Why I Hate Gen Z (Tips For Networking & Being an Analyst)

Intro

Been a minute WSO, but the forums favorite quality anonymous poster is back with another rant. For select other rants see the below, plus others on my alt accounts that are the top of the site.

Top 10 kids complainingThe Associate PeacIB Hair SplittingDeloitte ShitpostSad About Growing Up

Today's rant is on Gen Z and why you all irritate the living shit out of me.

To begin though, I want to acknowledge I am aware I sound like a jerk, but it is from a place of love. I remember when I heard some boomer boss give me the advice: "every millennial is so entitled and lazy. It's like they are shocked  they have to work" It made me hate the boss. BUT, you guys have pushed me over the edge again, so I need to write.

1) Lack Of Social Skills

Hey look, I empathize with you guys here. When I was growing up we would loiter at burger king and throw rocks at cars and trains. Somehow despite it seeming like a big waste of time, all the empty time allowed me to become friends with the kid who sold drugs in my neighborhood, the athlete, the hot girl, and the weird kid who ate glue until he was way too old. As a result, I became a well adjusted adult who could talk to different types of people. Heck, I even got laid and drank a few times.

You all on the other hand, grew up attached to your phones. You had people like James Charles, Mr. Beast, Logan Paul, Kylie Jenner, and David Dobrik as your friends and the people you were learning social cues from. Unfortunately, these relationships were one sided and you were mimicking freaks, so you did not learn the slightest intuition on how to behave in public. Instead, you became a bunch of performative theatre kids doing what can only be described professionally as "weird shit".

A few specific grievances:

  •  Shower more. Why do I need to say this. It goes with the victim mentality thing, but there are a bunch of you who are like looking for sympathy because you are "working so hard" you don't have time to shower. Stop it. Stop it right now. It isn't going to make me think you are working so hard you didn't shower, it just makes me think you don't shower and smell like farts.
  • Farting. Again, it is wild I have to say this. You little shits are more gassy than any prior generation. Maybe it is the rise in allergies, but I frankly attribute it to something else: just a lack of repercussions from growing up. I remember i let loose a nasty silent but deadly fart in 5th grade and kids bullied me about it for weeks. I then learned not to let loose gnarly egg farts in crowded groups unless it was for recreational fun and games. You all seem to think its cool to let loose some sort of fish, ketchup, and broccoli mixture in the middle of the bullpen and act like you don't know who did it. This is like basic being a person stuff.
  • Misogyny and Misandry.  "Girls go to college to get more knowledge, boys go to Jupiter to get more stupider" We used to say this growing up. Then somewhere along the way, we learned men and women are different, but really we bring out the best in each other. Now for girls, the internet really messed you up. It seems like every girl is comparing themseleves to the entire world now, so they all think ending up with not Brad Pitt is failing at life. They also are on a path to grinding until they are like 40 with weird hobbies and then I have to fake interest in your fake fulfillment and stupid hobbies. I also have to be cognizant about mentioning friend's kids because you take it as a microaggression and then are out to get me in the office. Find a guy that treats you well and just have fun for yourself rather than being a hermit or perpetually afraid to date because it is settling or you can do better. You can in fact grow to like a person and date them for reasons other than love at first sight. Otherwise ugly clowns like me would be single forever. But BOYS, holy hell. Somehow overnight, the bullpen became a school shooter symposium. You magic the gathering, fortnight, incels irritate the living shit out of me. Stop being so misogynistic. It's on this website and it's in the bullpen where I hear the weirdest stories and comments about women as though they aren't people. Sure finance always had womanizers and a hint of treating women like objects, but now this forum and some bullpens are filled with dudes who actually dislike women and cannot get dates. It's so weird. So then, not only do you try to overcompensate at work by telling dating stories that are obviously not true and weird, but you also have weird lurker behavior around some of the girls. This "lurker" behavior is the social equivalent of farting in an elevator. It isn't illegal and I can't tell HR, but I want to. It makes the office an uncomfortable place to work for me and this is just being next to or near analysts. She's not interested bro, leave her alone. And stop hating women on this forum guys its such a bad look.
  • Not being able to Hold a Conversation Or Make Eye Contact: It's stunning the about of kids I reject in interviews because they just couldn't hold eye contact. How is this a thing. Please practice this more than your technicals. It is a much bigger factor for 90% of you.

