HH Reference Calls On Cycle
I lateraled to a different bank after my summer internship and wanted to see if it made sense to go on cycle. I'm pretty confident in my technical/interviewing abilities but was worried about reference calls during on-cycle recruiting.
Assuming the timeline will be in line with previous years, I will be in the awkward position of not having a strong relationship with any senior folks at my new firm (given I would have just hit the desk) and not the best relationship with my old firm (given I lateraled to a better firm after the summer). How important are reference calls for on cycle?
Do they even ask for references for on cycle? Seems like it is too rushed a process to check.
Anyways, pretty lost here so would appreciate any insight. I've heard that you basically have one chance to recruit so want to make sure that I would be fine going on-cycle.
Yeah this is (one of many) shitty parts of how early on-cycle is, but for what it's worth, I did find most funds still cared about references. At some shops, they would just have the headhunters do the reference calls when I was waiting in the office after a couple of rounds, but at others, someone from the shop (principal level or above) actually called whoever I put down and talked to them for 10-15 mins.
As long as there are a few people who you have a good working relationship with who would go to bat for you, you should be fine. Is it ideal to have a senior banker be on the receiving side of the call when it happens? Yes. Is it necessary? No (anecdotally, I know lots of people who have just used VPs or directors they've worked with who probably gave pretty generic commentary and were still fine).
Related question, do you know how reference checks work if your firm doesn't know you're recruiting? Slightly different situation - off-cycle and am currently an analyst at a non-MF buyside firm. I've gotten great feedback from the people I've worked with but don't want to ruin any chance of an associate offer here either.
I'm probably not the best person to ask because my group is pretty open about recruiting, so will defer to what people who have actual experience here can say.
Based on friends from other shops, consensus is you can't totally bypass these checks by saying, oh my firm isn't open with recruiting, but they will usually 1) mention to the HH that their group isn't very open about recruiting and 2) have the convo with the people they're planning on using as references in advance of recruitment kicking off. The fact of the matter is, the majority of analysts leave pretty much every banking program, so you're not doing anything that's wildly bad. Most senior level people will personally have little issue with it once you actually talk to them, there's just more of a bank-level culture against recruiting as a talent retention mechanism.
Thanks for your response here!
Just to confirm, typically I would indicate who exactly the headhunters/PE Firm should talk to as a reference? They don’t just call people they already know?
Yeah they usually ask for specific references.
A caveat is that finance is a very small world, and there's a fair chance someone at the shop you're interviewing at knows someone at your bank from previous job, B-school, etc. It's not uncommon for them to give them a call "unofficially" for their read as well.
any chance firms / HH would be willing to do reference checks after you receive the offer if youre at a firm that looks down on buyside recruiting? On cycle or off cycle?
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