HW Rep
Amy updated thoughts on HW? I haven’t seen that many updated threads and know HW is on the rise so would love to hear any thoughts. Thanks!
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Decent MM firm- below the HL/Baird/WB tier but above Truist/Key/Citizens. Consistent exits to LMM/MM PE and occasionally UMM PE. Average deal size is somewhere in the ballpark of $500 mil with occasional deals north of $1 billion.
Current 1st year analyst at HW and would almost entirely agree with the first commenter. (I might just index us slightly higher to the lower end of the WB/Baird tier based on my bakeoff experience but I'm obviously biased and it's really splitting hairs tbh.)
To give perspective on my deal experience so far: I have 1 M&A deal done and should have 2 more before the calendar year is up. These deals range in size from under $200m to over $1bn.
In terms of recruiting, all the traditional headhunters hit us up and we have an internal recruiting system as well that connects us with PE firms, so you can bypass the headhunter aspect entirely if you really want. I already have a PE offer lined up and so do many of my peers.
Otherwise fairly solid culture, no lay-offs yet as far as I know, and market pay with a low COL. We do work in the office on Fridays but it's fairly flexible and we all wear polos during the warmer months.
How many hours a week do you usually work? Heard that you guys get grinded some times
I mean it's banking, everyone gets grinded sometimes, even in the most chill groups at the most chill banks. I would be very cognizant of that and this career path overall.
But I'll answer your question more directly in terms of my impression of the firm's overall workload and my own experience.
1. Firm: From speaking with peers and from comments I've received in multiple PE interviews ("you guys work hard over there"), I do think we as a whole work slightly longer than average, but not by a crazy margin. Additionally, it's very group dependent. If you're an analyst in the Richmond office working with an associate in the SF or London office, your hours are likely to be significantly worse than groups that are all in a singular office. Also, some groups unofficially protect Friday and Saturday nights and some don't.
2. My own experience: It's hard to place a number on hours because every day is different. I've done 10am-4pm and I've done 8am-2am (although that is very rare and only happened like once or twice). I think its better to gauge by slowest vs. busiest weeks. Slowest: Probably 9-5 everyday with no weekend work. Busiest: 9am-2am with 5-10 hours over the weekend. I've only had one weekend completely blown up where I worked Friday night-Sunday night. In 2022 I was closer to the slower side of things and the last 2 months i've been closer to the latter side of things.
Also, something I forgot to add earlier, we don't have product groups. So every coverage group does their own modeling in-house.
Any updated views on work/life balance at HW? Heard hours are still crazy. Have an offer for one of their satellite offices. Would be keen to hear about hours specifically from a VP/D perspective
Bump curious as well
I have a few comments. A few good and a few bad:
Very group and office dependent. Just like the analyst mentioned above, he/she worked till 2am only a few times, but that's a common occurance for my group, more like 2-3 of those 2am nights per week with unprotected weekends. It all depends though. Generally, lots of pitches going on right now, but I assume that's all MM shops. Definitely restless senior bankers going around and drumming up work that quickly peels into 1-2am nights frequently, even at the VP level. Juniors still have minimal visibility into their nights (absent a very structured deliverable timeline, but you'll still be up till 2am regardless) and should expect to be on call till ~11:30pm-12am pretty much at all times (I think this is common at banks though). Aso bonuses are told in a week or two and lots are very interested, especially after the WB bonuses were communicated. Overall, culture is superb, but MDs are pretty spineless in pitch season and demand 5-6 follow-ups for each deal in order to win. If you'd like to work for a sell-side sponsor M&A machine, this is your place. Good MM PE exits (for juniors). You will get worked hard even as a VP, but autonomy, client / buyer exposure, senior banker guidance, overall pay (absent bad M&A market) seems to be better than other competitors in my opinion
Edit: looking at your comment, I forgot to add, our VPs in my group still work a lot. They have more leniency on taking a break from 6-8pm, but still work till 11-12pm during the week, sometimes later if on a live deal. I don't see a lot of materially better WLB until the director promotion
.
How did bonuses shake out?
How is living in Richmond compared to other cities? Good COL with HW pay? Good social scene with analyst class?
any insights on SF?
Having worked there as an analyst, but now seeing HW deals on the buyside, I definitely have more respect for them than I did previously. HW runs a very strong process and brings high quality assets to market.
That said, as an analyst, you will likely get the same experience at HW as at Blair, Baird, RJ, Piper, Houlihan, etc. There will be variability depending on the group but working with and having friends who were former analysts at all of those banks, the experience across MM banking is basically the same.
For what it’s worth though, I got paid more than every single one of my friends over the course of my two years.
Insight into HW across the pond in LDN? Any thoughts here?
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