2) A lack Of Desperation on Getting Or Staying Employed 

This is actually the point that made me write this. I have a theory that zero interest rate policy broke the world. It created asset inflation that made even good jobs not enough to buy a home and it made everyone have a job. So, because everyone had a job and even if you had one you weren't paid enough, people starting looking for meaning in their life. And of course, since religion and church is nothing compared to tik tok you guys started getting more into politics as a way to make you feel confident you are "on the right path"

Now this bothers me because you Gen Z's take having a job and getting an internship as something that should be handed to you. See my top 10 university rant for a better explanation of this. But the following exchange is what led to this rant:

  • Some kid emails me looking for a job
  • I respond and suggest a time I am available
  • They reply "nope. I am not free then." They then provide no alternative time.

This is a crazy interaction, that is taking up way too much of my mental real estate. First off, It's crazy because I remember hearing stories of people I knew graduating in 2008 that were like Princeton grads and they had to take their first job as a bank teller because no one was hiring. And second off, why did this kid even email me? Let me be very clear, if you are calling for a networking call and the other person suggests a time there are 2 possible answers:

  • Yes, sounds great
  • Unfortunately, I have a funeral, wedding, or exam during that time, does a time from ___ to ___ on these 4 days work? If not, I should be able to make any other time work for you.

What is not acceptable is not telling me why you are saying no to my time and not suggesting an alternate time. If you have a class, you skip that class for the interview. There's just a gross lack of understanding by you younger individuals on 1) how busy the people you are calling actually are and 2) the power dynamic at play and how the second you email me you are in the interview process. Someone who pushes a call with me because they are "busy" plain and simply lacks dedication. My brain immediately jumps to you have a birthday party or some other bs social event and that is why you are not taking the call. When interviewing you need to be on your best behavior and demonstrating how you will go above and beyond, not adding administrative burden due to your social calendar or inability to anticipate the next action.

3) Victim Mentality & Endless Excuses

This one is harsh, but a conversation needs to be had. Somewhere in our efforts to destigmatize mental health and acknowledge privilege we lost our way. Both by the way, are great and important conversations, however, your generation has engaged in what can only be described as "the struggle olympics" and bastardized the whole thing.

Early conversations on privilege were about managers not holding it against a black colleague who had never golfed before. Being cognizant that a golf outing could be harmful to workplace moral for some individuals if there isn't a way to make everyone feel comfortable. This is a good conversation.

Early conversations on mental health were about someone being able to inform their colleagues they needed to take time off to handle a personal issue and not having that held against them when they returned. This is a good conversation.

Gen-Z conversations are even before a deal heats up, analysts and interns informing me of their "mental health" or personal struggles. It is seeking special treatment and preloading excuses so they are held to a different standard. I get this flies in school where you get extra time on tests for your ADHD, but when money is on the line, I just don't care.

As a person, I care about you and hope you take care of yourself. However, if you inform me you have chronic anxiety right when you hit the desk, I genuinely think you are in the wrong career. I am not 7 ft tall, so basketball is not the right job for me. If some mental health issue is a core part of your identity and something you need to bring up right when working with me, I really think you should find alternate employment that isn't high stress, lack-of-sleep, and deadline based. There are many jobs out there, you didn't have to take a job in IB.

4) Lack Of Resilience

The other point is the lack of resilience your generation has. I swear the gen z kids I have worked with have the resilience of an HIV, Polio patient who has never known love. Alternatively, you all have the fortitude of a high school senior summer relationship heading into college. If I explain why you messed something up, it is as simple as that. You do not need to think I hate you or that you will get fired. It's like a coach telling you you missed a block. When a coach says you missed a block, you say "thanks coach, I will make sure next time I watch that" you don't provide excuses or break down and start questioning your reality or ability to run. 40% of my job when I've been at large firms has been building up gen Z after they get a sprinkle of criticism from a colleague and begin spinning out. 

TLDR; Gen-Z might be the first generation that should spend less time studying technicals and more time going on dates

Edit:

I need to add this thread proves exactly my point about the prevalent victim mentality and excuses. It it filled with angry Gen-Z's proclaiming their reason for not getting offers is nepotism and diversity spots rather than looking inward or acknowledging there's an aspect of random chance to the whole thing given how many people want the same job. It is exactly proving the type of behavior that prompted this post. I promise the very best candidates are not not getting hired due to "diversity spots" and nepotism. Rather than blaming minorities or HR, maybe you could develop the mentality that the firms were wrong to reject you and no matter what you will learn finance and be successful one day.

