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biggest thing i've heard is long hours (even for banking - 120 a week for lazard is not unusual), which is also true for most elite boutiques like blackstone, gridley&co, and evercore
haha Gridley again spacejam, you crack me up
anyone know if they are still doing full-time hiring?
When do they start recruiting for SAs?
How is a 120 hour workweek even possible???? That’s crazy.
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I disagree about Moelis, especially in LA.
As far as Lazard goes. I talked with one of the alumni whose friend worked at Lazard. The friend said that even during downtime Analysts work over 100 hours/week.
from what ive seen most MDs and top guys tend to be chill even at stuffy places and this reflects more the analyst to VPs -- is this true?
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In Nicole Ridgeway's book: The Running Of The Bulls : Inside The Cutthroat Race From Wharton To Wall Street, one of the main characters was a summa cum laude Wharton undergrad and a Joseph Wharton Scholar (she can handle pressure). She was worked to the bone at Lazard, 120 hours during some weeks as you said. She cracked under the preassure and cried during work one day. She transferred to Goldman because she could not take the heat. That's all according to that one book though, it may or may not be true.
Everyone at Lazard just has a slightly creepy vibe.. I really can't put it into words but it is unmistakable..
Data point No.1 : Friend's close friend is a direct A-A promote in Lazard, he seldom went out in the past few years, hated his work and decided to apply Bschool this year despite he already got post-MBA position
Data point No.2: Someone I know summered at Lazard. Forced to come into office on weekend even though there was absolutely no work. Hated the culture and going BCG full time. he is a pretty chill kind, so I knew he wouldn't fit into Lazard when he told me he got the job
Rumor from Data point No.1 : @Lazard last year, once a VP got mad at analyst. Instead of the usual verbal abuse, he actually took a PRINTER to hit the analyst's head REALLY hard...... every time I picture it I just cringed.....
Take it with a grain of salt as there are only 2 data points....
I don't care if I had to spend 6 years in Rikers & work as trash man for the rest of my life. If someone at work hit me with a printer on purpose I would kick their fucking teeth into the back of their head; like really bad.
I'll take your word for it. But that's a personal Tort lawsuit waiting to happen, and ranging to criminal aggravated assault. Wow, someone actually taking a physical object and attacking another employee (no matter how low on the corporate ladder) seems like a bad lawsuit waiting to happen. Especially at such a high profile firm on Wallstreet.
So is Lazard management aware of this stuffy, hardazz, full throttle to the bottle, etc. cultural perception of their firm? Is the pay that good to offset all of these other factors?
I've seen this elsewhere, but all these years later, I fully believe this happened.
Lazard still has a poor culture.
That VP should get his ass fired, sued, or both.
no, i don't think he should - the analyst probable fucked up.
Well PJC should let us know since he will be FT at Lazard in Cali.
liu kang are you retarded? i dont care if you screwed up a client account what the VP did was battery and if it wasnt for the hierarchy he should be locked up in a prison cell.
investment banking is for losers
I was wondering about that Gridley thing, should've realized it was a joke
Who just sits there and lets someone hit them with a printer.. I would beat him with a chair
Yea that's actually absurd if it's true. If someone came at me with a goddamn printer, let alone landed a blow, I would get that motherfucker thrown in jail.
Very interesting overall. Didn't know Lazard was so intense.
Wow, 120 hours/week, that's suicide. Guess you need to put lots and lots of cash into medical care if stay there for too long.
A friend of mine did 2 years at Lazard. Said culture was pretty stiff. His seniors would hold off giving him work until Friday evenings (even if it was sitting on their desks since Thursday)...which meant he'd be spending his entire weekend in the office.
He said Friday night conversations went like this... Senior: So I want you to do X analysis, Y analysis and Z analyis for these companies Analyst: Ok, sure Senior: All 3 are very complex, you probably won't know how to do them all Analyst: Oh...ok Senior: I know how to do them Analyst: Oh, thats great Senior: But I won't help you Analyst: .... Senior: I want you to figure it out over the weekend and have an output for me by Monday morning Analyst: ...alright
That usually kept him in the office all the way through Sunday. Brutal.
LOL why do the seniors say that then?
sounds like my kind of place - i wanna learn a ton and i can easily dodge printers.
@ Mezz - That's great - made my day, can totally picture the conversation and the analyst holding back a 'wtf, are you serious' look
@ liu kang... after 120/hrs per wk every week... I don't think you'd have the stamina to dodge anything... maybe if it hits you and you conk out, you'll be in the hospital for a few days and not at work...
Doesn't sound like the dude learned much. He had to Google that shit over the weekend.
i can understand that -- you probably learn more if you try to figure it out on your own, but holding it off till friday is pretty douchey if thats on purpose
He did admit he learned a lot. But he'd be shitting bricks every Friday night.
