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October 31, 2026
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Are you going to PE? Are there a lot of HF ops coming from BB IB? Anyone staying on for the A2A promotion?
Not PE for me, although the market is pretty hot. I think I will prefer something with a shorter investment horizon + closer to markets. Currently looking at a few ops.
Not a huge amount of HF stuff (occasionally, about 1-5% leave for HF from my firm, majority to PE), the best tend to take people with a few years more experience. Some HF analysts have been in finance for anywhere from 5-10 years.
Some will stay for A2A, but clawback for up to 1 year makes many question if it is worthwhile...
Um what market is pretty hot? Surely you don't mean PE.
What is there a clawback for? A2A signing bonus?
Have you seen anyone with a big 4 background move to BB IBD?
Yes, have seen it happen, a few seniors in my team. Not very common though. Typically Big4->2nd tier->BB
Is your group picky about GPA regardless of whats on their resume and if thats the case do you know if anyone in your group got across it somehow?
How do you handle lack of sleep on a daily basis?
Surprisingly you get used to it. You sacrifice weekdays completely and are happy to get 5-6 hours. When you lose a few weekends in a row is when it gets really really demoralising...
Thanks for doing this!
-It does happen. Relatively common for MM to trade up, but typically if they aren't off to PE after 2-3 yrs. -Very volatile, depends on the type of project you are working on and deadlines. Always have something to do and usually comments don't arrive until quite late in the day, again MD dependent. -Yes, but our team was super busy, usually you'll be on live stuff quite early + have a pitch or two going on simultaneously.
Was it everything you dreamed it would be? How many models did you bang?
It was, and much much more... I spent late nights with models on a regular basis. It's a pretty brutal existence tbh
May I ask how old you are? Not a "oh, that's immature" question, I just always find your comments to be humerous
Really? BTW DickFuld you are, in fact, hilarious.
Is there an actual hierarchy of groups at your firm? Is Hermes tie really a thing?
How do you work with your associates? What do you like, what do you wish was different?
After doing two boutique IB internships, what should I do this sophomore summer if my goal is BB SA junior year?
I'm not sure how involved you are with the recruiting process, but when kids contact you and set up informational interviews/calls, what makes certain students stand out amongst the rest? Is there any reason you decide to go out of your way to help them (ex. forwarding a resume, speaking up for them when deciding on interview candidates, etc)?
How's the cafeteria in your building?
how is associate mba level recruiting ? do you know people with industry background with mba (career switchers) getting into ibd associate level many?
thanks for doing the ama, added it to the frontpage, can you email ivy at wallstreetoasis.com about being certified?
jimkeen thanks for the AMA. Questions are below:
1.) Have you seen people with 2-3 years experience in the industry move into IB for their respective sector? For example Petroleum Engineer to IB Analyst in Energy.
2.) What was your on-boarding/training process like? Did you find it to be rigorous in preparing you for your current day-to-day job or no?
Thanks
Thanks for this thread!
What do you think are the most significant differences between US IBs in IBD such as JPM, Citi, BAML and European banks such as DB or CS?
How much pull do analysts actually have in terms of getting juniors and seniors interviews at the office?
What's the culture like?
How often do you find yourself bending over for your superiors, literally and metaphorically?
How "positive" is the atmosphere? Do people ever act like they are happy to be at the office?
How advanced is the modeling work you get to do right after the training program? Does IB really teach you "advanced technical skills"? Do some groups provide better technical skills development than other groups?
Since at a BB there is such incredible analyst turnover, do the older bankers expect you to seek exit opps and even help you with it? Are the WSO rumors true that PE megafund headhunters go straight to a few top "target" BB groups to recruit?
how terrible of an analyst are you
Did you attend a target or a non target school?
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