Barrington Associates?? Thoughts?

I spoke with a couple of their guys last week after reading one of their job postings. Both seemed like really nice guys, one of whom spent over an hour of his time explaining the firm and their recruiting efforts, etc. Reading their bios on the website, all the analysts and associates also seem to have impressive backgrounds of athletic or similar accomplishments from top schools.

Compensation is set-up very uniquely and you'd probably have to speak to someone there to get a full understanding of it. Basically, I believe that associates and up don't get salaries, but rather get paid when one of their deals close. In the interim, they get smaller living stipends from the bank that they have to pay back when they finally close a deal. The associate I spoke with said he went nearly 2 years before closing a deal, while others closed a few deals early on and had potential to make tons more money than they would have under a traditional system. It is also not a place you go to just do a 2 year analyst stint - they hire you with the mutual understanding that you are working to become an associate and part of that incentive plan.

In short, it seems like a really great place to work if you are sure you want to stay in banking for the long haul and are willing to take some risks that may or may not have large payoffs. If you can, I would highly suggest trying to get in touch with one of their associates in charge of recruiting - they seemed to make themselves extremely available and seem genuinely interested in attracting top talent away in this down market.