Public Finance Recruiting and Interviewing
Hello to anyone currently interested in recruiting for public finance summer analyst or public finance analyst roles! I understand that recruiting and interviewing for public finance can be a bit of a black box since there aren’t really well formed interviewing guides in the public finance space. In the spirit of making this sector more accessible to people who don’t already have contacts in the space, please feel free to post questions below about recruiting and interviewing for public finance! For context, I’m an analyst at a bulge bracket public finance firm.
You can also just ask me other questions about public finance in general, but there’s also another really great thread out there with a more senior banker that I recommend: https://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/public-fin…
i interviewed for public finance 2021 on the accelerated track and received an offer from a top BB so feel free to PM me with questions as well!
I've heard that its helpful to be math-oriented for pubfin. Is this true? Additionally, do you like your work?
I think from an analyst perspective, most of the work relates to updating slides and doing work related to client coverage and bond deals, so I don’t personally feel like being super math oriented is really that important for most analysts. However, I think certain people called quants are more focused on the bond structuring side of things(municipals are a lot more complex than most corporate bonds), and they def use math a lot. Also individuals who work a lot on municipal derivatives are pretty quant heavy, but that’s often on the S&T side of public finance rather than the client coverage side of it.
What is the best way to break into such quant roles?
Serious question. Why would someone proactively choose this route?
Well I don’t think it’s necessarily for everyone, but I think one of the biggest things we look for in new hires is people who are passionate about the public good-oriented clients with whom we interact. Beyond the type of clients, a lot of people find the product, municipal bonds, quite fascinating—they are def way more complex than corporate bonds. I think a lot of the same reasons people choose DCM apply here as well, a desire to interact with clients and work on bond deals while at the same time being in a fairly markets-oriented environment. The hours are not as long as in IBD. That said, I think everyone has their own reason, which may be a combination of the above or something else.
I've heard the bonuses can be at a discount to IBD. Is this true in your experience?
Sure that’s true. I think the gap is relatively small when you’re a junior/commensurate with the fewer hours you work in public finance. There is generally a widening gap the more senior you go.
Very small discount. Bigger discount is only seen at the MD level really. a VP in corp IB will make around $450/550k whereas a VP in PubFin will pull between $350/450k. different sounds like a lot, but post tax, ~$60k is not that much when you adjust for working 60h a week, and having time to blow your money on fun shit vs. hunting down legal at 3am on a Sunday night bc your MD has an “8am call” where he wants to propose a pitch that has no choice of the client biting on.
YMMV
Is Public Finance a back office?
If you think making $500k+ as a director/SVP is back office, then yes!
lol I’ve heard someone innocently ask this before. But think of public finance like DCM cause in many ways it is almost the same. Is DCM back office? No, it’s front office.
What are the best banks for Public Finance? Any insight on Oppenheimer and Co's public finance group?
Side note - in PubFin there’s IB and DCM too; the DCM team structures the debt for sale by the syndicate team, with pretty complex structuring, whole the bankers pitch that structure to clients.
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