I've just exited from PWP London into an MM hedge fund I only dreamed of getting into, 4 months into my second year. Over the last few months, I've seen people write all sorts of nonsense about PWP on this site. As annoyed as I was about how inaccurate all of this was, I refrained from actually writing anything while I was still employed there. Now that I'm leaving I can tell you the truth. At least in my team, I do not believe there is any bank in the world where you can get the full package of deal flow, exposure, comp, culture, and exit opps that we had. Many of you will be able to guess who I am from the info I give here, and if you stalk enough I'm sure you can find me. I ask that you respect my privacy and not do that, and if you do decide to do it, that you don't send me dumbass messages (you know who you are). Happy to take any genuine questions though.
Deal flow
I was told by most recruiters and interviewers that I had more deals attempted, completed, or in progress on my CV than most BB candidates. And I wasn't even in one of those teams which had high deal flow. I'd say they didn't really mind that some of the deals failed, as long as they were buy-side deals in which I made the models, interviewers saw that as a good and relevant experience.
Hours
There is no facetime in my team A lot of firms say that but don't mean it. When I say there's no facetime I mean it completely. On some live deals, I did work the full 100 hour week, and even on some pitches, I have done the full all-nighter. These are just part of the job. But when there were no live deals and the pitches were relaxed, I often went home at 2 pm, as long as I remained contactable and ready to come back if required. I also had no real issues coming in at 10 am, or randomly going to the gym, or meeting a friend for lunch/dinner for an hour or so, as long as I kept the relevant people informed and did my job well. On multiple occasions, I was allowed to push back on the internal deadline because I had a date that night (and I also got advice on good date locations together with that). When I did have to work really late, it was taken as obvious that I would be coming in later the next day unless I had something urgent in the morning. On average I probably worked 50 hours a week.
Culture
I'm sure many banks have a great culture, and it's all team dependent. Working in my team wasn't very different from doing a group project in uni. We had lunch/dinner together all the time, randomly disappeared to buy cookies as an entire team every now and then, and we even went on holiday together. We still produced really high-quality work, and I know I did more analysis in some pitches than you would do in some live deals at a BB. When you're best friends with your colleagues, working hard is legitimately not very difficult at all. When I interned at a GS/MS type place, I was so miserable and hated my life so much I developed major physical and mental health issues and spent everyday questioning whether IB was the right path for me to take.
Exposure
Senior exposure was so strong, my Partner frequently called me one on one to coach me on how to present certain slides to clients in my first year. I have been for site visits with just me and a CEO and sat in a room grilling the CEO and CFO about the business plan. We were encouraged to have genuine sector expertise - i.e. fully understand not just the technical terms of the industries we dealt with but even had teach-ins to learn the engineering specifications and the operational differences of the company's products. All of this is on top of the basic expectation that I'm the main person working on any model, with my Associate only making light changes. In fact, the first thing I ever did when I hit the desk built an LBO from scratch for a live deal (this was pretty terrifying). I've built everything from a RAB model to a Monte Carlo American options pricing model, from a vanilla LBO model to some strange triple recapped bridge loan LBO model that took advantage of changes in regulation for Danish mortgage bonds, all from scratch. Even the pitches started becoming interesting - especially the ones which were bottom-up outside-in OpModels of listed companies (very good practice for HF interviews). The exposure became ridiculous when I started originating ideas, and then I found myself on the phone with megafunds in both US and London pitching my idea - one of which eventually sort of actually became a live deal. The flip side was that if you weren't good enough to be this independent, you were also very rapidly sidelined, so take that as you will.
Comp
I'm not going to mince words, I made £55k+£56k in my first year (this is in the middle of Covid - it was higher last year), not inclusive of my sign-on bonus. This was about 10-30% higher than my peers in other banks. On a per hour basis, it's pretty insane.
Exit Opps
I stayed in PWP for about 15 months. For the first 12 months, not a single headhunter called me and I was a bit worried. Around the 12th month, I started being offered interviews for Analyst positions at just about every PE megafund in London. Just when I was considering taking one of those, the Asian headhunters started calling and offering me interviews for Associate positions in HK megafunds with just 1-year experience. As I was entering the final rounds with a few global PE megafunds in Asia, I started getting offered interviews with HFs in London, one of which I went with. The number of live buysides I'd done in my first year, all of which involved me being the main person holding the entire model, meant that I didn't even need to practice for any interviews or modeling tests. I knew what all my deals were about, and when you're used to building all sorts of random LBO adjustments for demanding clients and have the time and space to debate the philosophical granularities of finance with your colleagues, the tests and interviews just weren't that difficult. My favourite was OpModel tests, so few Analysts in other banks have had the chance to build OpModels, but since this was my daily life at PWP I could always outperform.
