2019 FT Analyst Recruiting Timeline

So would you say it's best to start reaching out to other banks sometime in the middle of summer after already putting in several weeks at your current SA bank? I just feel like trying to make those calls before the summer seems pretty risky.

Entrepreneur Hero,

As someone who will not be interning in IB this summer, but in O&G, how would you approach recruiting if you were in my shoe?

For context, I have previously interned in IB last summer + eng major.

Thanks!

Thanks for weighing in. Late July makes some sense as a starting point.

Pretty on-point approach

Try to see if you can go through the internal mobility process at your firm. Usually since you are in a FO job, it is much easier to interview and lateral over to another FO job than it is if you are in BO trying to go FO.

Yeah no USA openings.

Although I would not even be slightly surprised if they start looking at FT candidates over the summer when they look at SA candidates. They can reasonably expect to have more than zero openings, and I think keeping a backlog of resumes from which to make offers would be somewhat of a sensible approach.

Now that I think about it, I'm sure banks with large analyst classes could do FT recruiting earlier just based on their previous years' stats about how many people don't get offers or leave banking for other reasons. Of course, these would be extremely accelerated processes that would be few and far between before they actually go through FT recruiting. For example, we all know GS's offer rate is less than 100% so theoretically they could have an accelerated process to get new people who can fill in those spots of those interns who will not get an offer merely because not all interns will get return offers.

I'm interested in other people's thoughts on this.

I think you're fighting two things here. One is the risk of insulting the people you're working with. I don't think they'd be that sensitive, but it seems possible. The other is coming off as presumptuous. It doesn't seem appropriate to initiate beyond the summer conversations in the first few weeks you're there, for example.

I think the best way to go about this would be to frame your desire to explore NYC opportunities as a primarily (although not exclusively for the sake of truthfulness) personal choice.

Like a "I love working here, but my family are in New York; given the lifestyle of this job, I'll rarely see them if I'm not nearby. I'd love to stay at the firm though, so my preference is first for that office, second for this one, with any other companies trailing behind as undesirable choices." Obviously this would need some tweaking (especially if your family aren't in New York) but you let people's egos have an out.

And I think it would be best to float the possibility before you leave. I've always found its easier to get people on your side if you talk to them in person.

You're totally allowed to do this. The problem is that you can't tell the recruiter that you're interested in the firm when you haven't even started your junior internship. It'll look a little weird similar to if someone is networking with analysts at different banks for FT when they haven't started their junior internship. At the same time, if you ask the recruiter about it, you'll be on their radar or at least try to be on their radar as you can ask for their business card and keep in contact with them over the next few months regarding FT positions.

Considering how early SA was, it might make sense to play it safe and start to build connections with some analysts for FT recruiting. At some point, you can tell them that you're interested in FT at their firm and then you can ask them about what the timeline will be like. Hopefully, that will provide some clarity.

Most of the analysts I've talked to say it's just not possible to start full-time recruiting till mid-July. It's just a waiting game at this point to see which interns don't get FT offers.

I personally would mention a specific coverage/product group you are interested in (and why) but go on to say you are open to considering different groups if the opportunity arises. This way you show you have thought about the question (you have a specific area of interest that you have developed overtime) but are still keeping your options open and maximizing your chances of getting an offer somewhere. I am in a similar boat as you; I will be recruiting for FT this summer and have also started reaching out to all the contacts I have. FT IDB recruiting is really tough because for a lot of banks it's not really a formal process. Ideally, banks would want to solidify their FT analyst class entirely via their SA programs (this is what happens at most of the BBs and EBs) so as to minimize risk. At MM banks there tends to be more turnover and hence a FT recruiting process is more relevant. Anyway, the point I'm trying to make is FT recruiting seems to be somewhat of a crapshoot (how many SAs will return to x firm?) so it's best to keep as many doors open as possible and not be picky.

I'll be in lower MM IB

Interning in Corporate Dev for a tech company. Curious to see other answers on this too

Completed a MM spring internship and switched over to a 10bn PE fund for the summer.

yup

Saw the Citi one. Think that's FSG, which is more like financial research/quant stuff vs. IBD.

Last year, BAML did not have any FT applications/openings when I went through the process.

EDIT: MS actually did have applications open last year, but the HR rep I kept in close contact with said that they did not have any openings after the interns accepted their full-time offers. Think they had just opened applications in the event that they had a lower than expected yield on the interns

JPM does their junior analyst FT recruiting process, which I think has roughly 20 spots annually in the US (don't quote me on the exact number, but it's a pretty substantial amount if I recall correctly from a friend who made it far in the process).

Wells did have an application process for FT hires last year, had a friend that had a first round with them. Their applications are usually open one day only, and I think it was sometime in mid-July last year, so keep your eye out for it.

Thanks for the info! Do you have any idea when this application is due by? Trying to enhance my resume as much as possible before submitting my application and I don't think their website specifies it as Evercore does (Aug 15)

Did you talk to your manager about wanting to switch to a different role within the bank for ft or did you reach out to the hr person who currently manage your program and express your interest? Interest in knowing how to approach this!

Have you had questions about why you’re now transferring to IBD or do interviewers not care?