BB IM class sizes: curious

Recruiting works in two ways: 1) Traditional On-Campus 2) Decentralized Case-by-Case

With traditional on-campus recruiting, one generally drops their resume and IM/WM divisions of firms come to your school and choose resumes to do interviews. Typically there's one or two interviews and if you pass that they invite you to either an office visit or a Superday (5 or 6 interviews with several Analysts, Vice Presidents, and Recruiting Managers). With IM/WM, the interviews are fairly behavioral but they may ask you some questions about the overall economy or maybe how your resume is pertinent to IM/WM. Should you get an offer, you will participate in a structured 3-year program where you may spend time in a HQ office learning all about the business. Some firms, like GS, send you to London for training. You do your part for 3 years and then they kick you out and pretty much expect you to go back to get your MBA. Although, you could also just apply to another firm as a lateral hire should you not want to go back to school.

With a decentralized case-by-case basis, brokerage teams that need F/T or SA's will generally let their HR reps or branch managers know that they need help with their business. Then HR will select from their online application database and reach out directly to those that express interest in particular offices in particular cities. One way to bypass this red tape is to call the branches directly, mention how you are interested in being a SA or F/T and hopefully they will pass your resume along to the right people that are willing to conduct a phone interview. The phone interview is very similar to the first or second on-campus interview, which is all behavioral. If you pass that, the team/firm will find means to get you into their offices to interview in person. Once you interview, they will generally let you know within a week or so. This is more of a one-on-one training where you will learn all about the business but you will learn from on-the-job situations rather than structured classes.

Both methods result in solid firms and experiences on your resume and hopefully if you do well as a SA, the firm/team will ask you back as a F/T analyst in that office. Analyst class sizes range from 2-15 SAs. F/T is narrowed down more depending on the economy, the office, and your performance.

Both methods are used to recruit for:

Global Wealth Management (Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, etc.) Private Wealth Management (JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, UBS, etc.) Private Banking (Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Northern Trust, etc.)