103 Comments
 
Funniest

Saying "Nope, I'm not free" and not suggesting another time is so diabolical to me even as a gen z

 

its a boss move when the analyst/associate has to reply to your email because you are their boss, not when you are a prospect whose resume may get reviewed by that person who will undoubtedly chuck your resume out the window

 
Most Helpful

Then interact and pull for the Gen Z kids that do have it.

You can't be interacting with privileged kids talking about how they don't have resilience.

You know what happens to kids with resilience?

The kids that grew up in a civil war, came to the US on scholarship to graduate top of class right when COVID hits in a field that changed regulations mid-program to not hire international anymore? And they go back and come back again to a 1st world country for a masters, network with senior bankers, impress them, get referrals, interview well?

HR yanks you from the process once they learn you're not related to the senior executive/banker that referred you. And that you're a nobody with no connections. Resilience goes to shit, struggle goes to shit, social skills goes to shit. "Oh, we can't sponsor H1B, it's risky." Did you pull for that kid? Did you push back HR?

Then you hire some pansy ass kids who grew up with a silver spoon never having to do a house chore, let alone have their house bombed. And you complain how the generation is weak. News flash, YOU MADE THEM WEAK.

You say you threw stones at burger kings. You complain no one plays outside, and then you're the one who calls the cops when a kid is skateboarding in the street.

You're the victim, bro. You're the crier here. Grow up.

 

Agreed that some of these kids will get hired by GS / EBs, but there is a big difference between being a hard-working immigrant kid (having a resident status in the country), and hard-working international kids who will get yanked for needing H1B (CVP, PJT, JPM, MS, LAZ, Barclays very rarely hire internationals, if at all, for IB roles that is). Particularly bad odds for non-diversity. Not painting a victim role here, but you could be doing everything right and still end up unlucky, which is what the comment above was alluding to.

 

Intern in IB-M&A:

GS and EBs hire kids like that. If there are kids that fit your description they would not be worrying about offers. Plenty of middle class immigrant kids in top groups and top funds


Agreed that GS / EBs do hire kids like that (at times), but there is a big difference between being a hard-working immigrant kids (with a resident status in the country), and a hard-working international kid who gets yanked for needing H1B (CVP, PJT, JPM, MS, LAZ, Barclays nowadays very rarely hire internationals, if at all - at least for IB that is). Not trying to paint a victim picture, but you could be doing everything right and still end up unlucky, which is what the comment above was alluding to.

 
Controversial

No they yank you from the process because you just aren’t good enough.

You rant with some sob story about nepotism taking “your spot” — the entitlement is wild. 

Go read the letter to top 10 university kids, you just don’t get that you are applying for positions that are the most competitive in the world. If you don’t have a near perfect standardized test score and come across as super liekable, you don’t belong in the room. Grow the hell up and stop whining.

But also know heres the truth, I didn’t fit the above description. I also didn’t begin my career at a top bank. But I climbed and I learned and after a decade those nepotism kids couldn’t hold a candle to the experience and knowledge I had after a decade of busting my ass.

This part has nothing to do with Gen Z and everything to do with young kids—you all obsess over your first job and the earnings fulling missing that the real money is made in your late 30s and 40s and 50s due to the work you put in from 22 to 33.

The nepotism kids don’t last long, I promise. And if they do, they are way more deserving than you think. The nepotism people I know/ really rich kids who are now in their 30s are near genius level with extreme work ethic. 
 

Blows, but some people might just be richer, smarter, and harder working than you. They also complain less.

 

That's the issue. Why recruit liberal degrees holders and nepo kids that aren't made for the long-term? Short termism at its full splendor.

he may as well reach at 40s being as good as you, but he can't get its foot on the door because of the broken recruitment model. You underestimate how good you have it even being a white guy born in the US and going to a non-target vs. what the green answer says. You can't even comprehend it. No one from outside US will ever ever say that Americans have resiliency - that's because of how good they have it compared to some kid from the Middle East/Brazilian Favelas/or whatever fucking shithole somewhere in the world, as the guy suggests

incentives trumph ethics
 
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Hey man, I think you're attributing too much to one particular hiring pattern. You need more than resilience for the job. The network you have is way more important for the firm and can bear the whining for 1-2 years. After 3-4 years, people will grow in their jobs and that's when the firm will suck the s out of these 

