Evercore PCA vs GS Coverage Group
I am an MBA candidate at a M7 school (HSW) recruiting for banking. I am an international student.
I have a past pre-MBA summer internship at top M&A BB (think JPM/MS pool)
I recruited again and now I have to choose between Evercore PCA (SCAS team - does both GP and LP led work and is touted to be small, rapidly growing team) vs. Goldman Coverage Group (think TMT, NatR, Cross Markets - which is known to have good exits as analysts - not sure as MBA assoc level)
One is a growing group and the other is the oldest on the street.
How do I think about
- pay
- exits
- culture
- career growth
- visa sponsorship
Also is it easy to recruit full time for banking after receiving a return offer? How would that play out in current job market. I graduate in 2025.
Thank you very much in advance for all your guidance and views.
Bump! Please help, thanks
Following
bump as well I'm curious
Which group at Evercore PCA? Some details might change when comparing the two depending on the group.
Thank you for highlighting, I have edited the post.
Things depend on groups, but what from what I know this is the breakdown for EVR PCA vs GS:
Pay: EVR PCA > GS
EB > BB pay, usually. EVR PCA is also known for highest bonuses vs other groups at the firm. GS pays at street or sometimes even pays slightly below in the past cuz of the “Goldman premium”.
Exits: EVR PCA GS
PCA in general is mainly good for secondaries PE. GS, regardless of which coverage group, exits well to MF/UMM PE, at least at analyst level
Culture: EVR PCA > GS
Both are sweaty, but EVR has some good aspects of culture like access to seniors and, at least in the past, was desirable for culture.
Growth: EVR PCA > GS
PCA is one of the fastest growing parts of banking, as is secondaries for PE. With market slowdowns for M&A & higher rates, coverage banking will likely have less growth comparatively.
Visa: EVR PCA GS (?)
EBs don’t usually like sponsoring visa, I think? Not so sure.
Thank you, this is really helpful. Quick clarification: on GS exits, I have hardly seen any MF/UMM exits at MBA assoc level. Obviously this depends on factors like past experience but seems difficult. But my observation is limited to LinkedIn search
Any views on that ?
Oops, fair point, I wrote the exits part mostly from the undergrad viewpoint. No idea on MBA exits I’m afraid.
On visas, both GS and EVR have no issues sponsoring visa
Comment on visa:
Got an offer from EB PCA to intern and they sponsor. This is for London.
Take GS coverage, unless you lean towards one or the other for culture / visa reasons (can't speak to either).
In terms of actual day-to-day, the two would be:
Evercore PCA: "capital markets" work - think ECM, but for private capital markets
GS Coverage: classic investment banking work such as M&A, IPO, LevFin, etc.
Pay: shouldn't be too wildly different as an Associate. Take what will help you develop better for your prime earning years (40s-60s depending on when you hit those years)
Interesting, heard GP-led work is almost MA-isque. And pays higher than M&A which is pretty commoditised. Would like to hear more
No one commenting here has ever gotten offers to either (me included) but I would do GS coverage for these reasons.
1) Coverage IB is a truly generalist skill set and role can easily move to a PCA group later in your career but you will struggle or hustle to get back to coverage
2) Coverage is directly related to knowing clients well and compared to PCA you will be working and busy whether deals globally are up or down because your clients will need advise in both. Private capital activity is more or less trendy but if no deals happen you will be on the chopping block fast
3) the pay difference while GS does pay less it’s a gap you can close fairly quickly I feel definitely can go get another job in 1-2 years after MBA asso that pays more if it’s your goal
4) rerecruiting. If I am sitting in a coverage group looking for a FT associate and I see identical resumes w these 2 internships I will pick the GS resume w more relevant experience knowing how to benchmark companies or put together industry pages / comps / models etc
as a coverage associate most of my peers would say we have had opportunities to upgrade to better shops and join a PCA group. I can think of 1 person out of ~100 associates I know who did the move
While i agree with most of what you said I want to disagree heavily with the second point. Thought it’s worth it that I add here since I have gotten an offer from EVR’s PCA team in the past, and am somewhat familiar with the PCA team. Secondaries is a very tight knit space. Everyone knows everyone else, and because of how slim teams are, at least at some places, even more junior folks have direct facetime/interaction/relation-building with clients (possibly group dependent) whether that’s the buyers you are pitching to or the GP you work with, etc.. That is a fairly uncommon opportunity not found elsewhere in coverage, where you are very much looking after the work quality more than anything else. That’s something of value to consider when thinking about building skillsets.