Desk
My desk was so massive I had plants on it, a food area including several boxes of cereal, markups and writing area, an area for deal toys, an empty area to eat on / my Associate to sit on, and an entire teaset. It was also a beautiful mahogany. Loved my desk. Plus the office is in Mayfair, which means I got all my Deliveroo from Soho.
Honestly, PWP is the best experience I can imagine at the junior level. As the interviews started coming in, I sat down and thought about it and realised I loved my team, my Partner was the best boss I could have asked for, I really liked the firm, and I loved what I did everyday. If it wasn't for the specific role which came, I would have stayed. I ultimately called the headhunters and set a hard line - I would only leave for a specific role in a top multimanager hedge fund (as a personal interest) or a very specific PE megafund doing a very specific role in a specific geography. Ultimately I was actually offered both these two things, but I rejected all the interviews and offers from the other funds simply because they weren't actually paying me more, I would be working much harder in places with terrible cultures, and there wouldn't actually be any room for my independent contribution within that. I definitely do not regret not choosing a BB over PWP, and I cannot imagine I would have acquired the skills and experience to get to where I am now anywhere else. You really can have a fulfilling junior-level career in banking without any of that toxic culture.
You know your bank has a problem when the PR team has to shill for it on WSO
It is though to have an idea of what goes on internally in different banks, so thanks a lot for sharing your experience!
Couple of points:
-I think most people do not have a problem with PWP per se, just the way the recruiting process is handled by Dartmouth Partners in London. Personally, I don't think this amount of hate is deserved, but I can understand where it is coming from.
-Looking at the transactions announced on PWP's own website, it is hard from the outside looking in to see how going to PWP would be much better than a lot of BBs or other EBs in London. As an insider you clearly have more knowledge than us now but if you put yourself in the shoes of a prospect (or even yourself 1-2 years ago), how much of what you now know could have been inferred by your own due dilligence at the time (i.e. career center, website, speaking to alumni, etc.)?
-Congrats on your fantastic offers! I think you are probably underestimating the role your past experiences and pedigree played in securing this amount of traction from HHs, if you are who I suspect you are. You probably would have been fine going to any BBs or EBs in London (also something that Pan European Monkey repeatedly emphasizes, bank/group in London matters less than in the US).
Thanks again for one very valuable data point and all the best at your new firm!
You literally have the same writing style as OP
lmao PR guys, at least try making it sound like you are a prospect
Actually, having viewed OP's post history, they seem legit
lmao wtf did I just read - the bait is huge here, almost as bad as Dartmouth recruiters, and that says a lot
Always find it bewildering when EBs in London claim to have good deal flow, when at my BB we almost never see them as co-advisors or competing at bakeoffs, unless its Roths or Laz. Are they just focusing on a completely different market?
Couple of things at my EB (in my team)
- we act as defense advisors to strategics (there's no "official" bake-off for this but you meet them a couple of times and show them your creds, do a bit of analysis etc. )
- we act as buy-side advisors to strategics we have long-term relationships with (you don't need a bake-off for this, you just keep showing them ideas, refining the ideas etc)
- we act as buy-side advisors to PEs (there's rarely an "official" bake-off for these roles)
- we get mandated for sell-sides without bake-offs (we get recommended by the chairperso due to existing relationships etc - very rare though)
Basically we rarely go to "bake-offs" (for M&A unless its a "key" PE asset we really want to do)
Roths is a volume house. They basically do most of the large PE sell-sides. My understanding (for my sector) is that Lazard just does buy-sides.
But doesn't really explain why we never see you on actually executions right? Also pretty much reflected in the leauge tables in my view.
Probably not watching enough but only seeing Centerview or very specialised one's every now and then. But many in London are completely missing on any kind of deals. Can't remember the last M&A deal PJT did in London (where not actually the US was staffed / lead). Tbh sharing the view of the previous comment.
Some defense staff etc. makes sense - but that's not really where the money comes from (except for Lazard maybe).
PWP HR?? hahaha what a joke! any serious prospect would have to push PWP further down the list after this.
OP is not HR.
For context, should be mentioned - he has an amazing CV and could have probably walked into most top jobs.
