Trending Content - Investment Banking Forum
| +326 | Which Offer to Accept: UBS Analyst Role or Part Time Cashier at the Local Taco Bell | 41 | 6m |
| +249 | AI is insane | 32 | 39m |
| +203 | 2026-27 IB Energy Top Banks | 22 | 4h |
| +186 | Useless associates | 29 | 32m |
| +177 | I Snuck Into UBS Office And Took A Shit On The Floor | 21 | 33m |
| +174 | How do you manage nerves in IB technical interviews? | 16 | 34m |
| +167 | Differences in Restructuring Teams? | 31 | 7h |
| +154 | TPH V.S. Mizuho [HOU] | 22 | 6h |
| +149 | GF is an IB Analyst at a top BB, hates it, what exit options does she have? | 26 | 3h |
| +141 | Roku-Fox Deal - UBS Misses Out on yet another deals after years chasing this deal | 24 | 9m |
Career Resources
MOE might be a tier above JEFF, but at this point, I’m wondering what makes GUGG and PWP “elite.”
In terms of large transactions, JEFF has done more $1 billion+ deals than PWP and GUGG combined. Its coverage has also expanded well beyond its traditional strengths.
JEFF’s Houston Energy and Healthcare groups alone bring in more revenue than PWP as a whole.
Just look at the league tables and fee share in LSEG Americas. JEFF is #6, while GUGG is behind even HL. I couldn’t find PWP in top 20
First Congrats on JEF, this is too obvious lol.
JEF is a volume shop, take bunch of deals instead of quality deals. Plus GUGG and PWP have a way stronger RX franchise. Period.
Take out SMBC then JEF is nothing. Hope they get acquired soon!
Not the person who posted the league table above, and I haven’t worked at JEF, but I think he made a solid point.
I worked at a lower-tier EB (GUGG/ROTH/PWP), and we were constantly pitching against shops like JEF/WF/WB/HL. We also did plenty of $300 million deals
The only difference is exits. My group sent two second-year analysts to Bain Capital / Carlyle; not sure if JEFF has the same exits.
RX is only one of JEF’s product groups, and most of the firm’s revenue comes from coverage-driven M&A. JEF also has another product group (PCA) that is significantly stronger than the PCA platforms at PWP and GUGG, no?
“JEF is a volume shop that takes on a bunch of deals instead of quality deals.” How exactly are you defining “quality”? JEF literally closed more $1B+ transactions this quarter than the two firms you mentioned combined. In terms of client quality, JEF also advises a couple of top-tier sponsors and strategics this year.
“Take out SMBC and JEF is nothing. Hope they get acquired soon!” That is like saying MS would be nothing without MUFG. If anything, isn’t PWP far more likely to be acquired than JEF?
PWP, Moelis and Guggenheim are arguably much more likely to be acquired soon than Jefferies is
What you mean Moelis “might be” above JEF. They are 😂. Least obvious JEF banker
ROTH low-tier EB confirmed
Congrats on GUGG. Prolly just a junior student who is trying to convince people that GUGG is on par with PWP/MOE and use Jefferies as a scapegoat
GUGG is better than PWP at this point
PWP is shit
I also spoke with many WF people who said they are BB....
That’s prob true at this point
Lowkey Moelis overrated too
Honestly, none of these four shops get any institutional respect, individual bankers get respect but there is no brand value from a client perspective at any of them. They are all the same to me although I will say the quality of management at MOE and GG > JEF > PWP (exacerbated by the recent failed deal)
If you’re thinking of lateraling it 100% comes down to which bankers you are working for,
Note: nothing wrong with this, once a banker is good enough to be their own brand, the institution they work for is irrelevant.
Don't know why you got MS thrown at you, you're 100% right. The banks serve as the platform, the MDs and Directors are the business. Sales 101.
JEFF catching strays like usual
Did you really create an account just to shit on JEF? Your first comment on this forum was trashing JEFF, and only college students care about sth like RX ranks you keep posting
Not trying to shit, just found this thread funny😭. I respect every banks.
