Does anyone have any experience with the lateral hiring process as an analyst in a BB for IBD? I know this topic has been addressed in previous posts, but none of the info is very helpful. I am especially curious to know how the timing of the process in terms of length differs between regular recruiting and lateral hires.
Thanks.
G
| +138 | Is my life over after not getting GS? | 33 | 3s | |
| +73 | Best IB group on the Street | 35 | 3h | |
| +66 | Thoughts and tips on how to speak like an investment banker. | 25 | 1d | |
| +58 | BIG FOUR ARE PARADISE | 15 | 22h | |
| +49 | Tell me one good reason why Jefferies isn’t going to be a top bank in the next 5 years | 23 | 14h | |
| +38 | UBS Outlook | 28 | 2d | |
| +35 | How to deal with egotistical team? | 6 | 3d | |
| +32 | Are you “less ambitious” for having long term goals outside of NYC | 13 | 8h | |
| +26 | Very ridiculous interview feedback | 13 | 8h | |
| +26 | Got RBC offer but I have cold feet accepting. | 34 | 11h |
Career Resources
Get instant access to lessons taught by experienced private equity pros and bulge bracket investment bankers including financial statement modeling, DCF, M&A, LBO, Comps and Excel Modeling.
I was an analyst at a mid-tier MM and lateraled to a BB. Process was very fast. From first round to second round to offer was approx. 1.5 weeks.
How did the transition work- through personal networking or was it more general career searches?
How did you go about contacting the target firm after you had started?
PM me... I moved on to PE after a year, same very quick process.
I received a ton of PMs regarding my experiences with the lateral process, so rather than type out individual responses, I figured I'd post in the thread...
First off - unless you're from another BB, the odds are significantly stacked against you. Similar to interviewing for a SA position from a non-target, you must prove that you know you're shit inside and out.
Second, don't pretend to know something you don't, and don't embellish a certain deal experience or modeling exercise to try and stand out - you will get knocked down hard if you can't speak in great detail about these things. For me, I came from a somewhat specialized MM bank (from a product perspective) and lateraled to a coverage group at a BB. I had not done one single project on the industry I'm currently working in, and I didn't pretend otherwise. I think what made my interviews go so successfully was that I was more or less able to take control and explain my deal / modeling experiences, and so technical questions were much more likely to stem from my past experiences (which I was more than prepared to answer) vs. random technicals which could be hit or miss.
Especially if you're looking to make a move mid-1st year, the BB will likely be much more interested to see that you've been able to learn X in such a short period of time, even if it's in a different industry or product. What's most important is that you're a quick learner, you're eager to learn and that you have the intellectual curiosity and capacity it takes to be a successful analyst.
With regards to recruiting and finding the opportunity, I think anything and everything goes (within reason) - this includes previous people you've interviewed with, alum, linkedin, through friends, analyst level or senior level. Also, there's no time for those BS "hey, do you have a few mins to chat? would love to hear about your experiences at the firm...bla bla bla..." emails. I think that's a waste of your time. When contacting people, I was pretty straight forward and had a clear message: to get an interview. Clearly, as is with all these types of correspondences, you need to push the assertive boundary without going overboard. You don't want it to seem like you're begging for a job, but you want to make it clear why you're contacting them.
Regarding timing, I think aside from completely random off-cycle hires, I'd recommend looking either after around 6 months of working or just under the 1 year mark.
Regarding head hunters, most will not be helpful, as the BBs are typically where they poach people for their PE clients, and so their IB clients are likely limited, but there are definitely some that will be helpful - Michael Page and Dynamics were helpful for me.
Regarding BB to BB moves, I'd personally recommend against it in most cases, unless you just really hate your group. I think there's much more to lose than there is to gain with this type of move.
Hope this answers all your questions. Let me know if there's anything I missed.
Also interviewed for lateral hire into a BB coverage group. My background was just over 1 year in a small no-name boutique and 1 year in the industry that the group covers. The industry experience can be a good way in if you can really talk about the sector on a strategic level with MDs.
As for the process, I used recruiters. There are very few good ones (plenty of guys who just forward CVs and add no value), but these ones can be of huge help. Did first round one morning and they called me back for a second round with the head of the group the same day. Very quick process. Surprisingly the questions were not very technical, but you have to be able to discuss past deal experience in detail. This is off-cycle recruiting. There is lots of it happening right now in London as deal-flow is picking up.