Also there is a reason why he was approached for Asian roles so people shouldn't assume working in EB would randomly get them opps in HK etc
Delete this bro. Essentially doxing yourself which is all downside and no upside.
Obviously, considering the SB-MS ratio and existing comments, I'm unsure of how much to believe of your account as the norm. I guess I'll take your word for it and assume you're writing in good conscience. That being said, I will never apply to your firm again after writing a fucking dissertation on why I want to suck Dietrich Becker's cock among other things, just to receive a Dartmouth Partners rejection promptly after a few weeks.
This is just way too one-sided. Considered PWP as well and even ate a lot of MS here while defending them but above is just misleading.
First of all, it completely depends on the team, just as everywhere else. Most teams at PWP are crap tbh (just no dealflow), only 1-2 are solid. Even if we take the better one's, I first hand know people that wanted to exit and generally struggled quite a lot. And I´m not only talking about MF but even solid MM Funds. Moreover, the comp described above is outstanding top bucket or just far too high. My friends (yes plural) rather got ~35k which is in line with BB. Probably my friends where just unlucky with comp, exit and even hours (50 hours, are you even for real?) but this thread is definitely nothing any graduate should consider when looking into FT opps. As nearly always in Europe BB>EB and for EBs there are definitely better one's than PWP.
Do you also get a free bucket of 24 Karat gold your first day?
In all seriousness, the fact that you are trying to make us believe a Partner / MD let a first year analyst grill " the CEO and CFO about the business plan" is one of the most ludicrous things I have ever heard.
Tons of people here just salty that OP had a great analyst experience and found a great exit opp
If this is not HR shill, it seems more probable to me that you have had such a bad experience at PWP that you concocted up an alternate reality in which you enjoyed the job as a coping mechanism. That's some Donald Trumpian BS though.
Turns out the only thing the CIA needed to make MK-ULTRA a success was whatever the fuck PWP is doing to their analysts over there
This post is so full of bullsh*t that it even made me sign in.
(1) I know someone who lateralled to PWP in London and boi this guy was not good at modelling and it's just me being nice. Later he bragged that he is considered very good at modelling in his new team. Says it all to me.
(2) Monte carlo american .... blah blah blah.
Either you downloaded an excel , which had a standard and a simple 5 line option pricing model or you read somewhere what to do. By the way, the easiest way would have been to use bloomberg.
And yes, i am pretty sure you didnt do more than that because you are a second year analyst in M&A.
(3) I will give up my bonus if you actually built a super complex blah blah mortgage whatever Danish bond model without your associate finding a ton of mistakes to fix and without at least some sort of involvement of debt advisory or another bank's financing teams inputs.
You are a 2nd year analyst. You built a couple of simple models. The day that a partner lets a 2nd year analyst grill clients on the business plan is the day i quit banking.
Amen brother...fantastic meme btw. I nearly shit myself laughing when i read the Monte carlo american nonsense in the post.
Silver Banana for you!
Couple of my favorite excerpts:
" we even went on holiday together" - Yea, cause associates, VPs, and MDs really wanna hang out with a first year they've known less than a year rather than lifelong friends or significant others...also who was at the office covering on all this "crazy deal flow"??
"It was also a beautiful mahogany. " - Is this a quote from American Psycho ? Legit Question.
" found myself on the phone with megafunds in both US and London pitching my idea - one of which eventually sort of actually became a live deal. " - Did you guys know partners from Megafunds regularly call up first year analysts at mid-tier EBs and ask for advice???
"Even the pitches started becoming interesting - especially the ones which were bottom-up outside-in OpModels of listed companies " - yea building Operating models for pitches is my absolute favorite thing to do in the world, and what makes it even better is when the work gets trashed because the pitch goes nowhere
Great post OP.
Mate, just went through your comments on other posts. Unless you lied, you were in TMT team at PWP in London.
If what you are saying about partners letting you grill CFOs in your second year is true, now I understand why three TMT partners (I know for a fact it’s true but I don’t remember the exact number) got fired from your team recently. I heard that two associates and one analyst were also fired , all from PWP TMT London.
I know for a fact that your team is weak in London and has had almost zero deal flow.
Congrats on the getting the offer from HF if that’s what you wanted though but major disinformation is taking place.
I want to ask admins to edit this post or make it somehow because its spreading some questionable information about the industry - what has been described is extremely rare and as mentioned led to almost half of TMT team be fired.
Careful bro, OP is just gonna call you bottom bucket because all top bucket analysts at PWP get blowjobs from DJ Sol himself