SEO London is a joke
Every time I scroll through LinkedIn and see a post about SEO London (which is always a bit cringey tbh), I can’t help but notice how over 50% of the time, it’s someone who went to a private school or one of those top-tier state schools in leafy, well-off areas (think, Surrey, West London, etc.).
Isn’t SEO London supposed to be about helping underprivileged and underrepresented people get into finance? From what I’ve seen, it seems more like it’s helping the kids of Nigerian politicians or the privately educated children of Indian doctors.
Where are the Syrian refugees, kids from council estates in the North, care-leavers, or those who’ve actually had to fight their way through life? SEO London is supposed to give opportunities to those who don’t already have a leg up, but it feels like it’s more about giving the privileged a leg up within underrepresented groups (whilst disadvantaging both non-DEI candidates and those whom it sets out to help), which kind of defeats the purpose.
How is this helping those who are truly disadvantaged?
I did SEO in the states. The problem is that you still need to get your resume picked, interview, and land a role. No one who goes through SEO is guaranteed a job. If you lack the declarative knowledge that banking exists you're not gonna break in or find SEO. Guidance counselors and career services don't know what investment banking is. If both your parents are lawyers in finance, you will have better odds. You also still need to pass the airport test. If you were a rich white guy running a business, who would you hire. The URM from a war torn country who works two jobs to survive or the guy whose dad took him skiing every year? Would you hire the guy from Oxford or the guy from some no name school?
Goes to show how DEI in London is simply a checkbox exercise..
Can comment: attend SEO London events regularly as part of the 2025 SA cohort.
I have gone to their events such as Spring into Finance, Excel Bootcamp, Internship Success Workshops etc. and I'll say I was one of the few who really felt they had it rough (poor life growing up, worked against the odds in a state school, part time work, broke etc.)
I get to meet people who are really cool but you can tell some of them are low-key not meant to be at SEO London yet are there only for networking purposes to see who's going where e.g. where's the JP Morgan IBD guys or the Goldman FICC interns in the Zoom calls or in the in-person events they hold. In their defence, they were quite lovely people so I have nothing against them at all! At least it wasn't your Mr 9 spring week offers at Lazard-type person attending with the insane bragging rights of being a IB hardboy.
To play devil's advocate, they have provided me with some help and access to events purely by mentioning their name on the bottom of the CV so I appreciate what they've done. The game's the game here in London so you have to maximise your odds (and I speak as a man of relative colour).
I think they should do a partnership with universities where the universities themselves flag students with real financial mobility so that your Nigerian politician's daughter doesn't unfairly get those opportunities but I can't speak too much for its logistics at the moment.
Hey, just wondering what type of events you got access to by putting SEO at the bottom of your CV?
Networking events at JPM, GS, Barclays, HSBC, MS, Moelis and others.
It feels incredibly weird seeing people who talk about events I literally went to last week online.
Getting way too local especially since I know the JPM IBD / Goldman FICC / Lazard dudes you were talking about personally
Welcome to the internet, my kind stranger!
This is just the reality of the small world we live in :)
I think I know the mr 9 spring week offers at Lazard guy, and he defo attends seo london events HAHAHA
My dad’s a GP and I’m a man of colour but I actually nearly lose my marbles when I’m in the same category as the man who’s dad is the Nigerian ambassador or something
I heard from a reliable source that he tries to make it appear as if it was the back of his own work and not of any group such as SEO London i.e. how talented he is, how he's super well versed and slick. I mean mate, even I attended SEO London events and I'm not ashamed to say it. Like, come on why are you so concerned about optics?
Props to you tho mate, you worked hard to where you belong, regardless of your dad's occupation. Embrace it!
Not to be snide but isn’t the average GP salary like £80k lol
Wait until you see the people attending Alternatives Academy...
del
It's a program which helps current IB or incoming IB analysts get onto a fellowship program to secure a buyside offer. 60% of the candidates in this academy don't even have an IB offer - BGF summer or a non-convertible SEO summer or Santander Risk etc. Oh yeah, there's like 150 ppl in this "selective" academy. Doubt any screening was done for this.
In my experience, the SEO events are not helpful at all. I have been to many firm specific networking events eg Moelis, Barclays, UBS, JPM and applied to their IB summer Internships and I go to a target with stellar grades and experience, yet I did not get an AC invitation for a single one of these firms despite having been to everything arranged by these firms (some of them had multiple events which I attended).
For summer internships at these name brand sell side firms, these events are purely for show, and the networking benefits do not helpin your application all.
This is coming from someone who has been to many sep events in the most recent recruiting cycle and last one too.
SEO London had a relationship with Morgan Stanley, Rothschild, Evercore - wonder what happened
From what they've said, they still have one with Rothschild.
Morgan Stanley I don't think they do anymore? Evercore they used to afaik.
Only one tbf they have a strong relationship with is Lazard. There's even an exclusive Lazard SEO spring link to reduce outside applicants lol.
Yeah I mean the selection criteria is anyone from a BAME background or household income below like £30k. So for white people to get in you need to be really poor, whereas a ton of the rest of the spots are filled by privately or grammar school educated BAME kids, to which I would argue do not need as much help as the state school educated working class kid from Yorkshire.
Banks don't care though because it helps them meet their DEI targets (which are imported from race/gender culture politics from the US rather than addressing the very real class issues in the UK - north/south divide etc.)
I know a lot of people lie to get into SEO London unfortunately.
Same thing in the Americas
So true. Most programmes are full of kids that went to elite grammar/private schools who got in on the basis of their skin colour. It’s rare you run into someone from a genuinely working-class disadvantaged background
You do realise there are tons of whites/indians in SEO right? You will be surprised how many also lie about being from a "genuinely working-class disadvantaged background". Proportionately, I think the rate of lying for those types is even higher. Back in my day, i recall seeing an LSE Hong Kong kid at an event lol.
The reality is people lie on their form and get in, that’s how they accept SEO candidates in the UK. And you’re seeing the upper echelon of private school kids in your insight event asking all the questions with their posh accents. You wonder ‘why do they need to be here?’ - it’s cause the game is the game unfortunately.
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