Incoming SA in Top Group - Worth FT Recruiting?
Have Silver Bananas for helpful comments. Incoming SA at a "mid-tier" BB in NYC in what's considered a "top group" on this forum. Think:
- Bank of America (Lev Fin, M&A, Sponsors)
- Barclays (Nat Res, P&U, Sponsors)
- Citigroup (Industrials, M&A)
- Credit Suisse (M&A, Sponsors)
Would like to either stay in banking with a strong team or leave for MF PE / HF (like every other SA on this forum). Top target background.
Trying to switch banks for FT seems risky to me. There's tons of posts on this forum about how small Wall Street is and even though it seems likely I will get a return offer, I don't want to F that up and my #1 priority is getting the return.
Question: Is it worth trying to recruit for FT at a top BB/EB given my situation and goals? If so, what advice do you have for going about it in the most discrete way possible?
NOTE: If there are any outliers in the list above that affect your answer, let me know.
If you already have a shortlist of contacts at top EBs/BBs by the end of summer, you can shop your return offer the day you get it by sending out a quick update to your contacts. That way they know your interest and get you in some process immediately or keep you in their list. This is a standard move, not as big of a deal as you think. Nobody at your firm will find out, and even if they did they wouldn't care, and nobody will hold it against you if you join a different shop full-time. You're at a good bank that'll have plenty of great candidates in the pipeline and SAs are easy to replace (yes even the "mid-tier" "top group" "top target background" SAs such as yourself), so you're not hurting your team.
What I wouldn't recommend is signing your return offer, shaking everyone's hand, and then spending your whole senior year blasting every alum in banking tell them you're looking to renege and upgrade to top EB/BB lol. But if one of your aforementioned contacts reaches out in October/January saying they're trying to fill a FT spot, you can evaluate whether you won't go through the process. As long as you get that return offer, you're in a win-win situation. Congrats and good luck.
Exactly the perspective I was looking for, +1 SB
In a similar position except I don't have a network at other banks so would likely have to start networking during my internship. Interested in hearing opinions about the same.
You always have a blank state to network as a student/as an intern. If someone asks you directly if you're looking to lateral, you can answer honestly and say yes you're still exploring different firms, but otherwise, it's just a normal conversation.
Yeah agree with that the only problem is that networking before I have a SA offer means that there's the potential of people in my group hearing about it and then not giving an offer at all which would mean that I can't meaningfully recruit for FT lol but If I don't network before then I will be very late in the FT recruiting process given how quickly that gets over once internships end. So, that is the conundrum I find myself in.
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