Does anyone know much about BGL in Cleveland and Chicago? Culture, hours, structure/size of teams, salary/bonus, dealflow? I haven't seen much on them since late last year and previously in the 08-09 error so looking for something more up to date.
I work at a no-name bank right now, and am trying to lateral to a better bank. I haven't come across many that are looking to hire laterally, but BGL seems to be somewhat open to that.
I would appreciate it very much if any of you can help me.
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I can speak to BGL as I was recently employed there. It's always funny reading about the horror stories of AGC, FT Partners, Moe, etc. because they remind me a lot of my time at BGL, except BGL's rep is worse than all of them IMO.
My advice would be to stay as far away as possible from this place. The place is the definition of a sweatshop. Analysts typically work until 3-4 am every single night. They try every so often to implement protected weekends, but they never work out, so analysts are expected to work on weekends. Face time culture is extensive. The analysts and associates have a very fratty culture due to them slaving away together.
Comp is slightly below street. They haven't raised it in a while. When you're putting in 100 hours on average, this definitely isn't worth it. Culture and lifestyle is by far worse in Cleveland than Chicago believe it or not. It's terrible in both places due to the brutal hours and lack of respect for juniors from senior guys. Communication is really poor and there are multiple bottlenecks in the deal processes that lead to these absurd hours for mostly smaller mandates. The directors are absolutely terrible. I've seen them scream and throw shit at juniors for absolutely no reason.
Ultimately, this horrible culture results in constant turnover at the analyst and associate level. Most analysts leave after their first year. In fact, some even left without having another job opportunity lined up; it's that bad. Most of the exits are to other banks or LMM PE. In addition, BGL cut analysts in Cleveland by 75% in May and a majority of their new hire full time analysts and interns. They did not cut any of their senior level guys. The only reason that they are hiring all the time is because people are constantly leaving. It cracks me up that they have current analyst job postings considering how many they cut two months ago (for budgetary reasons). Constant turnover is the key sign of how bad this place really is. Don't believe the stuff you see on Glassdoor about them as I know HR writes a lot of stuff on there. It's as truthful as the reviews of Tobin and Co.
The positives are that you do get a ton of deal experience as you are constantly working. You develop a close relationship with your counterparts as you are slaving away together. You also get to have a beer in the office every once in a while. Those are the only positives off the top of my head.
Hope this helps!
Can't believe no one mentioned yet that BGL rescinded half of their intern offers this summer a month before they started–- not a good look at all. Below-street comp, extremely sweaty, ridiculously high turnover rate at the junior level and a significant reduction in workforce earlier in the year isn't all that promising either
I interned there this past summer and my experience was nothing but positive. I really enjoyed the people there and the work itself was good. Hours are always going to be long in any investment banking job, but I had no problems with it. Overall, I personally had a great experience, and the company is making and has made strides to improve its culture. They didn't cut half of the intern class and they didn't cut incoming first years either.
Considering that I was one of the interns/incoming FT that was cut, I can tell you that this is straight BS. They absolutely cut a majority of their interns/incoming FT, and A1's. I would assume that this was written by HR; I know they go on this site pretty frequently (in addition to Glassdoor). This place is awful; don't go near it unless you have no other options.
You're right, Suzzane has a WSO account and left a comment on some of the other BGL threads