Is Full-Time/Lateral Recruiting really that hard?

Question

Is it really that hard to land a decent firm (BB, EB, MM, whatever) for full-time/lateral recruiting, assuming you've had an IB internship? Wanted to hear your thoughts.

hm543 · Accepted Answer

I recruited FT with no banking internship. Ended up in IB at a top BB, good group. Tbh, super challenging to make happen. Need to leverage any and all connects, have a great reason for not doing traditional internship path, or, if you did an internship, why you didn’t get a return offer. As usual, good grades and/or target school also help. As another poster said, the key is having someone you know in a group that is actively looking to quietly hire another analyst or two. They need to go to bat for you. FT recruiting is also often more technical.

cinnapox · Answer

I was a summer intern at a MM but was able to leverage that into a BB full-time offer. I'd say its possible but challenging. It's definitely easier if you have an offer to leverage but that also depends on the bank. Most of the full-time spots are given to summers and the open ones you have to compete with people who have offers. The only reason why the bank I went to had an opening was that one of the summer that accepted the offer wanted a different office. Networking is the most important part.

worldmonkey · Answer

Speaking from experience, it's quite difficult. I had a BB internship last summer at a mid to upper tier BB in a good group, and was looking for a full-time role this past fall. In the US, you basically need to know someone on the team you want (that actually has an open position) so that way you can network your way in because a lot of firms will not actively post that they need a full-time analyst. If you don't go to a target school that has plenty of alumni in banking, that can be difficult.

Wu_Tang Financial · Answer

I think lateral hiring is just more fluid and you have more leverage in interviews - you aren't a college student desperate for a FO role, you are "in" and know what it is and how to do it. Just have to spin the right way on why you want to lateral. That being said you have to wait until they come up.

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Is Full-Time/Lateral Recruiting really that hard?

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Is Full-Time/Lateral Recruiting really that hard?

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