Q1 22 Lateral Market?

With the New Year just starting, what is the outlook on the existing lateral market? Is it as hot as it was to end 2021? When will it be expected to cool down? This is from someone not currently in IB (strategic finance), but that is looking to break in. 

24 Comments
 

I’m a 2nd year in IB and the lateral market seems to be very active. I have some ongoing processes, so hopefully that’s a valid indicator. Recruiters have solid mandates going into Q1, so I suggest you get on the phone and start networking. I personally don’t see M&A staying at the same level as last year, but turnover is still very high.

 

Really,  I feel like it has cooled off quite a bit.  Our junior team had ~90% turnover last year, so a lot of faces are new. I would be surprised if the turnover is that high again in 2022.  Our team also did a good job of promoting people where they could and where they needed too.  We added a few more directors, but I would be surprised, if we need  more heads to service them.  

 

I’ve been applying online and having lots of success. (Cold applied online to Laz/Moelis/Evr/GS/MS/JPM only in December, non target and am in the process for 4 of them already) I think the market is still hot and will stay hot. Not sure how easy it is to break in with no banking experience but my group recently hired 2 people who had experience like yours.

 

I have no idea. I think it’s hard to move up big time from SA to FT because so many people want to move. Once you start, it’s harder to decide if it’s worth moving because you know exactly what your current firm is like, whereas a new bank could turn out to be much worse.

I didn’t recruit for FT. Once you have some deals/experience you become so much more valuable to other firms because while even if you can’t hit the ground running, you are kinda familiar with how things work compared to someone who was just an intern or has no banking experience. So if you strike out on FT recruiting, that’s ok. Stick it out for 6-12 months and it’s much easier. 

 

It's hot right now and many MMs are expecting a repeat of 2021. I think taking risks on non-IB analysts is entirely dependent on existing depth. If you have a pool of greener than desired analysts, you are going to be less likely to take on new ones. If you have several that are more experienced and/or are looking to backfill A2A promotes, then you can probably stretch a bit more.

 

This is helpful to know, and it certainly sounds like there will be group to group variance. I guess are applicants who are non-IB treated differently based on what their current role is? For example, in strategic finance I would think many of the same skills at the junior level are utilized (modeling, deck building, etc). Would this be looked at more favorably compared to roles that do not get that exposure, OR are all non-IB folks bucketed into the same group? Would love to hear your thoughts on this.  

 

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