How's the lateral hiring market (mid-September)?

How's the lateral hiring market? Was told to expect more tracking in October for entry-level or any 1/2 positions, but so far has been the same. 

Edit: Also wanted to see how people recommend networking or setting yourself up for future opportunities given the market and timeline? Currently an LMM/boutique bank looking to lateral up. 

15 Comments
 

Honestly I think at this point banks are going to wait to see how rates and the election play out before making meaningful lateral hires. Even with some activity pickup, firms are still not anywhere near staffing capacity needed to expand classes, and they got burned hard by overhiring in 2021. Also fewer experienced analysts leaving after A1 bonus (not as many good roles for them to lateral into) = very few lateral spots to be had, even in a strong deal market

 

do you think An2/3 (A2A sweet spot) will open up spots in '25 since thats where attrition occurs highest for folks exiting to PE/Corpdev/VC/HF/etc? 

 
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Anecdotal data point here: I have been laid off for ~6 months.

- Between me and 5 colleagues (all with IB experience), only one of us has since landed an IB role. It was almost a year after his/her layoff and its for An1 pay for an As1 role

- Between us, we've all had SDs but it seems that firms can be super picky, selecting between several candidates all with IB experience. I have personally had 3 SDs (all within the past 2 months) -- one was a runner-up spot ("nothing bad written" in their notes), another is likely also a runner-up spot (tbd but SD went v strongly), and one was a reject (but was a firm I got really bad vibes from).

It seems that all of us laid off bankers are opening up to all kinds of roles (FP&A, CD, PE, PC, etc.), given that none of us are having success after months of shots on goal

 

Anecdotal data point here: I have been laid off for ~6 months.

- Between me and 5 colleagues (all with IB experience), only one of us has since landed an IB role. It was almost a year after his/her layoff and its for An1 pay for an As1 role

- Between us, we've all had SDs but it seems that firms can be super picky, selecting between several candidates all with IB experience. I have personally had 3 SDs (all within the past 2 months) -- one was a runner-up spot ("nothing bad written" in their notes), another is likely also a runner-up spot (tbd but SD went v strongly), and one was a reject (but was a firm I got really bad vibes from).

It seems that all of us laid off bankers are opening up to all kinds of roles (FP&A, CD, PE, PC, etc.), given that none of us are having success after months of shots on goal

Can confirm. Getting SD's too but impossible to land a role despite doing very well throughout the whole process.

 

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