How Long Do Lateral Hiring Markets Stay Hot?

I'm an incoming analyst at a mid-tier bank (KeyBanc / Credit Agricole / Nomura), and I could see myself considering dipping my toes into the lateral market at some point down the line. Obviously, I haven't started working yet and need to get a feel for the firm that I'll be joining, so this is all pretty forward looking. But, I am curious about how long a hot lateral market normally stays hot? Is this a permanent shift in employees away from banking and into less demanding careers? If so, it seems like the demand for laterals would be high for at least the mid-term. Or is the market not actually that hot for laterals and will likely cool off soon? 

5 Comments
 

The market definitely peaked over the summer in that banks were hiring people with 1-2 interviews over the course of days, if you had a pulse you could get a lateral spot. Now that first year reinforcements have arrived, the demand is still there for people with 1+ year experience but they will interview more thoroughly.

There will always be demand once you have 1 year of experience, since analysts will leave IB in any market, those larger cultural/WLB issues won't be resolved in the next ~2 years. You're at a solid enough bank you should be able to land BB/EB if you interview well.

 

FT recruiting is a totally different market than lateral, and it wasn't really any more "hot" than usual this summer. Both supply of IB SAs looking to lateral and demand of spots are pretty fixed.

FT is definitely harder than lateraling with experience, but if you have a solid resume, no reason you can't network a bit during your internship, get a return offer (absolutely key), and see if you can trade up. If you don't convert, you have contacts to reach back out to in a year to lateral.

 

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