Apollo canceling 2027 PE recruitment this year
Is this email real? If so, hopefully this starts an industry-wide trend of doing the right thing.
”Congratulations on your recent graduation and the start of your career in investment banking. We know how exciting – and demanding – this period can be, and we’re confident it will be a valuable foundation for your professional journey.
As you transition to the workforce, we believe you should take time early in your career to deepen your understanding of the business world and reflect on what you are most passionate about so you can make the best-informed decisions as you contemplate your career. Similarly, hiring decisions at Apollo are among the most significant to our business.
With that in mind, we will not formally interview and extend offers this year for the Class of 2027.
We continue to be deeply interested in getting to know talented individuals like yourself, and look forward to reconnecting down the road to explore Associate opportunities together. In the meantime, we encourage you to stay in touch.
Wishing you all the best as you embark on this next chapter.”
Crazy development from the firm whose associates were telling candidates to be ready in April/May
Lmfaoo
Incoming 1st year at an EB - just got the same email. Looks legit.
Could be another sign of AI development...
"Who knows how many new PE associates we will need in 2027" type shit.
This was my initial reaction to be honest.
Like if someone actually believes Apollo pushed back on their recruiting timeline for the sole purpose of being "nice" to juniors then lmao.
All this talk of AI and alleged underperformance of PE funds coming due and people think the PE associate gravy train is going to just keep on clicking.
AI is definitely having an impact. Maybe not the whole point of this move but could be a factor. I’m at a lean shop and since AI tools have gotten better and better I’m spending maybe 1/10 of the time I used to on ad hoc data projects and memos are way faster and easier to draft too. The job has fundamentally changed. You don’t need nearly as many associates to do the same amount of work. Who wouldn’t want to save the management fees?
Damn so Apollo just won’t hire till 2026 then at the minimum
W Apollo. Other firms should follow ASAP. Let's end this stupidly inhumane process.
Wish this would’ve been done earlier before people burned months on prep due to being spammed with chats in April and told on cycle would kick early…
Its ok man, as long as a bunch of anonymous accounts on WSO say they are ready to kick off oncycle asap and that funds are interviewing HHs will have no choice but to kick it off. There is still hope!
Bloomberg is covering so it’s def real
Sure but QQ - what happens when Thoma Bravo or someone decides F-that. Does Apollo play catch up?
This is what is going to happen. Mid level talent wants the best junior to support them. We won’t be pleased seeing the top folks be out of the mix
Apollo is the big dog that used to force others to kick. If they’re out, many will follow suit as no one really wants to do this.
Have they been the first one to go in recent years? I didn't think it was them the last two years
They’ll stay put on the sidelines. Silver Lake pulled a similar move for the 2024 class. They don’t necessarily care abt losing out on the best of the best talent, bc at the end of the day they’ll still have a good analyst pool knocking on their doors to choose from even if they hold off a few months (and arguably by then better markers of success)
I’d happily renege on them for Apollo…
Is that even a question?
Is this meaning they aren't recruiting on cycle or are just not recruiting assocs whatsoever
Heard that the equity strategies are completely getting fucked over by credit leadership basically taking over the firm and the firm becoming basically an insurance company so would not be surprised
Apollos first trade was distressed debt portfolios. It’s always been an opportunistic company, but have focused more recently on credit as they feel it has better risk adj. returns. Levered NIM can get you mid double digit returns where PE funds are struggling to get 10%
Writing is on the wall for the asset class as a whole.
Howard marks burner
Simple math...
Sign after sign, but no one wants to believe it
One giant Ponzi scheme and now it's over.
This is definitely a reflection of their view of the associate role and staffing needs at that level due to market and automation trends. Not them trying to be less aggressive about recruiting
That's pure speculation
He's right.
Well yeah. I’m a VP
Don’t know if this is the case since they’re expanding the 2026 class and still out recruiting
That’s not true because if that were the case, current associates would already be working less hours. Apollo doesn’t really need to save money by hiring less associates in 2 years too, associates are cheap labor for just a 2 year contract, no need to promote any of them if you don’t want to.
This is also a stupid opinion bc the work for the junior staff will expand to fill the time. There is always something for them to do or another analysis to run. Before analysts had excel, tasks that are easy and routine now would take a lot of time, instead we have not reduced the junior staff hours but instead just have them run more and more complex analysis with the new tools. AI will be no different.
Sister's bf who's a Principal in the HV Fund told me this has nothing to do with staffing needs & increasing automation at the Aso level. Its mainly due to Aso quality declining as a result of offers coming in so early. When you have an APO offer on hand before even hitting the desk, you have no real incentive to learn the job and get additional deal xp.
