Those who recruited for FT IB 2020 Positions, how was it?

Summer: intern at regional office EB.

FT: Recruited at NYC EBs and MF PE analyst roles, ultimately signed with MF

From my understanding of the process, the best time to reach out to people was about 4-5 weeks left in the summer internship. Realistically, it's when you have enough experience to justify wanting to switch banks/groups without being too late and missing the boat for interviews. For two of the banks I targeted, I got put on the FT interview shortlist after just one phone call and the analyst/associate I was speaking with told me there was no need to reach out and network further; HR would just reach out for an interview.

I went back and forth about reaching out to people before the summer started, ultimately decided not to except for an analyst that I had a very strong connection to. (ended up being an 2 hour coffee chat about recruiting and the group and what not). However, he recommended I wait until halfway through the internship to start networking.

The process for interviewing moved incredibly fast. I'm talking phone interview + superday + offer in a 72 hour window the week after all the summer interns finished.