Technically, Jeff sees themselves as an Elite Bulge Bracket
It's just hilarious to see all JEFF bankers flooded and start defending lmao. They're so cute
Username checks out. After reading your gay post, “Any banks besides these are cooked,” I’m not surprised there are so many prestige whores in this industry
They are EB (as in Elite BS-er) because they promise a valuation in pitch that nobody else dares to promise. Who cares $2bn pitch becomes $1bn deal and sellers and buyers are mad, it still counts toward $1bn+ deals in WSO!
Then tell me why all sponsors keep coming back to JEFF for sell-side mandates?
So they don’t miss out on the next billion dollar deal!
It’s really for two distinct reasons:
1) Jeffries has a reputation for threatening to bar you from their future processes if you don’t hire them and if you’re a sponsor looking to deploy capital, you can’t risk that (they have good deal flow)
2) as much as people are aware of the phenomenon of them over promising during bake-offs, everyone always has an inflated view of what their own assets are worth and loves hearing that they are special (finance people love their ego stroked don’t forget)
all that said, they can run a good sellside process but often times it doesn’t get done at the value they promised…
Jeff Houston energy is 100% a top tier group. Strengths and weaknesses of groups at these firms vary so much that firm wide argument is useless
Anyone can cherry pick a group and say it’s good that’s not the point
Anyone hate jef bankers who went to a top target who talk about the grind. Like bro you went to an ivy and ended up at jef you arent the brightest ngl.
Literally equivalent to your parents buying you a Ferrari and you using it to deliver DoorDash.
Yeah sadly this happens alot tbh. Bofa jef and shit. But thankfully that isnt us.
It's a meatgrinder. If you survive in Jef as a junior I will assume you have the stamina and resiliency to put in the hours.
What's harder: GS/MS or JEFF?
Recruiting: GS > MS > JEFF
Real Work (depend on groups obviously), but JEFF just ran so many processes and they do very standard sell-sides (less bilateral discussions), so their analyst experience is arguably the best + their sweatshop name
Just because something is a meatgrinder doesn’t mean surviving it has inherent value or is something to be proud of.
I did time in group/bank the dumbasses on this site jerk off to for “prestige.” It was a waste of 2+ years of my life.
If you spent years in a Vietnamese POW camp with a cattle prod up your ass, yeah you build resilience and some other skills but you’re almost certainly worse off than if you never got subjected to that.
Whereas the Jefferies guys would walk around like they’re hot shit for surviving it, brag about taking more cattle prods than the other camps, and then wherever they go next try to jam cattle prods up everyone else’s ass.
I’m surely there’s some people at Jefferies who are lovely people (maybe, I haven’t met any but I’m saying this to be nice) but the current and former Jefferies bankers I’ve interacted with exude a weird form of incel-adjacent/small dick energy. Like insulting me in an interview for no reason. Or getting into weird dick measuring contests or just unprompted toxicity out of nowhere. Something is clearly very wrong there , like some sort of mass psychosis.
100%, this is a huge generalization but Jeff is a lot of IVY grads that were not good enough for BB/EB and try to make up for it by being dicks
The “Ivy” League MBA asos take this to an extreme. Like sure buddy you’re totally smart because you paid $100k+ a year in your early 30s at a program with a 30% acceptance rate just lol
Know a pton grad who works/worked there. Let’s just say he’s not the brightest. There’s your case in point.
One important reason is that JEFF is very non-target friendly, with plenty of analysts from competitive tier-2 schools (IU, BYU, and SMU) as well as schools less known for finance recruiting (Rochester, Lehigh, and Kenyon)
Breaking in from those backgrounds takes confidence and a bit of ego, so it’s natural for them to take pride in what they’ve achieved
That’s exactly why JEFF is shit. Have you ever seen PWP taken any kids from shitty schools like BYU/SMU? All some wanna-be republican trash
Pretty sure they're authentic Republicans. IDK about Elite Boutique bankers, though.
Lol all you JEF haters get so emotional I swear the company lives in your head rent free. You love to exclaim it’s hell on earth and not really base on anything except old stereotypes from like 15 years ago.
