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?
Bump
Know a European girl at target with relevant internships who managed to secure JPM's AC, that's all I know !
Diversity
And would that be a bad thing?
What kind of internships are we talking? BB internships or regional boutiques? Trying to make sense of the competition this year
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.
Lazard/Roth-like in Paris
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
Thx for sharing, and congrats on the offer! So your best tip for people with no FT offers yet would be to try getting OC?
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
Got around 5+ first rounds and 2 ACs. 1 offer at the end
Pretty impressive, congrats! What’s your profile? What type of offer are we talking about (BB, EB, others?) ?
Did SA received an FT offer but re-recruited and managed to get an offer at a better firm.
Congrats! What type of bank?
Top BB
Every year people say “recruiting has been significantly harder this year”.
this is just a bunch of bullshit, banks still need first year analysts. In fact, my bank had its biggest class size ever. It’s hard every year
yeh agreed, it’s pretty hard every year
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
There are fewer spots. At the bank I interned (and am returning to for internship round 2) they are cutting numbers significantly because of the fiasco 40% return rate compared to the usual 70-90%.
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.
Ok, 2021 was significantly easier than usual if you want.
But there is still attrition, if in a team with 2 associates the 2 Asso leave you think they will not replace them ? Same for analysts
Fall 2020 recruiting for 2021 summer was hard
Fall 2021 recruiting for 2022 summer was a joke
Fall 2022 recruiting for 2023 summer is hard
Q1 2021 up to Q1/Q2 2022 was an absolute joke, anybody with a pulse could get a job anywhere (not limited to banking)
Secured FT IBD offer to top US BB (GS, JPM, MS) in London after receiving only that one AC. MSF from European semi-target with only limited European IB internship experience. Consider myself lucky after hearing how tough this FT cycle was.
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