W sister
W sister
Not at Apollo, but hearing similar commentary across the industry from senior people who are following this.
Lmao automation…are there PE firms that have already replaced an associates job with AI tools? Feel like AI is nowhere near that maturity and PE is a conservative industry - are there MDs that would trust ChatGPT to do the model versus an associate building and VP reviewing
If you think ChatGPT when you think AI, you are in for a world of awakening...
The industry is moving so fast its not even funny. Here's a quick litmus test: if you wanted to create a website for your PortCo / personal business / pe fund, whatever, what would you do?
Hire a web dev? Ask ChatGPT? Wrong on both counts.
Did you know you could one-shot any type of website, multi-page, with visuals and animations and all, with a single sentence using services like Loveable or Vercel?
Agreed.
Lots of white collar jobs are relationship oriented, so I wouldn’t be surprised if finance/finance-adjacent jobs aren’t at the cutting edge regarding AI.
Based on your reasoning skills, I don’t think you have to worry about our on-cycle process…
Everyone is focusing on the last part of “market and automation,” but seeing the same thing.
For us, the junior roles are being redefined and will have different onboarding stuff going forward.
Have to give Jamie credit where credit is due. He drew a line in the sand
W for JD
The recruitment cycle had become absurd.
It needed to be corrected.
Recruiting right now for 2+ years down the line is absolute insanity for people who haven't even had the chance to prove themselves on the desk yet.
This is 100% the right move and hopefully other shops follow
100% agree
It's true, on cycle has gotten absurdly early.
But let's be honest, the relative ranking of candidates won't change in the next 6 months. Qualified candidates will go to good banks and get staffed on good deals. It's just a timing thing.
How would you even identify the actually good candidates when they havent even hit the desk? There is a lot of factors that can actually change these "rankings".
I think it will help out semi targets / non targets since firms will pay less attention to schools and more on who got staffed on the best deals.
One of the few firms that could have done this. Doubt it’s altruistic — definitely has to do with staffing needs — but still a great move that will hopefully have a positive impact.
has nothing to do with staffing needs...more staffing quality
Back in the day, you had to be an analyst for 6+ months before recruiting kicked off. By then, you can begin to differentiate between a good and top analyst. Most PE firms would backchannel too. Good move for Apollo, and I imagine others will follow suit as no one really wins by going early.
GA sent a similar message this morning everyone.
Good. Asso recruiting should take place 6-12mo after analysts hit the desk AT EARLIEST. Everyone knew the current recruiting timelines, both for PE, and IB SA werent sustainable, this is hopefully the first step in returning to normal timelines
Will JPM stop recruiting college freshmen then?
What have people heard about interviewing virtually? Most people I know are just assuming on cycle is canceled, but if KKR / TPG / etc. decides to kick it off, will they be OK interviewing virtually? Does it put you at a disadvantage?
Let it go, bud. Accept you have wasted your senior year accruing advantages that would be erased in a few months once everyone is on the desk
Why be an a-hole about it? I and many people I know spent time in April/May studying and doing coffee chats because firms indicated it would be kicking off soon. How is that the candidate's fault? Blame the HHs and firms, not the college seniors
This dude's still monitoring WSO on an hourly basis despite not having prepared for on cycle adequately. At least if I didn't choose to prep on cycle, I'd be on vacation with my friends and not trolling already down bad candidates on WSO. Bud.
Does this dislocation in status quo in any way open the gates for post MBA ASOs to break into MF Pe shops?
Don't think so, firms will now hire associates 1 year in advance compared to the 2 year cycles that we were seeing. Win-win for everyone as firms get more experienced hires and candidates get more time to gain reps.
Hahaha keep dreaming
Maybe bc hiring someone before they actually develop isn’t the most prudent investment for the fund…
I'm just going to recruit for whoever runs an oncycle process and then recruit for Apollo whenever they run theirs.
If I get an offer at some beat shop during oncycle and somehow land the Apollo gig then I'll just reneg
How is reneging perceived for on/off-cycle buyside recruitment? Any different than IB?
The only person who is going to remember they reneged is yourself. The funds will just hire the runner up. The headhunter who pipelined the opportunity might be the most pissed bc they don't get paid if you reneg.
TPG holding off until 2026 as well.
Just got this email too
It's encouraging to see a large company take a break from the hectic hiring process and put careful consideration into the hiring process, which benefits both the company and the candidates. I hope others do the same.
does the recent uptick in coffee chats and networking events mean on-cycle could kick off at some point soonish, or is it typical for off-cycle at this point?
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