London FT 2023: Any success stories?

As you all know, FT recruiting for IB has been remarkably harder this year, mainly due to limited spots and general macroeconomic instability. Nevertheless, many have managed to secure offers despite this situation; so to all the fortunate ones - tell me more about your story:

  • What's your profile? 
  • Which bank will you join? (or type of bank if anonymous)
  • Any differences you noticed from previous recruiting cycles?
32 Comments
 

I have a BB internship and only got ONE first-round from a semi-target, compared to 10+ last year. My friend at an Italian target has only had 1 AC, no offer, and he has regional boutique experience. So it's varied, but extremely tough this year.

 

Thx for sharing. If you don't mind me asking, what industries are you thinking of applying to in case IB fails - AM, MBB

 

1 year masters student at LBS/LSE/Oxbridge with no european languages but with IB and PE internships, recruited for 2022 SA/FT/OC last year and got 10+ first rounds and quite a few ACs (GS, BX, EBs) in London, did a summer in banking after my masters, didn't enjoy my team so re-recruited for FT, only got 3 first rounds and managed to land an offer from one of them - definitely a very rough FT recruiting season (significantly less interest from firms compared to when I applied for SA in 2021) but ended up at my top choice - still see the occasional OC opportunities open up so there is definitely still demand for talent and headcount, just gotta keep an eye out and apply early - there are many 2022 SAs with no return offers looking for a job so the demand for positions is really high even though the supply is extremely scarce

 

i think persistence is important - look, it’s really fucking hard to write another application or send another cold email after being completely ignored, but at the end of the day it’s a numbers game - keep checking your career portals, keep talking to alums, keep throwing out apps (even those that u think are not extremely desirable) - you got this king

 

Pretty impressive, congrats! What’s your profile? What type of offer are we talking about (BB, EB, others?) ?

 

Mind explaining the recent hiring freezes at the top banks then (such as GS IBD recruitment [excl. SA interns])? Have spoken to multiple industry professionals and they all say that there are fewer spots this year

 
Most Helpful

When? In 2022? Like, when they significantly overhired when conditions were good? Sorry, but it just *is* harder this year. There's no reason for why I got 10+ first rounds from a low semi-target last year from a range of different shops (incl. 2 BBs for 3 different positions), whilst this year with my BB IB experience I have gotten 1 first round from a bank no one even knows, and didn't even progress to the AC. 

 

In 2020-2021, banks would take literally anyone. I saw it first-hand. 

Associates at my tiny-ass little boutique getting courted by 2 BB's at once, even though they absolutely no modelling experience. Analysts upgrading from bank to bank, with a move each couple of months. 

2022 recruiting is pretty tough in contrast, banks seem to have learned their lesson from giving a job offer to anyone who had IB on their Linkedin.

I will always kick myself for not moving during 2020-2021 but I also having visa issues during the time.

 

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