I don’t work at JEF. Idgaf before you all say “congrats on JEF!”.
It’s probably not as bad or as good as the extremes are posting about on here.
But the fact that the top comment above is backing up a claim about JEF outperforming with DATA and FACTS and the JEF haters reply is basically “nuh huh nuh huh no that doesn’t fit my narrative of prestige!” is hilarious to me
This is nothing new. BofA, Citi, RBC, Moelis, PWP, PJT M&A, Jefferies and the list goes on.
Tbh idt anyone at jef cares ab other firms. U join for a reason - kind of a league of their own situation and much closer to what was seen pre gfc.
yes Jefferies bankers are in a league of their own mentally
I interned there last summer and actually had a more positive experience than my friends at other banks. It does seem extremely group dependent though. I'm sure all banks are to an extent but because Jefferies grew a lot in the last 5-10 years so the groups are independent fiefdoms that reflect the senior leadership. Group I was working with most of the time was great, actually the opposite of what people here describe. I will say though, people who had been at the firm before the past ~7 year expansion told me the stereotypes used to be accurate. Used to be very sharp elbowed, super old school, no support, etc. But now it's probably a more typical experiece.
Think some of the confidence (or arrogance) comes from it being a unique structure. Post-GFC it's the only scaled full service independent investment bank. So you can tell yourself "we're not like GS/MS/JPM, we're independent." And you can also tell yourself "we're not like Evercore, we're full service." That + growth and success is how you end up with the "league of our own" mentality imo.
It was just one summer but felt like I got the vibe by working across multiple groups (generalist internship), but definitely did not think this place was some unique torture chamber. I guess the one of a kind structure, growth, and maybe some people with chips on their shoulder can lead to the mentality people discussed, but I didn't really encounter that.
I actually liked that the bank has a unique identity versus a BofA or Citi type place thats some massive multinational institution with for four million divisions and no edge. Even a random EB other than top two or so, I don't really understand what their unique identity is. For better or worse Jefferies has one and I enjoyed working for a place that was at least different.
It really depends on groups. Know people from industry groups and they seem pretty chill. While people in groups like PC or RX are pretty weird
Private Credit or PCA?
I think a lot of this comes down to how people view their own platform and the deals they’ve worked on. JEF has a strong presence in certain areas, so I can see why some bankers feel confident comparing themselves with other firms. But saying you’re automatically better than GUG, PWP, or Moelis is a different story. Team quality, deal flow, and the group you join can matter more than the name on the building. I’d be more interested in what the specific group is doing than the claims people make during recruiting.
It really depends on the specific team.
Bump！！
bump
Aliquam voluptatem eligendi dolor quidem. Iste ut autem et voluptate porro. Aut facere quae ab et amet. Laboriosam minima tenetur distinctio ex quidem eos modi sit. Ea iste odit accusantium sed rerum.
Praesentium a molestiae quia numquam autem nobis quibusdam. Iure mollitia autem rerum alias cumque aut enim. Corrupti ut id rerum officiis qui voluptatibus laboriosam. Fuga magni minima est quis a laborum itaque. Qui quasi totam laboriosam et.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...
Ut deleniti quis perspiciatis consequuntur nobis est. Facilis beatae voluptas laborum omnis praesentium. Eligendi consequatur facere consequatur veritatis accusantium.
Voluptatem amet nihil impedit quae. Voluptas soluta dolores dicta omnis ducimus aut aut. Et modi neque quisquam velit tenetur ipsam ipsa inventore. Nemo et et fugit debitis molestiae quia.
Eum qui suscipit asperiores facere autem dicta laudantium. Voluptas cumque autem dicta. Et accusantium dolores a quia. Possimus minima magnam sed nostrum voluptatem est velit. Est et natus amet dolorem officia est pariatur. Ut modi eveniet et aliquid libero iusto officia in.
Neque non doloremque blanditiis nihil. Ipsam numquam magni quo dolor dicta. Ut perspiciatis ducimus perspiciatis eius in consectetur. Iusto amet hic perspiciatis.