If you had two general offers in NYC for IB, which would you pick? Let’s say you liked everyone you’ve spoken with at both firms.
Citi opened up a spot for me so need to make a decision. I’m completely undecided right now, so exits/comp/prestige is probably the only thing that really matters.
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I've worked with folks from Barclays (nobody super senior, Associates, VPs, and an ED) and honestly think (in my limited experience) they're some of the dumbest fucking people I've ever met.
One, biased data point but better than nothing I suppose.
Lol, I appreciate the insight
barclays unless you can get and want citi M&A or industrials
Take this with a pinch of salt because this is literally just what I’ve heard from other people on this forum but it might help u out so better than nothing.
I believe when you look at exits, Citi is very slightly better than Barclays for total MF exits. With that said as others mentioned, Citi has a couple groups (M&A) that seem to really be the ones who mainly send kids there. I believe Barclays does not have an M&A team so it’s industry groups hold pen on the model which can be beneficial if you don’t know which group you are going to yet but if you can assure one of the top groups at Citi and want the best exits, that’s probably your best bet
As far as culture, merely from reading WSO Barclays seems to have a very good culture as opposed to people recently making threads about citi becoming a “sweatshop”
As far as comp/progression, I’m not sure if this is true but heard somewhere that for VPs there is a slight discount in pay at Barclays which is something to keep in mind if you plan on staying as a career banker
I don't think they have that many ppl at Barclays banking vs Citi though so looking at totals might be off / not apples-apples because of that, idk exact differences in class sizes tho
they are very similar. barclays has been known to pay less but i know from an inside senior source they are trying to fix that this year - i think people were unhappy with last year's comp.
best teams at citi are m&a industrials real estate and media & comms. I think power and utilities are good too. houston has very strong energy team
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