Credit Suisse ER interview
Hi all,
Received an invite to interview for an ER associate role at CS NYC. Looking for some guidance as I am a career switcher with a weird background for ER (US non-target to corporate strategy in the USA, to 2yr strategy consulting in Hong Kong, now back in US due to family health looking for new job). I have looked all over WSO and Glassdoor but almost all the posts/entries are 4+ years old.
What should I expect regarding assessments, presentations, brain teasers, how many rounds, comp expectations for 3yrs out of school? I already have pitches ready and have read most guides regarding pitches for ER interviews.
Also, how is CS viewed in the ER community? I understand they are not ii top 10 but have some very strong coverage teams?
Thanks!
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CS hired David Bleustein from UBS a couple years ago to be the DOR and gave him a huge budget to hire ranked analysts (and he did) so that's probably a good sign for II. If you're ready for your typical ER technicals and pitches, you'll probably be decently ready. They might give you a math test and some brain teasers, but it should be easy.
CS doesn't have the best rep, but when Bleustein was at UBS, he massively stepped up their rep, so maybe he can rework his magic at CS.
For comp, depends mostly on your prior experience. If you can upsell, you can be looking at a very nice payday. Do you have an advanced degree or anything? Also depends on the sector you're interviewing for. Happy to opine in more detail if you can share any of that, or just PM me if you don't want to post.
Best of luck.
Thanks for the advice. Will pm you.
For what's worth, I've heard that because Bleustein sold the farm to hire so many top analysts, the life for associates has gotten considerably worse over the past few years. Less comp, longer hours, more turnover (bc the new analysts don't want the old CS associates), and more of a mercenary culture. I've met quite a few associates who've jumped ship to other banks entirely because of him.
The analyst team you will be working with is the most important thing to pay attention to.
For that reason, you should be willing to consider jobs on a case-by-case basis rather than by the "prestige" factor of the firm. Some teams at "great" firms will be weak, and some teams at "weak" firms will be great. You should also be aware that different teams have different value adds for the investors that rate them highly in Institutional Investor; some teams will be rated highly because they are great stock pickers, and others will be rated highly because of their ability to provide management access to investors. The models they create can also be of value, despite most investors just reviewing them before building their own.
More specifically answering your questions: if you receive referrals you will likely have less rounds. I would expect you to have one phone interview per person on the team at most + an additional round or two of in person interviews. If you kill it and they like you on the phone, they will likely have less rounds for you before deciding whether or not to hire. If you get a final round they will have you meet with your analyst team and 3-6 other people in equity sales, product marketing, and other analyst teams to double check if you're a good candidate. Most places will have a timed modeling test and will request a writing sample (try to keep it markets/economics related if possible). I'm a recent grad, so I'm not familiar with comp that far out of school; the compensation boards may have more info. but there is clearly more information for IB candidates on WSO.
As long as you are passionate about markets, investing, business strategy, your coverage area, or some combination of those things you will do fine.
Edit: Just to clarify the great/weak firm v. great/weak team thing: there's weak positive correlation across the top firms. Great/weak is just me attempting to make it more black and white so it's more clear. Chances are there aren't too many (if any) truly weak teams at MS or JPM or many of the top 10 ER departments.
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