How did banks recruit in 2000?
Everyone argues that late 1990's and early 2000's were the peak golden age of investment banking. Bankers had higher compensations and were treated as society's elites, apparently. One professor at my school who used to be a banker at Goldman in 2002 said that whatever glamour IB has now is just a relic of the past. Otherwise, it has lost much of what made it so revered.
Obviously it was a whole different world back then. But this is getting me curious, how was the recruiting process back then? Was it just as systematic as today (you apply, guaranteed you're from a target, do the tests, do the interviews, get the offer)? I can imagine no interviews were online back then, was it all just assessment centre style interviews? Were online applications a thing yet?
Honestly, having recruited then, other than the online interviews, it was pretty similar to what it is now. Two big differences - dates were late, and summer analyst classes were smaller so more people had more of a shot / turnover between internship and starting.
but the idea that the 1990s and 2000s were some golden age is nostalgia. I started in banking then and literally the same complaints you read here were going on then (almost verbatim, even down to complaining that target kids no longer wanted to do banking). And because of the rise of the independent firms you have a far larger number of people making f@ck you money than before.
I would say the one thing that has changed is that the full service firms are less possessive of top talent and less remunerative (other than GS) and the talent and comp has moved to the independents and firms like JEF, Blair, etc
if you were now in your 20s, would yo go again into banking?
Yes, I think so. I would certainly start in banking.
The conditions are very similar to when I started 20 years ago in terms of a tech bust, a highly likely private equity bust, etc.
And banking has been good to me in terms of being fun and remunerative over a long period of time.
That said, I always wonder - should I have taken that job at the distressed hedge fund, why didn’t I go to the Hill, would I have been a good McKinsey consultant, etc. - but that’s more irandom speculation than regret.
What did the target kids want to do instead of banking?
Also, how were the internal PE arms (ie. GS MBD)? Did people prefer those over IBD?
Tech, consulting, sales and trading (it was a bigger deal and more lucrative back then but much of the best action has moved on the places like Jane Street), Enron
GS MBD was one of the hottest tickets out of undergrad and buyside places like Blackstone, Citadel, DE Shaw recruited out of undergrad
There ware far fewer seats at the boutiques - really just Lazard and Wasserstein Perella. Evercore and Blackstone Advisory would hire five to six people a year and Houlihan was just getting going.
Bh and large though banking is pretty much the same as it was 20 years ago. The only thing is it was a golden age for NYC, tons of fun, no crime, the city was at its peak. We would leave the office at midnight and be out for three or four hours. It was buzzing.
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heard if you didn't secure a BB sophmore internship in the 1990s you were donzo come junior recruiting. jk lol
JEF/Blair??
Yes, senior bankers on average get paid a decent amount more at JEF or Blair than at any BB (other than GS).
It’s probably ok if you are group head of one of the bigger groups or IB senior management but being a run of the mill MD at BAML or god forbid DB is the definition of middle management mediocrity.
At Blair or JEF (or HL, etc), bankers at least get to do deals and make money for doing deals
invited everyone to leave their resume in a box followed by an interview invitation if you met they're requirements / interviewd directly by announcing that they'll be on a certain date and hour on campus doing interviews, so anyone interested could show up (usually for MBAs) / cold-calling / using your connection / pushing your interview to the bank through the career advice center at your local university
for managing and executive positions, they would bring out a map of the New York metropolitan area and Long Island. They would then cut a line of blow from the office location to your address. If the line went to places like Greenwich or Southampton, and you finished it, that would show your prestige and you would get the job.
Well how big of a map are we talking?
Nepotism - ever heard?
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