Jefferies 2022

Full disclosure: I work at Jefferies, and these are my views. People are open to disagree with it. This is based on my experience.

I think Jefferies has an extremely scrappy culture where the juniors are really nice and close-knit (obviously depends on the group, but generally would say this is true). All the juniors get worked very hard and I think this is a combination of two factors. The first one is the deal flow. If you look at the Deal logic YTD league tables, it's ranked 9^th globally (86 deals, $0.83 Billion avg. val/deal, EVR being the only other non-BB in top 10) in M&A advising. It's also 8^th globally in ECM and if you look at overall IB revenue it's ranked 8^th (ahead of UBS and DB, and the only non-BB in the top 10). For FY 2020, it was ranked 9^th overall in IB revenue. The second factor is the seniors. Many of the folks I talked to said that there are times when they are sitting around doing nothing in the day and then they get comments in the night that makes them pull all-nighters. This obviously makes it difficult as an analyst but in non-covid times, the junior camaraderie helps survive the late-night pls fixes. In my opinion, whilst the first factor is more significant, this is not negligible. Unlike other banks which are downsizing their IB divisions, Jefferies will live and die on its IB business. Having said that, Over the past couple of years the bank has gathered great momentum and it's expected to carry this momentum in the future.

It's difficult to categorize Jefferies because it works on deals that are much bigger than your run of the mill MM but is not at a BB level (although a couple of groups definitely regularly pitch against BBs and win) but also has a balance sheet that it uses to lend (has access to the MassMutual balance sheet), so is also unlike an EB (even though it has a RX group). I would personally categorize it as a jack of all trades bank that offers a complete set of products. Some of the top groups at Jefferies would be Healthcare, Energy, LevFin and Industrials. Healthcare grew when Jefferies poached UBS's top bankers who brought over their teams. While the two key guys (Ben Lorello and Sage Kelly) have since left Jefferies, with Ben retiring in 2020, the team at Jefferies has managed to keep the IB revenues in the group. JEF's energy group was formed when it bought an energy boutique in the 2000s and has kept the key guys ever since then (part of the reason behind this is that they have their own bonus pool separate from the rest of IB). Jefferies has organically developed its LevFin capabilities and has found a great niche here. It offers a crazy amount of leverage on its deals which the BBs can't offer because of risk and regulation (Jefferies isn't categorized as a bank holding company) and neither can the EBs/MMs. In 2021, Jefferies also poached a majority of Greenhill's industry-leading private capital advisory group so I am interested in seeing how that will turn out for the bank.

From an exits point of view, I have seen some people place at MF from Energy and a couple of other groups. It is definitely possible to exit to very reputable MM PE funds. I personally expect the exits to improve as Jefferies continues its upward rise. Would also add Jefferies M&A to a group that sees consistent exits to top MM PE shops.

From a pay point of view, Jefferies is known to pay above the street, especially for associates and up. They also give all cash bonuses although there is a clawback for those who are associates and up if you leave for a competing bank (not applicable for buy-side, CorpDev, unrelated exits). The clawback isn't applicable to analysts.

Expect the interview process to be more technical than BBs/MMs but not as technical as the EBs. Expect an even more technical and in-depth interview process if you are interviewing for one of the direct placement groups.

Let me know if I can answer any other questions.

Edit: Also wanted to address the FT offer rates from the previous summer. People might be under the impression that Jefferies gave out 50% or so offers. While it is true that Jefferies gave out 50% offers at the conclusion of the internship, it came back and gave more offers within a month that brought the rate up to about 90-95% which was where Jefferies has historically been. The only reason it was able to give only 50% offers at the beginning was because of a hiring freeze that we were under. If you get an SA offer from Jefferies there will be a FT spot with your name on it unless you screw up. 

TL;DR: Great bank from a deal flow perspective (top 10 league tables ovr.), Solid junior culture but tough senior culture. Will get you to solid MM PE with a slight chance of MF PE depending on group. Top groups: Healthcare, Energy, LevFin, M&A, Industrials. At/above street pay depending on the level (also gives WFH dinner stipend, handed out peloton bikes etc.). Technical interview process.

I worked at JEF for 5 years before leaving banking. and would say this is accurate. It's a love or hate place, but regularly competing with BBs and EBs in some groups.  

Regularly compete with BB/EBs: Energy, Healthcare

Solid: Industrials, Tech (hit or miss)

Decent: Consumer, FIG, Tech-Enabled Services, REGL (you get to work on all the Tilman Fertitta deals)

Arguably not even investment bankers: Media

Lev Fin and M&A are also top groups.