Picking between Promises

UBS M&A (assumed UBS LA is not an option).

Knock JPM off that list.

Look closely at Lehman's culture.

None of the promises matter. You may get promised things, but unless you have them in writing, its worthless.

LevFin is good, but most people want to work in IBD not Commercial banking.

JPM commercial banking...nice.

JPM SLF does have an entirely different culture than the rest of the IBD. It's housed in a completely separate building and it's very much the old school Chase mentality. Most people would much rather go FSG than SLF. Their SLF is top 2 in the tables, but it's mostly sheer volume.

If it's not in writing, you have nothing.

M&A.....i would say they're better than UBS's M&A group, although people/culture is much better at UBS.

First can you pick any office?

Lehman Retail in NYC is great, they poached the CS team.

Merrill M&A in NYC is great per scott's comment, however Merrill on the west is horrid. so steer clear of ML west coast

promise shmomise.

i had multiple full-time offers and everyone promises you they will do their best to get you your group.

get it in writing on your contract, or say you will sign if they put that group you want in writing.

culture of the group/firm really is most important factor..thats what i used to decide

During full time recruiting I had an offer to join as a generalist analyst with one of the firms mentioned above. I had a lot of competing offers, including some funds with a 50% higher base and signing bonus. Senior bankers assured me I could get into the specific group I wanted, since he was a member and would put me on the list, but at the end of the day, HR would not provide me with the guarantee in writing. Unless it is in your hiring agreement, it is just a nice promise.

"What if a relatively senior person (think VP/MD) who you interviewed with, and was the one that gave you the offer says you can get into his group?"

get it in writing.

people can promise you crap all day - i.e.: "there is no face time here, we promise". a relatively senior person's sole purpose when contacting you now is to get you to sign, after that, he could care less about u since he has more important things to do then worry about interns. so, best bet, get that senior person to give you the offer group-specific in writing, otherwise your taking a gamble

I rarely see the nyc pool or groups make offers to individuals. You might have a leg up at the dance, but what half these people are saying is bulltshit. You are going to have to go with the place you like the best, keep in touch with the right people and bring your dancing shoes during training.

when the full-time analysts had to go through exatly what BB.M&A just described. We had social events where they kissed our ass and we were kinda judging them on their social etiquette....afterwards, we invited some of the anlaysts back to our floor in later weeks and probed them more to see whether they were good fit for group. my group head also preferred people who were finance/accounting or econ majors only.

it's like recruiting part II