Given how spaced out the IBD SA recruiting timeline is this year, with some firms (MM and EB mostly) starting /ending recruiting now and BBs opening their process a month from now... what do the good people of WSO think about reneging offers (are there any tips to do this if you receive a SIGNIFICANTLY better offer one month after the previous one, should you tell BBs that you have accepted an offer but intend on reneging)?
I have a feeling that this year this will happen much more frequently given how abnormally spaced out the process is.
I would be very wary of telling a BB you're going to renege on another offer. For example, BAML explicitly has said they will not recruit students who renege on another offer. Even if you sign and they later found out you reneged to sign with them, some will blacklist you a return offer. I know of someone who this happened to after they reneged UBS for JPM. HR is typically more rigid with BB's so it you're really going to do this, be very careful with who knows who at each bank and definitely don't communicate that you plan on reneging.
Thanks! Looking through most renege posts here, they claim that it is best to be transparent and highlight that you already have an offer for the summer... do you know why that is? Also, how would the strategy change if ur reneging for an EB? As FT recruiting gets rarer and rarer, I am assuming that some of the students this year will actively think about doing this.
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Fun tip. If you renege, do not update anything on your linkedin for at least a year.
following
bump
Will definitely happen more this year IMO. But banks should understand it’s because recruiting has been pushed up so much us interns are in a sticky situation. I know someone that’s currently doing a sophomore year IB internship at a BB but signed another offer before his internship even started. It’s just because of how accelerated recruiting is.
Very unfair and ridiculous process. The banks have created this scenario. As a 55 yr old who's been around the block, it's quite absurd to force spring semester sophomores into recruiting for the summer following their junior yr (many will not have had any significant relevant course work or exposure to the finance world), and blacklist them if they get a better offer based on actual work experience they gain the summer following their sophomore yr. It's just really screwed up.
I guess they can because of never ending supply of quality kids in the pipeline. The whole process could use some creative destruction.
Surprised no one has recommended to not renege at all. Everyone on the street knows each other, and there's constant communication at all levels. If you were to renege one firm, then what does it tell the other firm? Sure, you obviously like them more, but you're also willing to turn your back easily.
When I went through recruiting, I was always told that you stick with the offer you accept. It's one of those you should live with your decisions type of things, but I know some schools will ban you from OCR, notify employers, and even go as far as marking your educational record. Those are the extremes, but I can only imagine how a school/career services can respond when UBS or another bank says "A student reneged her offer with our firm. What are you guys going to do about it?"
i agree
Definitely see where you're coming from. I still think that people should only sign offers knowing 100% they're going because they can always just choose to recruit at a later time. When a bank like Goldman or Evercore says "If you want us, you'll wait for us," it doesn't mean that you'll sign another offer and then recruit for them - it means that you'll either turn down other offers or wait until they start recruiting to start. Again, I think it's a terrible time to renege offers with everyone so well connected. Just like you can renege, banks can terminate an offer at any time with no explanation. Definitely have been recent situations in which student X reneged Bank Y to go to Bank Z and Bank Z terminated an offer because Bank Z was told by Bank Y
Bump, this is gradually becoming more relevant now that offers are coming in from BBs/EBs. Would love to hear more opinions
I agree the system is flawed (I'm currently weighing an exploding offer that would mean giving up on applications I haven't heard back from yet) but I have heard too many horror stories of reneging.
At my school (target), the career center will essentially lock you out of recruiting if you renege. I heard (second hand) about a kid that reneged and they got banned from handshake, on campus recruiting, etc. The career center hates it because it makes banks hate the school.
Heard another story about someone who reneged from a solid MM place to go a BB. He made up some excuse to the MM about a family situation that meant he couldn't be in NYC for the summer (which is where both opportunities were). MM HR saw student update their Linkedin to 'Incoming Summer Analyst at ___', told an MD who called a friend at the BB, student lost both offers, is currently working at a garbage bank no one has heard of, and is essentially blackballed from working at any reputable bank ever again.
I just don't think the risk is worth it. I'd way rather take the sure thing and look into lateraling for FT rather than gambling my whole career on reneging an offer.
Hey thanks for the comment! Yeah I think the downside is fucking rough. FT recruiting is getting more and more rare though, as banks are becoming better at sizing analyst classes well etc. What do you think the chances would have looked like if the student wasn't dumb enough to update their LinkedIn though?
Honestly, I have no idea. I do think that, if a candidate reneges on an offer, the bank could easily find out where if they wanted to. They know where you go to school and could easily contact career services, and people also forget how small this industry is. If you renege and go to a local boutique in the midwest you are probably safe, but if you are going from a top 25 bank to a top 10 bank, remember that all these guys know each other and could easily track down if anyone gave you an offer if they cared. Also, I heard from a friend at a boutique (that is notorious for giving very early offers) that they are super suspicious of someone reneging under any circumstance, especially if it happens right at peak BB recruiting time, because they've been doing this for a while and know exactly how it works. I personally accepted an offer and immediately stopped interviewing, even though I got an interview invitation from my dream bank, because I didn't think it was worth the risk. It's just a matter of the risk/reward and how much you like to gamble.
Can confirm the renege story has happened at my school as well
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