 

as a gen z who doesn’t fit this description in any capacity and saw kids who fit this description get GS/MS/EVR with 5% of the effort/resume i made/had to do the same, it’s the mid-level guys’ fault. You let HR do their gay little thing and hire loser incel kids instead of guys with aggressive personalities who want to win at all costs. Hire a kid who played sports growing up. Hire a kid that’s bold and wants to compete just for the sake of being better than others because that’s what makes him happy. Push back against these retarded little hr freaks who bully you into hiring the liberal victim mindset kid. If you see these kids getting hired and hate it but “lack the power to change it”, stick up for your self/group and tell your seniors/group head what’s going on and have them strong arm HR — believe me, they want to and can but don’t have the time to waste doing HR’s job, so they step back, hence why most juniors and interns all bitch about a lack of senior exposure. Seniors will thank you and value for it because then they don’t have to deal with the incompetent juniors, can hire less, and have a stronger bonus pool. Also, you’re solving a problem for them and are no longer just another commodified underling. Don’t get me wrong, my generation sucks cock, but there are still plenty of kids that embody what made America great. Make sure to reward that behavior because society surely fucking isn’t right now.

 

You’re exactly right. Too many of the kids who literally have only done things that are finance related the last 4 years and have no other life interests or skills have made it into finance. That should be a red flag itself. What it took these guys four years of college to learn basic shit, so much to the point where they couldn’t do anything else with their lives? Let’s seem then get laid off lmao.

 
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All these "freaks" are the ultra-successful dominant players of our generation, you can't deny this

These people are rich, young, mostly arrogant, and different from the consensus type of person who would do well in a corporate environment, and in some sense, they had to be to get to where they are

It makes sense why people try to emulate these guys just like you would emulate the sort of professional demeanor you would need here

 

Any tips on how to stand out? The bar seems rather low with all that you've mentioned but I want to do my best to come across as someone willing to put in the work and knows nothing is handed to them because that's genuinely how I feel. 

 

You asking how to stand out to a guy who's bitching paragraphs over paragraphs on an anonymous forum?

 

Yeah, the standard advice I give to people is always being clear on why you want the job and having a linear story. It’s advice that is profoundly simple, but fundamentally complex. Almost no one does it.

Most candidates for entry roles are all over the place because kids naturally are. If you can show some individual rational thought for why the role and firm are right for you it moves you ahead in the process.

Not to bag on immigrant boy above, but the trope that doesn’t play well in interviews is “the grinder” who seems to just want the job because other people have it, they know it’s prestigious, it will give them money, and they are sharp elbowed and work hard. This person has no personality and they are hard to root for because they aren’t entertaining and often are harsh and ultimately really selfish people at their core.

Better is someone that seems more logical, grounded, curious, and interested in the role and people interviewing them.
 

A stupid example, but I think it fits, is I interviewed one guy when I was in IB that was able to laugh at himself being really into WSJ front page type deals. Like the kid just loved the whole deal making thing and said he wanted to do it his whole life and he meant it. Normally this would be a red flag and show someone not well adjusted, but this kid was just really able to laugh at himself and be genuine about how he used to wear a suit in elementary school and his whole life has been fascinated by him doing investment banking. The kid is a VP now and I’m pretty confident will be an MD at a EB in no time at all.

That helpful? I’ll add part of telling a logical story is knowing why and what IB and that firm do and how it will shape your career. It’s really obvious when someone answers this question with conviction and has done their research vs someone who fakes it.

 

Wait till you see Gen Alpha. Their brains are fried. And not by their own hand, but by ours.

This is my one remotely Marxist take - the digital age, combined with consumerism and unfettered capitalism, have truly fucked up the minds of our future generations. 

Big Tech has made out like bandits. They’re in bed with the FTC so there’s no accountability. American society will pay the price in a decade or two.

 

I guess it's good for us cause we will have less competition and it's gonna be easier to have a nicer career.

But I think that American society will probably be alright because smart hard-working immigrants will keep coming for better opportunities and higher pay and will keep moving US forward. You can see it now as well: a lot of people in tech, finance, medicine are immigrants or first gen citizens.

 

I’m Gen-z and I approve of this message. With experience on both sides of the farts, I promise that it sucks to give as much as it does to receive.

 

If you can't figure out a way to beat the odds stacked against you—& win the game—you never deserved to win in the first place, and are borderline useless

— Nate River (original quotation/speech heavily paraphrased & changed)

 

Really impotent assessments made by someone out of touch.

But I empathize with you, it's hard realizing the problems of the past mirror the problems of the now.

