Are the best analysts at top BB?
With recruiting cycles so chaotic/inconsistent, many students take offers before even recruiting for GS/MS/JPM. I'm sure there are some that take the risk and continue recruiting, but wouldn't this mean that these firms could end up with candidates that didn't get offers at other firms in the Spring?
Just wondering how this impacts HH/PE perspectives for recruiting, especially at a mid-tier BB.
I think you're right. From what I've seen, most top candidates sign with EB's that recruited earlier.
When I was in undergrad the top finance kids going into IB tended to go to EBs like PJT/EVR/MOE LA, which recruited early. For those going to BBs, the top still mostly went to GS/MS/JPM. Of course, there were some exceptions and outliers, but this was the general trend. At my school there was also generally just a preference for boutiques and for restructuring groups, but Im sure this varies by school.
“Best analysts” is interesting because a lot of really smart kids will hit the desk and lack all of the organizational and people skills that are a must for analyst success. Every bank will have its duds, but based on the competition/selectivity, I would probably agree with the above posters that the best are at boutiques (particularly restructuring) and GS/MS/JPM.
most competitive/sought after students (who had BB IB or HF/PE as sophomores, were IB club presidents, impressive experiences) at my top target tend to go to the EBs
Well, the timeline this year was so spread out, with many EB's recruiting in March/April and some of the BBs recruiting now. The first firms to recruit for non-diversity this year were HLRX, EVR, PJT RSSG, Ares, and BX, and this occurred in March/April (Moelis and P72 happened in May). From my school, most of the top candidates would end up at one of these firms. The kids who didn't get those first cycle of offers recruited again for the BBs in the summer and the kids who still don't have offers are hoping for firms like CVP/JPM etc. that are recruiting in the fall. All great options, but the timeline shows why the top kids would get recruited first.
I know plenty of strong people who decided not to recruit early / weren't even interested in banking at first who ended up at mid-tier or even lower tier BBs. One friend of mine (3.8+ GPA at HYP ended up Magna, varsity sport, and URM) decided he wanted a big bank and signed with the bank that gave him his first and only offer (DB / UBS). Many kids not dead-set on finance won't even apply on time to boutiques and will end up going for BBs, and often don't get GS / MS / JPM because every individual interview is a crapshoot and / or they took their first offer, especially since Barclays, BAML, CS, and Citi have been recruiting aggressively (especially at my undergrad) and early. There are great kids at every bank. As I said in another post, DB doesn't hire a bunch of idiots and Citi doesn't hire kids marginally better and GS hires every smart kid. There are plenty of smart, motivated analysts at all the BBs, EBs, and MMs.
Appreciate the comments! What is the marginal advantage of recruiting for a top BB for FT if you are already at a mid-tier BB? I understand the prestige upgrade, but that's not my priority. I'm interested to know about the level of opportunities that differ between top tier and mid tier BB.
better access for highly sought out exits
Can you elaborate? I think that's pretty obvious, but wondering how much better the exits would be? And if it is worth it to re-recruit.
I have to say that exits within finance are pretty similar across decent BB groups(other than a couple like MS M&A/GS TMT), it mostly depends on other factors/interview performance. The benefit of going to GS/JPM/MS is name recognition if you want to leave the industry.
I'm sure they think they are.
Think this is a function of if EVR/CVP/PJT recruit before GS/MS/JPM, or vice versa.
My year, GS/MS/JPM went first and took the top kids at my school. Looks like for SA 2021, it was the opposite.
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