I was really curious how these banks that recruit later still get any good talent as I assume that most "competitive" guys sign early or finish just before these processes start. If you're recruiting early/late fall you probably got dinged at other places and continued recruiting which leads me to assume even places like GHL/HL are getting more talented kids than these later banks, right?
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In my experience, the people who are truly “top talent” have the confidence to put all of their eggs in one basket (i.e. Centerview/GS or bust). Also consider that Tech/MBB/other prestigious jobs recruit far later than IB, and many students would only want to do IB if they were to place at a top-tier firm.
In my opinion, this isn't confidence but more of arrogance and stupidity if you are only willing to recruit and take offers at CV/GS. Seems like they're not invested in the process and definitely not interested in the work if they don't care enough to recruit so I wouldn't consider them "top talent"
They’re not top talent per se, but I think CVP takes a lot of very smart target school kids. Barclays and GS a little less so but even GS is moving up
I’ll also add, going earlier doesn’t necessarily mean you are smarter. There are many people who prepare earlier, but who are ultimately worse candidates.
Also, the bar for doing this job really is pretty low. It’s more based on attitude versus intelligence, many people could do this job if that wanted to.
Barclays does not.
based on my experience working with some of my VPs - this is true
9 times out of 10 when someone gets "dinged" it isn't because they aren't smart, it's because the interviewer(s) just didn't get a good feel for them (i.e., "fit") so assuming someone is a lesser candidate because of this is fairly inaccurate. As much as prestige whores like to put themselves on a pedestal and pump their ego for having an "elite" job, at the end of the day I-banking is not a difficult career, it's just very demanding.
I also wondered this when I was going through recruiting. But trust me, these firms find a way to get good kids. At my school it's true that a lot of the really good kids get offers earlier. But the people I know that are going to work at GS/Barclays/CV or are currently working at these firms are among the smartest in their grade. People always end up in places that suit their personality.
A decent amount of Barclays' SAs come from the springboard program, so they're able to steal a few top candidates early on in the recruiting season.
Pretty much every BB and most EB do a spring program.
Bc people willing to work on CVP have no problem reneging 99% of firms for them. Similar case for GS.
I have found that people at my target put Barclays in a bit of a unique bucket compared to other BBs recently, especially Bofa/Citi/CS etc. I think it has to do with the in-house M&A, the culture being noticeably better and the people being friendlier during networking, and many of their coverage groups being at least top 4 or better for M&A in their vertical (Nat Res, Power, Sponsors, Industrials, Consumer, maybe 1 or 2 others I'm missing). It makes the bank more attractive to people who originally weren't certain if they want to IB but become interested during the spring and summer.
Barclays is top 4 in tech M&A right now. Healthcare is also good.
The recruiting process being early leads to banks missing out on top talent that isn't full-blown hardo. At my top target, these 3 schools consistently get some of the brightest and hardworking kids who simply weren't ready/didn't realize most of recruiting is basically over by the end of sophomore year. Then there's also the kids who are qualified but simply didn't crush their early interviews and other interview randomness that happened.
Part of being top talent is being confident (without excessive arrogance)
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