 

This is what happens when you interview and hire people based on race and sex instead of merit

 
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I’m a Gen Z guy and agree HEAVILY with this. Most of my buddies back home are stuck at their home living paycheck to paycheck and would kill to be able to afford to move out, so the people on here gotta wake up everyday and feel thankful we get to break that cycle. These negative stereotypes associated with the generation are pretty common but on the flip side it’s an opportunity for “normal” people born after 97 with social skills and the desire not to get fucked like our family during 08 who can just put the work in and rise past their peers, especially in a client facing focused role. Plenty of competent people in the age bracket who can say they’re not afraid to call a restaurant up or dominos over resi or door dash. Everyone across the board just stfu, get payed and layed (no need to tell anyone either).

 

We have lost the plot when it comes to recruiting. It's formulaic - top school, top grades, right finance clubs, standardized test scores. We hire for conformity. Really just putting offers in front of the same person in different packages.

Why? Because its safe. You know they're smart enough to do the grunt work and grind hard. And what do you get? People who spend their freshmen year learning technicals, practicing interviews and hustling for a sophomore internship. They're head in books and interview guides, barely out being social.

We value book smarts over social skills and hunger for what is really a sales job. Let's be honest, unless its like Rx or like an esoteric product, the foundational stuff can all be taught on the job or in A1 training.

Not that Gen Z doesn't have its issues, many of which you laid out. But we also actively go out and hunt for a profile that isn't really a good long-term fit, at least for banking.  

 

Well first off hiring from top schools, top grade, finance clubs, etc isn't "losing the plot" it's actually the original plot that has existed, and used to be even stronger, for many previous decades. Also you cannot praise social skills and hunger and then complain about them hiring kids that are hungry enough to practice interviews and hustle for internships since beginning of college. And "we value book smarts over social skills" is completely not true because everyone knows how important networking is. The difference is no one's gonna hire someone only cause they have a network but they can't subtract 2 from 5. 

 

Hey look, I empathize with you guys here. When I was growing up we would loiter at burger king and throw rocks at cars and trains. Somehow despite it seeming like a big waste of time, all the empty time allowed me to become friends with the kid who sold drugs in my neighborhood, the athlete, the hot girl, and the weird kid who ate glue until he was way too old. As a result, I became a well adjusted adult who could talk to different types of people. Heck, I even got laid and drank a few times.

You all on the other hand, grew up attached to your phones. You had people like James Charles, Mr. Beast, Logan Paul, Kylie Jenner, and David Dobrik as your friends and the people you were learning social cues from. Unfortunately, these relationships were one sided and you were mimicking freaks, so you did not learn the slightest intuition on how to behave in public. Instead, you became a bunch of performative theatre kids doing what can only be described professionally as "weird shit". 
 

Dude, this just means you came from a poor background. Kids in the 80s and 90s who hailed from upper middle class neighborhoods were not doing shit like this.

But that kind of social skill is laudable 

 

I don't know if I agree with that. I think it was just part of being a kid before the internet was as widespread as it is now. A few important differences you need to remember:

  • No widespread laptops/personal computers until really 2005 and the iphone came out in 2007, but was clunky, so it didn't really exist in the way it is used now
  • No youtube or media websites really until late 2000's as well
  • Phones and texting didn't really exist until the early 2000's for kids. I wasn't really texting until right before high school.
  • No cameras or fear of internet reporting lol

This atmosphere just meant kids would be really bored all the time. Parents would be afraid kids would break things in their house, so they would just let them loose. This is why places like malls were such a big deal for so long.

Ding dong ditch, kick the can, and throwing rocks at cars I feel like was a common shared experience no matter your wealth in the 90's and even early in the 2000's

 

Congrats on writing a 10 page manifesto on a finance forum Mr. Normal

 

Was expecting some boomer rant but there are a lot of valid points, especially around the excuses/victim mentality. 

 

People were saying the same things about millennials just a decade ago. Gen Z will probably do the same with Gen Alpha and so on. Most Gen Z are just starting their careers, no one has it figured out right away. If you meet or work with a Gen Zer it's better to give them constructive feedback about what they can improve. The ``kids these days`` mentality serves no purpose, you probably did not like it when you were a kid and should avoid perpetuating that mindset. At the end of the day you are dealing with individuals with their flaws and qualities, engage with them as such. I have encountered very unprofessional Boomers and I have also met Zoomers who were very professional and eager to learn. Avoid broad generalizations, people are complex, and looking at them through the lens of a stereotype is never a good thing.

 

As someone who's Gen Z and thankfully can't identify with the traits listed, I fully agree. Think it all boils down to environmental factors growing up though. Feel like Gen Z kids are a lot more pampered than millenial kids or older generations growing up. Got fed everything on a silver spoon and didn't learn how to navigate the real world as a result. They'll grow out of it though im sure.

