Recent Info on Lazard NYC Culture?
Hi all,
I was fortunate enough to receive an offer from Lazard for 2023 SA. Currently deciding between this offer and a couple others, and trying to make culture/WLB one of the key factors in my decision.
I know that Lazard has had a sweatshop reputation in the past, but have heard recently from some friends that there have been some decent cultural improvements. During my interviews they pitched the A2A program pretty hard (mentioned that turnover had been high in the past, trying to cultivate an environment where more people want to stay on past the two year analyst stint), which gave me some hope that a more sustainable culture was at least something they were trying to move towards. Not sure if that has translated to concrete improvements or is more lip service, though. I could see myself staying in banking beyond the analyst stint, so this is something I'd weigh pretty heavily.
I really like what has been described to me in terms of the "intellectualism" (thinking more about the why behind deliverables instead of just checking boxes) and the potential RX exposure, but also not trying to commit to a total sweatshop. I'm not afraid of doing the long hours per se, I know it's part of the job, but I think there's a world of difference between 70-80 hours in a good culture and 80-90 in a shitty one. Any insights much appreciated, thanks.
Edit: Should have specified, this is for NY M&A.
Are you coming from a target or a semi/non target? What are your other options?
I recently made a decision between Lazard and CS FSG LA. Thankfully, I have a few buddies who are analysts at the firm who were super real with me about their experiences.
Based on what I was told, it is extremely group specific but generally speaking Lazard is super grindy. The one analyst who helped me through the process said exit opps would be identical and that the comp difference was really marginal and wouldn’t be worth the difference in culture over a 2yr period. He was also from LA, which definitely held weight, but he said if doing it again he would have gone with CS. For reference, he’s a 2yr analyst about to exit to MF PE.
Del
I would take every other firm beside Laz
Decent post on this from a couple of years ago: https://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/lazard-ny-groups
Not quite related to your core question but exits for last couple of classes have been pretty good. Advent, Apollo, CD&R, Warburg, KKR, Berkshire, GTCR, WCAS, AEA, multiple Lindsay Goldberg, NEA, Sycamore, etc. That's mainly just from a couple of their groups.
Bump also very curious
Hear Healthcare is a sweatshop and moving beyond VP is very hard
My friend who worked at lazard said it was the worst time of his life. Absolute hell
which group?
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