being in the industry for a few years, I find all this talk of "ranking banks" and "not wanting to take a prestige hit" by going to a boutique somewhat laughable.
Yes, obviously you want to go to the best place you can, but when push comes to shove, it's approximately 1000x better to go do banking somewhere smaller vs. sitting around doing nothing or doing something completely unrelated at, say, Merrill.
And it's not just my opinion - others in the industry here such as GenghisKhan have expressed similar thoughts before (I can't find the thread right now but recall reading this one awhile back).
I actually don't think most are overly optimistic about their recruiting chances, but then most of my readers and those who contact me are not coming from Ivy League schools with 4.0 GPAs.
So yes, I think everyone hears you. But there's little reason to dwell on how bad things are - better to focus on what you can do to improve your chances, with the realization that you probably can't dream your way into Goldman this year.
"for the 50th time, you're not going to get an interview with a 3.6 coming out of UMD, no matter how hard you try!"
I managed six interviews and three offers. All BBs.
I managed 79 interview and 159 offers. 39 from Carlyle, 45 Citadel, and 49 Blackstone. Didn't even bother attending the interview with the KKRs and TPGs, and Goldman Sachs is hardly worth mentioning. 3.59 GPA, descended from a Jewish-Chinese mother and an Indian father who fled South Ossetia to the United States a couple of months ago for my education. I currently attend high school.
I didn't read through the specifics of the ML memo, but it would seem to me almost impossible to not hire any analysts for a year and a half. Unless they plan on moving everyone on as a 3rd year analyst, but even so there are going to be those spots to fill of people who jumped to the buyside.
Is this some statement/promise ML have to keep?
What if the market turns good in a year?
"Oh, we are now running out of analysts. So many profitable deals out there, but not enough people to get them done. Most unfortunately, we have to fulfill the stupid promise we made last August so now we are unable to expand our business. No, we Merrill NEVER break promises. Anyway, we can still invest our cash in any BB on Wall Street, as their stock price soar. Most importantly, we are going to buy our Bloomberg shares back."
Hiring freeze's don't affect incoming analysts and associates. Mostly geared towards off-cycle hires and lateral hires. Firms will still need new analysts / associates, albeit likely in reduced numbers.
Wow... don't think anybody could have missed the point more than you had just now...
I have to agree with b2..Optimism is all well and good but some posts really just seem to be out of touch with the reality of the situation at banks.
True. Banks are getting killed and hiring is rough / frozen. To that point, if you are truly passionate about banking, concentrate on mid-market and boutique firms. Banks will always have room for talented and passionate people, regardless of their school --> just make sure you are ten times better then your Wharton counterpart and you are fine. If you can't be ten times better, find another passion, you don't deserve to be in banking.
I've noticed many boutiques are stingier with hiring, now that there is an downturn on wall st they dont have to enact hiring freezes and lay-offs. I would also look at restructuring shops and try to weasel your way into recruiting events however you can. Everyone is anticipating the restructuring business getting insanely busy and no one wants to miss out on some of the top deals because they are at capacity.
Miller Buckfire had a recruiting dinner of some sort a few weeks back, I found it on Wharton Career Services homepage and ended up finding the contact info for the even coordinator at Miller Buckfire, sent mt resume and even though the event was invite only through select campus career centers, they got back to me with an invite. I did all this maybe like 2 months ago, so just alwasy be hungry for any recruiting opportunity you can get.
Indian Banker means BB's in Asia... not in NYC.
He smells too bad to get a job here.
lol...Starbucks is all over my screen now
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