What was it like in 08 for jobs?
To anyone that graduated around 2008 what was it like for jobs? Did anyone see offers pulled? I imagine it was near impossible to have an IB seat
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Lol yeah, the world was melting down
Friend of mine lost his job at Merrill along with 95% of his analyst class. Out of work for about a year.
Ignore username..I graduated in 09.
I was at a service academy so my job was guaranteed (war is recession proof!)
But all my friends at civilian schools had a rough time. Anyone without a tech degree was screwed. There was opps for people that knew coding as Facebook and apps/smart phone era was taking off. But anyone else was phucked.
Knew sooooo many people who took Starbucks type jobs with degrees. The meme of millennials with sociology degrees working as a barista was really born seeing this era. Most people eventually found a decent job but it took 3 to 4 years(srs)
As in people with finance/business degrees took Starbucks jobs?
Sure. Absolutely. If you had a target school background you did better. But anyone from Ohio state or something had a tough tough time. Before 08 lots of people thought tech was saturated ("if you can't code by age 19it's not worth learning as some guy like zuckerberg has been doing it since he was 12"). The 01 dotcom crash was fresh in everyone's minds. 2008 really made people realize going to school to study liberal arts was very stupid as tech went into growth mode through the crisis and there weren't enough engineers.
I was a summer analyst in 08. Started full time the following year
Bear got bought by JP Morgan for pennies in March: Ton of people lost their summer offers a few months before the start date and graduating seniors lost their offers right when it was time to plan the move to NYC. I’m not even getting into Bear Stearns employees who got laid off.
Lehman went down in September: Offers in North America were honored by Barclays and in Europe / Asia offers by Nomura but there were still rounds of layoffs
Merrill got bought by Bank of America in September: Tons of layoffs
Goldman and Morgan almost went down in September.
Recruiting screeched to a halt across the street. If you were first semester senior without a banking / S&T offer you were likely fucked.
The fear, despair and destruction of wealth across the Street is why I barely bat an eye at the last few months
What happened to those who didn't get offers? Did they ever got back into IB?
Case by case. A lot of people had to pivot to different careers. Keep in mind the pivot for a lot of people was humbling because there was a lack of employment and many had to take “less than stellar” roles or jobs far from their ideal. Obviously business school provided an eventual path back to banking if that’s what they wanted to pursue. 08 set a lot of 08/09 graduates back a few years.
I can’t stress just how bad 08 was and how this period doesn’t even remotely compare. You’ve got a decent amount of guys on the Street still working who likely would have retired / pivoted had it not been for losing a shit ton of wealth at the likes of Bear and Lehman.
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Those that manage to remain had less competition and generally did well, fewer deal reps though
Guy from my hometown went from being a VP at JPM to caddying in New Jersey. It was an epic meltdown. Finance professionals taking anything they could to put food on the table for their families. Took him two years to get back in the business. This shit is nothing compared to 08
I worked in investment banking as an analyst at a BB 08 through 11 - my whole team was let go in 09 - I was kept and moved to another product group. Honestly scarred me permanently.
Lmao I have that too, I graduated with an offer from a large crypto company and was laid off after 2 days was FIFO, work in M&A now and every Friday no matter how good my performance is I think I’m going to get fired/worried I’m going to get fired
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