HL Reputation
Seeing a lot of negative comments on WSO about HL recently...can I have an updated view on HL? WLB, Exit Opps, direction of firm etc
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I can only speak to New York and Dallas.
I’m wrapping up my 2nd all nighter of the week because my MD has continued to change model assumptions and then blame me for the trend looking wrong.
Houlihan Lokey is a complex sadism machine that seems to exist only for late career, already wealthy MDs to insult and belittle analysts until we want to kill ourselves or quit. If we don’t quit, we are fired.
Pay sucks and is significantly below market. When you account for how it is given to us in two bullets (some at year end, some 6 months later, higher levels have stock that vests over 4 years), it is below even the shittiest boutiques.
Promotion sucks. It takes 3+ years to go from Analyst to Associate, with some getting stuck on a 4 year path. There are several 27 year old analysts here who keep getting promised that “next year is the year”. It takes 4+ years to go from Associate to VP, with every group having its share of 6th year associates. It takes 6+ years to go from VP to Director. By the time you make MD here, your classmates at other banks are already group heads.
Exit opps are the one upside. HL is good about supporting you there. But HL’s model seems built around constantly churning juniors, some by exit opps, most by firing or quitting. It’s how they can afford to pay MDs who spend more time yelling at analysts until they’re crying in the bathroom than they spend closing deals.
There is zero job security here. At the first sign of weakness, you are fired, no warning. There is no development and no investment in growing talent.
Don’t bother talking to our head of talent about culture issues. She’s probably the most sadistic of all of them, and she enables the MD behavior. MD made you miss your grandparent’s funeral to turn comments on a buyside deck (no engagement letter signed, doing it for the relationship)? Tough shit, you knew what industry you were entering.
This place is hell and I regret I believed the propaganda when I was recruiting out of undergrad.
Dallas HC I’m guessing?
Not my experience.
How bad is HC group here?
From what I've heard in Chicago, sounds very similar to my friend's experience there
Chi juniors up to VP seemed super chill from what I saw. Got very weird vibes from the recent MD who left the HL HC Chi team. Had an interview with him for the summer associate position. Excruciatingly painful interview, he figured out quickly I didn't come from a pre-MBA finance job and started firing away questions why IB and I stupidly bought up a case competition I did, he ended up giving me a handful of technical questions that I wasn't expecting since I got that far into the interview process / was asking me for all the valuation details for a case competition I did months ago - I think he had Bloomberg pulled up to fact check me. Seriously got to a point where I almost just ended the interview early and said it's clearly obvious this isn't going well, can we just end it? When I asked him for what he's looking for in a summer associate, it sounded more like he wanted an indentured servant rather than a post MBA hire that has the potential to become MD / a senior banker one day.
No idea if they filled that summer associate position. Knew someone else who was in the process but they pulled out once they got an exploding offer at another bank in their top choice city.
can you give me some insights about the technical questions and the case study you received for HC sector?
$40 dinner stipend and $20 lunch stipend T-Th thooooo. And don’t forget croissants on Fridays!!
The job security one is funny because as every bank laid off analysts, hl actually took care of them. Bonuses were street, not below street (for analysts 165 all in). I heard a lot about the Dallas side being rough but NYC office is fun and has game rooms everyone eats lunch together with their teams I’ve only seen happy analysts around.
What happens to the analyst that quit or get fired?
I’d imagine it’d be hard to find another role after that
Completely anecdotal but I spoke to an analyst in Dallas over the summer on the phone and of the 50ish people that I've spoken to while trying to network in the industry, he's the only one who I've talked to that actually sounded stressed out. Voice shaking, kind of jumpy, etc. Felt bad for the guy.
From a buyside perspective, HL is known as fantastic exaggerators. If EBITDA on the cover of a CIM is $40mm, automatically mentally adjust it to $33 - 35mm for the Houlihan discount. HL does always have relatively strong deal flow though, so a decent place to be early in your career to get reps.
Could anyone speak more on exits for the CF groups?
One of the best if not the best for RX. Top quality candidates that will get looks from all top exits. Have worked with a few ex-HL RX guys and can confirm that they’re some of the smartest I’ve ever met.
Outside of RX, they’re a large MM shop known for volume above all else, which means the analysts get grinded like sausages and patties in The Jungle. Pay is pretty below market (even for MM), but I think NYC culture isn’t actually that bad (according to one of my friends, though he is in the RX group).
Which rx guys are not sharp? Every rx banker that has come to campus all seem extremely sharp.
Non-RX HL is a decent place to start a career. You can do better, but you can also do worse.
Top shop if you're looking at RX.
Seems like a US thread, but any insight on London?
redact
Former HL NYC banker.
Culture in our group was pretty brutal with high turnover at the junior ranks. Multiple first year associates and analysts fired as part of year end review and left us about a 3-1 MD:analyst ratio. Lots of volume, so get to work on a lot of deals across industries, but HL will take / pitch for anything so keep that in mind.
From my experience the group was not supportive about leaving at all and would actively tell people to not recruit for buyside ops. Granted, I worked there a few years ago at this point, but only one person from my class stayed on to A2A.
Pay structure benefits underperforming groups at the junior level as my team had a record year for fees and our bonuses were the same as a team that closed 0 deals. Overall, not the best shop from a culture perspective, but gives lots of reps on deals.
DEL
HL RX in Dallas was such a fun place. Consistently brings in good dudes, senior guys have families. We were expected to be pretty available but so goes analyst life. Worked 50 hours or 110 hours a week. Learned a lot.
The Dallas HC group saw turnover like nothing I’ve seen. Wowza. Was a stint where they went through a dozen associates in 24 months.
Just another blatant lie told on this forum. Dallas hc has hired 5 analysts in the last two years and 4/5 are still there. 2 others that were analysts there pre the time period I just mentioned went A2A. Maybe you mistook the intern class.
Please get your facts straight before spewing nonsense like this
I was there from 2013-2017. Classic aggie comment.
They said associates not analysts. Good example of the bottom tier analysts at HL HC.
How is FaceTime culture?
This is a side comment but rumor is that HL will buy Triago, a middling French tier 3 placement agent. Since 10+ years ago, there's been a trend of crappy boutique IBs buying private fund groups/placement agents as they saw them as high margin businesses. Problem is these fundraising shops had 0 barrier to entry and the space has completely blown up, made worse by the bleak fundraising environemnt nowadays. You had Stifel buying Eaton Partners, PNC/Harris Williams acquiring Sixpoint, and Houlihan buying BearTooth Advisors/UBS leftovers and now Triago. Triago was never good and has been falling apart for years. Just terrible foresight and business expansion imo.
Didn't they hire some MD to lead Secondaries advisory there at HL? He any good or he a load of poop?
Poop city, population: that guy. As far as I know (info as of last month), they haven't closed a single deal in over 18+ months of existence. So in that sense, the Triago acquisition makes total sense as Triago (was) arguably stronger on the secondaries side. Triago was always weaker on the primaries side. There's definitely synergies but not sure what the final combo will look like/how it will fare in this environment. Could just be delaying the inevitable.
Any insights on MN office?
I thought both of those guys moved to the Dallas office. Know for a fact one is now in Dallas, but rarely in the office. Could be wrong.
Can anybody comment on HL RX comp vs other top groups such as PJT RSSG, Moelis Rx or Everecore Rx?
Use you research capabilities here. There is info abound on this website. Don't be lazy.
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