How does location factor in?

Hi, first post on here.

When applying to a firm, if you choose a specific location (LA, San Francisco, NY, etc), are you only competing with people that also applied to that same city? In addition, do applicants ever get considered for a location other than the one that they applied to? Or is this firm-specific?

9 Comments
 

Damn, I had no idea.

So, I guess it just comes down to asking the office itself, huh? If we assume that office's don't interact with each other, then would it be reasonable to assume that you have better chances at landing a SA position by applying to the less sought-after cities? I'm assuming NYC has the largest applicant pool, and maybe LA has a smaller pool applying to that location, generally?

"Markets can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent."
 

The California recruiting teams typically look for ties to the area. If you don't go to college on the west coast/grew up in California, it's hard to land a job there. There's a smaller pool of applicants, but also way fewer spots. Same goes for Chicago and Houston I'd imagine.

Array
 

So, I'm from Washington. What you're saying is that offices on the West coast wouldn't raise an eyebrow, but offices in NY or Chicago would ask a question unless I had a contact in the office? Can't offices in NY assume that everyone is flocking there?

I'd like to put this all in the context of a summer intern position.

"Markets can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent."
 
Most Helpful

Depends where you go to school, but yes. Most of the junior staff interviewing you will be 1. from California colleges (most common), 2. California born and raised but went to college elsewhere, or 3. No specific LA/SF connections but target school and really pushed for California for whatever reason (least common). I went to a California school briefly, and 90% of analysts were one of those three.

NYC doesn't care as most don't have previous ties there anyway. Much larger groups in NY and more diversity of schools than regional offices

Array
 

NY is an exception since it's obvious why anyone interested in finance would want to be there.

In the example of Chicago though, if you don't go to school in the Midwest the first thing you'll be asked is why you want to be there.

 

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