IBD 2021 Summer Associate Recruiting 2021
Hey guys - understand this forum is mainly geared towards undergrad recruiting but I was wondering if anyone had insight into Summer Associate recruiting for 2021.
Heading to T10 MBA program this fall and looking to recruit for IB. I was wondering if anyone here who is involved in the MBA recruiting process can shed some light:
-How recruiting might work this fall if school's are virtual
-How the number of spots might be impacted due to the economic impact of COVID
-Any insight into the discussion with recruiting teams, HR, staffers/ Ops Officers would also be much appreciated.
Seems like 2021 Summer Analyst is a full go given the finite nature of 2yr analyst programs. Not sure if the same applies to Summer Associate recruiting.
Thanks!
Just wrapped up my first year at a MBA business schools">M7 target school this week. Here's my 2 cents:
If fall is virtual, it's possible that recruiting may be pushed to spring, but it would be a pretty big shift. If most BB/EBs don't commit to doing this, the handful that do will get their first choice, so it would have to be an industry-wide decision. School career centers may push for it, but as of now, expect it to be in-person (until schools announce a decision on going virtual or not).
Overall spots will likely be down. There will be some variation across groups and banks though. RX groups (and busy coverage groups - such as financial sponsors, which is expected to pick up when PE firms get back to buying as the crisis calms down) will probably hire more than they used to. Citi and Moelis are going to be significantly more coveted after they gave all summer guaranteed full-time offers, but they may lower hiring as a result too.
I haven't had any discussions with anyone at a firm about this (for obvious reasons), but there are essentially four components of the MBA Summer Associate recruiting process - on-campus infosessions, informational interviews/coffee chats (on the phone or in person depending on school and office location), invite-only events (typically off campus at a bar or restaurant) and finally, the actual interviews.
Infosessions can be conducted over Zoom pretty easily. You can even have banker circles through breakout rooms (although unfortunately, you won't get the free booze which is customary at these events).
Informationals over phone/Zoom are honestly a huge improvement for students - if you're at a non-NYC school, you won't be expected to fly down/take the train in every week, and if you are, you don't have to travel to the banks' offices 5 days a week for 2 months.
Invite-only events will be very hard to replace - honestly, even if school is back in person, who knows if banks will be comfortable doing these at an external venue. Will suck to lose the fancy dinners, but maybe this will be replaced by a Zoom happy hour or something similar.
Interviews will basically be the same over Zoom. These are in early January after fall semester ends anyway, so these are least likely to be affected by virtual school.
Lastly, from what I've heard, pre-MBA recruiting (typically for diversity candidates), is still going on as in past years. If you fall into any category that qualifies, you should take advantage of this ASAP.