I've applied for their Spring 2021 Internship in London. There seems to be very little information online for William Blair London, the only piece of information I've found for their London office was from 2018 which said:
I'm unsure how accurate this is and was wondering if anyone has any insight into their London office?
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I think (correct me if I'm wrong) someone mentioned that they sacked almost an entire industry team during COVID as well.
I saw they made some big layoffs, a couple of articles about it online (efinancials and chicagobusiness) that mention it, one also mentions seniors in the London office leaving and also a review on glassdoor which mentioned juniors in London leaving because the pay was bad with brutal hours.
They carry such a high profile in Chicago but it appears in the rest of the world they are behind. I think it's might be because the MM space is quite big in the US but in the rest of the world, it isn't. In London for example the MM transactions are handled by the likes of the EBs and European BBs so there is less need for MM specific firms.
Also interested.
I don’t have any insight into the London office but a quick scan on LinkedIn to see exits show a lot of analysts/associates at WB London leaving to join the likes of low tier firms such as HSBC/Oppenheimer/Unknown boutiques which are all red flags to me.
You can understand leaving to join a BB/EB but to have a large amount of juniors leave for places such as the above shows WB in London must either (or both) be paying below market or have terrible working hours.
bump
Pay is above market. Bonus pegged to US (so whatever they give to analysts the US, they give you, but in USD - so a bit of FX risk).
Yeah they sacked a lot of people (which was stupid) but are hiring again because of large deal flow.
Not sure why someone is saying exits are terrible but suggest rather than a "quick scan," you actually go into detail.
Just FYI, Analysts and Associates usually don't exit given that life is pretty decent, deal flow (usually) is high, and pay is very good. Those who go either wanted to do something different / had a better opportunity or were unfortunately let go.
Thanks for the reply, very helpful. Great to hear about the good dealflow too, do you think these deals are originated by London MDs or mainly cross border transactions led by the US? Or a bit of both?
Do you think WB London pays as much as PJT / Centerview? Apparently, PJT/CVP paid third-year analysts base and end of year bonuses of over GBP150k in London then gave an additional GBP50k sign on for associate promotions so over GBP200k all in sounds insane for an analyst.
Can confirm PJT/CVP Associate 1 total comp (sign-on, base, bonus) in London for 2019 worked out to be around GBP275-300k whereas the market standard for Associate 1 total comp (sign-on, base, bonus) in London is closer to GBP200-220k.
PWP also pays above market, Associate 1s made GBP250k (including sign-on) last year in London.
Unsure about William Blair London but I doubt they pay as much as PJT/CVP. I'd also be interested though, so perhaps the Analyst 3 who commented above can confirm, as he/she seems like they might know.
Any additional data point regarding the other EBs ? Thanks
Ok so you work at WB. Do you know when Off-cycles starting in July open?
Depends on which team but the US and Europe work hand-in-hand (so they fly the US bankers over to pitch) which apparently, potential clients love.
Cross border transactions (if in Europe) are led by / executed by the European team. US bankers are only there for buyer contacts / outreach.
I don’t work at Blair but I was headhunted by dartmouth partners for a role in their London office 2/3 years ago.
They were offering below market pay (no sign-on bonus for associate and GBP80k base) so I do not think they pay above market, maybe they pay market standard now but a few years ago it was below market.
they also mentioned to expect long hours there.
Don't know what the Associate all in is but for A3,£65K plus whatever they paid their 3rd years in chicago.
So based on what WSO has disclosed here: https://www.wallstreetoasis.com/company/william-blair/compensation/anal…, bonus for 2019 was $115k. At spot rate end of Jan-19 (Close: 1 GBP = 1.3108) US that would be £87.7k so all in would be £152k in line with CVP I suppose (ex the signing bonus, not sure if Blair has a signing bonus).
But "Blair" in mind there is FX risk involved and bonusses have been high because the £ tanked.
For the Associate 1, do you know what the other boutiques pay? (Lazard, Roths, Moelis, Evercore, Gleacher etc.)
That's really good. I guess that also depends on how accurate the WSO input of $115k is (it could just be someone making up a salary review in order to gain access to the WSO database) and that makes sense when the pound recovers those bonuses will be hit through FX. What are the typical hours Analysts do for WB London?
Lazard actually pays below market for Analysts but once you hit Associate it starts paying average/market standard. For Associate 1 Lazard is £25k sign-on and £80k base if promoted to associate after 2 years or £90k base if promoted to associate after 3 years with bonuses of 100% (data 2017 internal promote)
Rothschild Associate 1 I'm not sure, but Analyst 1 was £4k sign-on and £52k base with a 9 month stub bonus of £25k (data: 2017 graduate intake)
Moelis Associate 1 (unconfirmed as my friend there is still only an Analyst but this is what he told me he thinks the associate package is) £30k sign-on, £95k base with bonuses over 100% (not sure how they afford this given my friend there always complains their deals are small and there is low deal flow.. perhaps they're carried by the US)
Evercore Associate 1 £30k sign-on and £95k base (2019 data), unsure what the associate bonus was but their Analyst 1 pay was £6k sign-on £51k base and £45k bonus (2016 data)
Throwing in BAML for your reference too on a BB, £30k sign-on with £90k base, unsure what bonus will be (BAML and most BB's also do a two-year analyst program)
Note: most of these are from 2017 so things may have changed since then and I'm also trying to remember this off the top of my head so there may be some human error.
Yeah it is strange to hear that WB doesn't pay an associate sign on but that data was from a few years back so maybe they do pay one now as it's pretty standard nowadays.
How many performance / bonus buckets are there at Blair? I assume that $115k bonus was the top bucket?
Any idea what the others were?
.
Do you know if they pay a sign on bonus for the graduate program if you convert the internship?
And do they pay a sign on bonus for the internship?
No sign ons for interns (think this is industry wide?) and graduates
What’s the intern base? 50k pro rated? How about analyst 1 and 2?
interested too
Any news on WB London summer analyst application dates? Seems like they only opened and closed spring so far
anybody had their interview for the spring internship?
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