Jefferies NY vs Guggenheim Chicago vs CS NY
Have SA offers for Jefferies NY (Generalist) as well as Guggenheim Chicago (MM) and Credit Suisse NY (Generalist). Would love to hear some opinions on the offers.
Have SA offers for Jefferies NY (Generalist) as well as Guggenheim Chicago (MM) and Credit Suisse NY (Generalist). Would love to hear some opinions on the offers.
Career Resources
If you want exits, I'd go for CS > JEF >> Gugg. If I were you I'd also think about culture though, as I've heard some terrible things about some groups at CS and I've heard Gugg Chicago's culture is great, and Chicago vs NY is another consideration.
CS > Jeff > Gugg MM
At the end of the day CS’s strong groups (sponsors, M&A, tech, industrials) will give you the best shot at UMM/MF and the best name brand inside and outside of banking/finance
If you have a strong connect at a top group at Jeff but less confidence about CS group placement, consider Jeff as well but exits typically have a lower ceiling than BBs.
Unfortunately since the Gugg role is MM I wouldn’t consider it here.
Group placement at CS is definitely something I'm worried about. I only know one person at CS, and he's in ECM. My school is a huge target for JEF and is by far the top-represented school in HC and Tech, which I've heard are among the best groups at JEF.
I left CS a little over a year ago so will chime in.
Overall, I agree with the comment above to go CS (best for exits and brand recognition in and out of industry).
I also had a great culture experience in my group and know that other groups are also known to have great cultures (e.g. Sponsors). Of course, there are some groups to avoid but I wouldn't compromise on exits/name and not go CS.
Do you know how competitive group placement at CS is? I'm much more confident I can get placed into a top group at JEF given my network there while I effectively have no network at CS.
Sponsors and M&A are usually quite competitive and commonly ranked first by SAs.
Insustrials, Tech, and M&T (now separate from tech) are other great groups at CS and your best bets for industry groups, but there are a handful of other solid groups at CS that I would take over Jeff as well.
Healthcare (one of the busiest groups with growing revenue, not affected much by Archegos, definitely has upward potential in years ahead) or Retail & Consumer (good culture and some big key accounts) are also great.
If you were to play your cards right there's no way you couldn't swing one of these. Usually if you have demonstrated interest in an industry and are willing to prioritize networking there, communicate their priority to you, and rank them first, you will usually get it (as long as they like you / it's a decent culture fit).
Not OP but also interested in hearing more about CS. How do you think the Archegos fallout will affect CS’s firmwide strategy towards their IB division in the long run?
Too soon to say but I think there are positive signs in the short-run for sure.
The most encouraging thing that I've seen is the most important senior bankers have stayed (Malcolm Price, most of sponsors, David Wah, Niron and Hermer in ECM, just naming a few). These guys had the ability I'm sure for elevated comp and titles from competitors but chose to stay. Of course there were painful losses (e.g. M&A head) but what the press and other people don't realize is that many people who left were either 1) on their way out anyway, or 2) not well-respected within CS but able to grab an opportunistic lateral.
The most important next steps are 1) re-hiring vacancies, and 2) continuing client coverage for accounts whose key CS contact left and it's too soon to say there.
The overall driver of CS IB business is mostly sponsors so if CS maintains their reputation among and relationships with key sponsors (they have so far it appears) this will be huge.
Depends on what you want long-term, where you want to live.
If you want NY PE, seems like JEF and CS are clearly the leading candidates.
But regarding culture, deal flow and IB for long run, I've heard that Gugg Chicago has sick deal flow, great culture and I imagine comp will be higher, as I heard Chicago pays same as NYC and Gugg is known for some of highest comp on the Street.
You want hustle and bustle of NYC and NY PE, first two, but if you can tolerate shitty 3 months of winter and you want culture, comp and potential great upside, Gugg Chicago is option to seriously consider.
I would argue that traditionally CS has better name recognition and exits on average. That being said JEF is the fastest growing bank on the street and top groups will also give you a shot at MF PE especially Healthcare and Energy (Houston though). Jefferies is actively targeting to take share from CS as CS may be their biggest competitor for LevFin market share along with BAML and UBS (yes UBS is a top player in single B issuance leveraged loans which is the proxy for LBO financing). Either way you're in a fantastic position to be choosing between these two so congratulations. Maybe think about what you want to do after banking more (PE, MM PE, private credit, etc) and how you think you'll place in group placement to ultimately make a decision. If you want to stay in banking longer term, Jefferies would probably be the better option here. If you're into Healthcare, Jefferies might actually be the move here. For M&A, although strong at Jefferies CS will have stronger PE exits. For LevFin, Jefferies is going to be significantly stronger whilst for Sponsors CS is going to be literally 10x stronger. For consumer, CS will blow Jefferies out of the water. Just depends on the groups when comparing banks that are so similar.
Also Gugg is not really in play here considering its the MM chicago group.
Not OP but someone else who got an SA offer for Jefferies. Do you know how their Charlotte-based groups (ADG, Tech-based Services, Consumer) are?
All very strong. I think Tech group out of charlotte had every single one of their 2nd year analysts place to PE.
Dicta aut sint doloremque reprehenderit aut quod. Maiores reiciendis voluptatem non ad soluta delectus optio ullam. Accusantium sed doloribus est aliquid.
Non dolorem minus vitae explicabo qui. Possimus eligendi qui odit non. Eaque sint et officia temporibus vero blanditiis iusto eum. Officia at et assumenda.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...