Also worth mentioning that while yes it might be true that it is easier to be on the chopping block than coverage. However, secondaries as a whole has a strong positive updraft and is an asset class with market-agnostic demand. You will be fine for the foreseeable future.
Thank you so much on such a detailed reply. I would be curious to learn what jobs pay better for a M&A banker post MBA. Most lateral to Corp dev strategy role, few to UMM/MM PE based on past exp and skill and many stay as live long bankers . My observation is limited to LinkedIn search. Do you have any additional views ? I would be grateful to get your POV since your are ASO 1 ..
Most stop optimizing for pay and want more work life balance so that’s why Corp dev. It’s 40-50 hours a week but pays way less. When I looked at this route during this year I was quoted salaries as low as 120 as high as 165. TC also much lower as bonuses were as high as 25%. One place that quoted me 200 base earlier this year has already filed for bankruptcy which is kind of telling. If you join Corp dev as an asso it will also take much longer to make vp (most places quoted 3-5 years after hire)
probably MF PE and most UMM shops (except the ones that are notorious for lower than average pay) will pay more than IB. Not an expert on this but the culture at most of these places seems so ass I’m not personally interested.
IB will always pay somewhat handsomely even if less so than previous years. The best way to optimize comp here is strategically switching banks. They will guarantee you a number for your first and maybe second bonuses in the offer letter.
corp dev pays the least. Pretty much always.
Other careers: VC (promising at the senior levels but my asso friends are having a hard time breaking in and at the lower levels comp is lower than Corp dev). Investor relations (even more WLB than Corp dev but also same drawbacks x10). Consulting (seen a few junior people go from eb/BB to MBB/T2; comes ar the expense of starting like a fresh MBA hire bc while the skills transfer the mindset won’t). Law school (lol)
Except for me. I am obviously biased given my title, but I would take the GS offer first (and I did - worked at another "EB" prior).
But, this isn't about me - this is about you. What do you want to be working on? M&A vs secondaries (very hot right now and truly can be more interesting). In either you know you will work a ton.
But, the most important aspect is the people - who do you actually like and want to work with? I can tell you that GS has some of the sharpest and best people I've ever worked with, but my friend at EVR absolutely love the people / culture.
As Michael Lewis says in Liars Poker - oftentimes the jungle guide is more important than the jungle you choose.
Excellent point, wholeheartedly agreed. Both choices will, in theory, set you up for success, in different fields ofc. But it’s more a matter of which vertical/team will suit you more (both work and people) & which one you feel better about maximizing the opportunities.
Thank you, would love to chat more if you can DM. Many thanks!
Do GS classics here
Knowing our secondary guys, just don’t know what you could be doing if you wanted to move out. One of those annoying PE Business Development guys?
If it’s GS cross markets or natural resources, take evercore. Post mba, Goldman doesn’t mean as much for recruiting to other finance roles (for example a friend of mine was 2.5 years out of his M7 mba, in the fig group at Goldman and got laid off and it took him 5 months to find a new role and it was at a much worse firm (think Wells Fargo, truist, etc)) and evercore pca is a great group with amazing pay and very impressive senior bankers.
truist after goldman is crazy
Just take GS you know it’s the better bank
I would take GS. Would consider PCA-pigeon hole risk strong.
GS coverage and it's not even close in my opinion. PCA is mostly just a secondaries advisory group, obviously still great group in a growing industry but I personally think it just doesn't compare to traditional coverage M&A at GS, especially for future exit opps considering how niche PCA is. Just my personal opinion tho.
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