IBD Culture in London - specifically EB's
My question regards the culture/personal fit of Investment Bankers in London; specifically at EB's (Lazard/Evercore/HL) but also at BB's. I have recently been offered a Summer Analyst position in IBD M&A at an EB. I worked very hard for the role and I do feel I will enjoy the work (at least initially).
I have met some other incoming Interns/Analysts at the firm and they are very different to me. These are the sort of guys who went to private school(i.e. eton/westminster), study Classics/PPE at Oxford, play Rugby and are generally very posh (not all of them but I'd say a majority - also** I'm sure they are decent guys**).
Having a look through LinkedIn at recent analysts there is little diversity in hires; I'd say over 70% are white males from Oxbridge. I counted a few indians/asians and one black guy from over 40 profiles viewed. I would say I am confident but not extroverted; I am also nervous about working alongside different people from very similar backgrounds.
How should I integrate fully into with my group/interns/analysts? I heard drinking culture is high (I drink little) and I imagine the conversations will be different to what I have with my friends from university/home. Do I need to grow up and become 'professional' (change) or should I remain the same? I am scared of changing too much and becoming some of the bankers I've met who are not nice people at all. I've read that if you change your personality for a job you should leave. How to deem if I am a good fit?
Honestly I'm not even bothered about earning millions/moving to PE, but I want to make the most out of this opportunity to see if I like IB; I am genuinely interested in M&A and corporate finance. Hope someone else with a similar experience to me can help me out.
Some background: Completed internship at a major organisation, achieved good grades at a 'target' university and studied abroad in USA. No prior finance exp.
bump
The biggest fit problem is that you are a 5/10 mate, every decent banker (believes he) is a 10/10.
"Jesus, Seth. Listen, if you really wanna do this with your life you have to believe you're necessary and you are. People wanna live like this with their cars and big fuckin' houses they can't even pay for, then you're necessary. The only reason that they all get to continue living like kings is because we got our fingers on the scales in their favor. I take my hand off and then the whole world gets really fuckin' fair really fuckin' quickly and nobody actually wants that. They say they do but they don't. They want what we have to give them but they also wanna, you know, play innocent and pretend they have no idea where it came from. Well, that's more hypocrisy than I'm willing to swallow, so fuck 'em. Fuck normal people."
Laz is very brit Oxbridge private school educated type of thing
Rothschild is kinda the same a Laz, works insanely hard their juniors - massive churn
Evercore is a bit more international and laid back in my opinion, some of the seniors are from the US and you can feel that in the way they speak/expect from you - intense
PJT is super laid back, diverse as well, everyone is super friendly but super smart
HL only interacted with them once, open to questions and good technical wise
GHL pretty chill, seems like everyone wants to leave and the have to hire at the assoc level
Gleacher Shacklock pretty UK white male thing originally although changing, everyone I met was friendly
Cannot comment on PWP/Centerview
However, culture is very much dependent on the group, too. Smaller shops are generalist but some firms you mentioned do have different cultures in their various teams which makes it very hard to generalise
Laz isn't that oxbridge/private school anymore (at least not in the most recent classes).. The vibe I got from people there are they're generally pretty smart/accomplished but never in a pretentious or in your face kind of way. The firm afaict really tries to hire good personalities as much as they do intelligence/drive.
Didn't get to interact with many people there. Spoke to an ex-laz alumni, and two people at lazard thats about it. My sample might not be relevant given the size of the class. People seemed smart and accomplished for sure but thats a trait that comes across the board at EBs - probably due to their interviews and brain teasers especially.
This is 100% Lazard you are talking about. Unless you want to be identified as a guy concerned about fitting in, I would remove some of the description of yourself.
I have personally found PWP London to be diverse in nationality/wealth/uni/prior work experience and laid back while still working some pretty bad hours.
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