 
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Controverisal opinion, be warned :

I am afraid you have a biased perspective due to being in IB and probably from being a target. Ultimately, this job these days takes two kinds of kids: wealthy kids hired with connections and DEI ones (who are often also nepotism or wealthy). The number of internationals or first-gen / immigrant kids who are going to be grinders and want it more (just by definition of it having more impact on their life) is going down and down over time. Every firm has those kids, but there used to be more even 1-2 years ago compared to now, which is the cause of a lot of these observations like a lack of resilience or the lack of desperation. It all starts with colleges who are taking more wealthy & legacy + DEI kids and extends to banks who add on it through their programs. 

 

Theres a reason why tech at least tries to promote meritocracy despite the unescapable grasp of office politics and people management

 

#3 is a great point.  People now define themselves by their mental disorders.  By making a disorder your identity, it becomes permanent and more debilitating.  This trend goes against all research for psychological improvement.  Imagine telling an athlete to identify with their injury.  "You are your bum knee, and you'll never be successful again"...

 

I agree with everything you said, but maybe remove high barriers to entry for individuals who are experienced to lateral in? I’d really love to work in finance and it’s my genuine passion in life. I used to not be able to hold eye contact and was not really interested in holding conversations. I grew up without a father and didn’t learn a lot of things I should have learned from a father, so I struggled with those issues and many others. Now after a couple years of experience, I’ve been through hell and back, learned to be a resilient adult and man, and morphed into a very competent professional. The socializing and likability issues went away, and the best way I have learned is through work experience, as well as experiencing pain and failures that don’t lead to ruin but are learnable experiences. That’s what ultimately helped me develop confidence and thick skin.

There are many like me, who are willing to work for 20% cheaper than first-year analysts out of college, as long as I love what I am doing and IB is it. I’m willing to work 100 hours weekly with only Sunday as a partial day off and zero complaints. I’d give up family and friend time nearly completely if that’s the cost of the job and being one of the best in the world. I can take criticism, improve, and am a self-starter. I’m sharper than a knife sharpener mentally and emotionally. But the system does not cater to people like me. Instead, the system requires 1+ years of IB experience when the system only caters to undergrads and MBAs. Being a person who puts their mind to something and will achieve it no matter what, I now will undergo another 4 years of grad school to break in to IB. If thats the cost then I’m going to pay it forward with my time, effort, and dedication, but that’s what I have to go through because the system prefers Gen-Z’s

 

I don’t. I really think the divide is experienced professionals vs not.

Its funny, I remember being in college and selectively seeing undeserving people getting jobs and thinking “how could firms hire them instead of me?” 

Then I saw the resumes my bank got early on and my thought was “how did firms pick me instead of everyone else?”

I think it’s a very sobering reality that these jobs have stacks and stacks of perfect test score and perfect grade candidates that don’t even get interviewed. That reality doesn’t set in until you are on the other side in my opinion. Getting the emails and resumes daily from every stud college kid in the country is a wake up call.

Rickle is right, what’s strange is that at least for IB, it should really sort for grinders that are social which is what actually is important for success. Instead, it’s a pissing contest of qualifications and since undergrads have all kinda done the same thing there’s no way to differentiate besides 

1) test scores

2) grades

3) A cool activity/ building a diverse class

then eventually an interview to see if

4) social skills

5) preparation

are also present.

Unfortunately, 1 2 and 3 take priority over 4 and 5. I also would add, more often than not, my experience has been the people who complain about the process are usually just a hair under exceptional.

It’s also pretty hard to tell who will be good at the job vs not. This thread seems to have a lot of people being like “then why do you pick dumb people?” It’s way harder to screen than this younger forum generally gets. The gen-z’s that I’m complaining about are, generally speaking, exceptional people, there’s just some social learning that is missing.

 

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I used to do Asia-Pacific PE (kind of like FoF). Now I do something else but happy to try and answer questions on that stuff.
 

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Career Advancement Opportunities

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.3%
  • Guggenheim Partners 01 97.7%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Morgan Stanley 02 98.8%
  • Evercore 01 98.3%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.7%
  • Banco Santander 01 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 05 98.3%
  • JPMorgan No 97.7%
  • Goldman Sachs 02 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (14) $434
  • Associates (44) $258
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (22) $179
  • Intern/Summer Associate (13) $156
  • 1st Year Analyst (79) $150
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (73) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

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