Thanks very helpful! EuropeanBob, when you say you used recruiters... was this in-house recruiters of BBs or headhunters? If the latter, could you share names?
Sorry, that wasn’t very clear. I meant contingency recruiters, not the HR people at banks. (technically this is slightly different from a head-hunter – a head-hunter is usually paid a fee upfront by the company to find the ideal candidate)
I have some contacts in London and could share. In fact I know one who is excellent and specialises in bankers with 1 to 5 year experience (for IBD and PE).
As for sending your CV straight to HR at banks, if you are in London here is something you need to know (disclaimer: this only applies to experienced hires): A lot of banks have recently changed their policies regarding the fees they pay to contingency recruiters: if a CV is in the bank’s system (CV drop, online application, etc.) they will not pay a fee to any recruiter that brings the candidate to interviews and gets him hired. What this means is that you have to choose between going through internal HR and recruiters. If you have already applied to banks, recruiters sometimes just won’t work with you. My experience is that I have never had an interview through HR (well, nearly never), so I recommend not to apply online directly to banks. You’re better off finding out which recruiting firms they work with and contacting them. This would not be a problem if HR were efficient, but I think they just receive too many CVs daily to do their job correctly. On the other hand, if a recruiter believes in you he can go an aggressively pitch you to a client (even if there is not an actual job opening). Don’t forget, contingency recruiters are deal-makers (they get a fee for a deal), so if they believe in you they will go bat for you, and bat hard (HW© ).
You need to understand that there are two different types of contingency recruiters in The City: => The VOLUME worker: he collects as much CVs as possible and forwards them to clients when there is an opening. Usually, things will go like this: (1) one of his clients is looking for a health care IBD analyst, he looks through his database with keywords “M&A, Health Care, etc.” ; (2) if you have the right keywords, your CV pops up; (3) he will give you a call and chat for a minute to check you’re not a weirdo and then say “can I put your CV forward for BAML health care team?”; (4) if BAML wants to see you he calls you back, otherwise he doesn’t. The bank HR only gets involved at the end if you get an offer or to schedule the meetings. => The VALUE recruiter: he often has a list of clients with which he works closely and which trust him. Usually, things will go like this: (1) he sees your CV and thinks you are interesting; (2) he sets up a meeting at his office or Starbucks to get to know you and understand what you are looking for; (3) he forms an opinion of you (if he thinks your not good, things will stop here) ; (4) he discusses which opportunities he might have that will suit you (you say yes/no); (5) he goes to pitch his clients who have openings; (6) he also goes to speak with banks that do not have current openings but might be interested in your background and personality and creates opportunities; (6) you get interviews and go into a regular recruiting process.
Both types of recruiters are useful, but if you have a non-traditional profile or are looking to switch to a different field I would advise to go to the latter.
Hope this helps. Ps. This advice is specific to London.
I have also gotten quite a few PM's about this.
My experience was a bit unusual, as I leveraged the emails from head-hunters geared towards 2nd/3rd year analysts, and contacted them myself. I most definetely agree with the post above about being direct with people who you are trying to get help from. Another thing that I would add, is to contact HR. HR gets a horrible rap of being useless, but truth is they have every MD's email, cell, phone, etc and many recruiters work with them on an ongoing basis. Also keep in mind that it is HR's JOB to recruit people...so to motivate you to call them, just think to yourself "I am helping them do their jobs"...
Good luck!
Take a look at my lateraling guide that I posted a while back.
amazing discussion about interview. there are nice discussion. it will be helpful to everyone.
Interesting that people are saying it took 1.5 weeks. I interviewed for a second year position at a BB and it took 2 weeks after the AC for me to receive an email from a person in the group saying I got the offer. And it has been a week since the email and I still haven't received an offer in writing...
Cum rerum molestiae sequi veniam. Tenetur ex rem autem et praesentium. Molestias error esse ipsum eos. Magni id error consectetur assumenda.
Blanditiis dolorum voluptatem sint occaecati deleniti cumque odio. Et reiciendis omnis quia id error et. Consequatur deserunt ratione unde officia. Esse itaque consequatur aliquid est qui ea. Rerum non nihil omnis laudantium nulla mollitia consequatur est.
Accusamus dolores dolor fuga at ipsa qui eos. Quis illo sapiente nihil atque impedit id. Et iure qui sit voluptatem. Exercitationem beatae et dolor alias assumenda et voluptatibus. Esse voluptatem dolorem quo reiciendis omnis est dolores.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...