Uk job market

May be going against the grain here but the job market isn't as bad as it's made out to be in the UK now compared to previously in the year. It does depend though on what sector you are planning to work in e.g. ER, PWM and S+T seem to be pretty fluid at the moment whereas IB is slightly more rough atm. 

This is, again, just my opinion from what I know my friends have been contacted for by recruiters e.g. credit risk roles at BB, equities at ER in a BB and analyst at PWM in MM.

It's still not as good as before but not as bad as it was earlier in the year - seems to have stabilised a bit (relatively) with a more positive outlook in '24 where interest rates are more likely to remain at current levels. I spoke to a PE associate who said that the dry powder they're sitting on needs to be deployed at some point (think time value of money) so IB is going to pick up soon.

Also, I'd stress that recessions of today aren't likely to be as severe as recessions in the past. Spending due to e-commerce and online entertainment are at an all-time high and are not going to go down. Consumer markets have cut back in limited amounts although demand is still high given the savings of COVID are still being deployed by retailers (see Household Consumption, UK). Yes, some sectors like Real Estate are facing a difficult time but that's because of changes in working conditions with WFH instead of lack of consumer spending. People still spend high amounts but now it's online and in select retail stores (Primark has rocketed according to a recent WSJ video). 

If a recession does hit, interest rates will go down again to circumvent the decrease in consumption & spending. If a recession doesn't hit, PE firms will most likely continue to invest in '24 as I mentioned when interest rate hikes are likely not going to be as frequent. 

Also, taking this from my colleague in Asia, UK and European hiring was slightly more resilient than the US counterparts. I didn't ask why but I have a feeling that the workforce footprint in EMEA and UK is slightly smaller (smaller headcount in most offices etc.) so hiring hasn't been as bad in the UK vs US. That probably doesn't apply in every case but it appears to be so in the majority of cases and it will improve into '24 in my opinion. 

But hey, that's just my two cents on the matter. 

Would like to add that going off recent SA conversions, the figures I've seen are normal compared to pre-2020 levels. Note that '21 and '22 figures were higher because of the demand in IB and other desks but the most recent figures for '23 appear to match the standard '19 levels and before. Bottom bucket analysts were also let go more aggressively to compensate for this from what I recall so this isn't such a big deal anyway in my opinion.