And yes, they purposely held off some work until Friday.
good luck liu kang, yeah it's good to learn tons of stuffs and find another easier job after a couple of years.
But Im sure there are other places where you can learn just as much in a better environment
The problem with Lazard is not the hours. There are many top groups that pull pretty long hours. There are many top groups where you'll be forced to climb up a steep learning curve very quickly. It's the way people treat each other there. There is a certain 'essence' of the culture there that is difficult to articulate, but is demonstrated through the aforementioned anecdotes. If I had to put a label on it, I would call it cruelty. I do not work at Lazard, but I have had a decent amount of interaction with them, and I feel that anyone who knows what they are talking about would concur with my assessment.
Don't know what you guys are talking about. I work in the biggest regional office of Lazard and obviously know all the analysts in NY. You work hard when you have to, but there's no such thing as constant 120+ hour weeks. This whole "cruelty" thing you mention is fabricated. I legitimately have fun at work, people are very chill, and no one hits analysts with printers. Kids that are still in college should refrain from making comments about any bank - you don't really know the bank, you don't really know the culture, you don't really know much of anything actually. There are cool people and dbags working at all banks so it's impossible to get a rosy picture from all angles on any work-place. This is not meant to be a defensive stance on the culture of Lazard. Frankly, I don't really care what other people's pre-conceived ideas are. But for those without an idea, I'd rather have them know from someone from within, as opposed to some college kid who knows no one at Lazard, but has heard "rumors"
No doubt this thread is a bit over the top on Lazard. But also to be fair, guys in Lazard NYC often disassociate themselves with the regionals, referring to them as nearly a different firm all together. This has been my experience with the handful of people I know in Lazard NYC. Maybe they are the office douchebags in NYC and are not representative of the entire firm, but it is for at least one sliver.
I have no idea where you work, but you might have a great culture if you're in Chicago because it was a firm they acquired, or people are just a lot nicer. Not sure which regional you're referring to, so I can't comment -- the only Lazard I've interacted with have been in NYC, Chicago, and Minneapolis.
Lazard gave out 3 offers at my school and all 3 declined, they said everyone is stuffy and a little bit creepy
I doubt that that's why they declined. No one seriously interested in banking would decline Lazard to work at Lincoln International because the people at Lazard are stuffy. I bet they had equally compelling (or better) offers and they happened to choose something else because it was a better fit - and i am fairly certain they all went to BBs, as there are few boutiques, if any, that share Lazard's name recognition and dealflow. You should maybe disclose where they took offers and that should paint a fuller picture of what actually went down. It's these half truths that end up being quoted as rumors by people who don't know the full story.
Didn't mean to make it seem sketchy, I mean the people at Lazard played a significant role in their decision process. One went to BAML, another to Evercore and the last to Moelis. 2 would've taken the Lazard prestige but hated the people
I would 1,000% decline Lazard to work at Lincoln International for a better WLB. I would decline Lazard to work at fucking Accenture if I had to.
Would you consider Gleacher an elite boutique?
Youngmoney - I'm no college student and I have no malicious intent to diss your firm. I have a great amount of respect for Lazard and some of the hitters that work there. I am merely sharing my viewpoint that I have formed from interacting with numerous people from Lazard. Yes, it is just my opinion, but seeing that others have heard similar things makes me wonder..
So if I want to work at Lazard, should I mention during interviews that I enjoy getting hit by printers and other peripherals?
Valid point...im tough i can take a good hit
For what I can say, in France, Lazard also has that bad reputation though considered a great place for learning and earning €€€ but hours are really bad ... 120hours / week seem to be close to reality (I was told they almost finish at 4am everyday by my Associate this summer)
But isn't it all about the learning opportunity and the potential cashflow down the line? I bet most of you here would take the hit (literally) for the chance to interview with KKR/TPG. Not everyone can get an analyst gig at Greenhill, which should be used as the ideal "boutique" model. Lazard is still offers a better opportunity than 99% of the other firms other there for undergrads
Interesting how all the college students here hate Greenhill now
which is apparently not the case for this year, at least analysts and associates are not treated very well. I am just surprised when I heard the numbers.
I saw lazard twice on campus, total stiffs. Both guys gave me a serial killer vibe, then their was the weird outgoing recruiter...just didn't mix well. Out of every firm that has come to campus, william blair was by far my favorite. Call me crazy but if i had both offers i'd sacrifice the prestige and take william blair. You're going to spend 100+ hours a week in a cube, you might as well be with guys who are cool
I saw lazard twice on campus, total stiffs. Both guys gave me a serial killer vibe, then their was the weird outgoing recruiter...just didn't mix well. Out of every firm that has come to campus, william blair was by far my favorite. Call me crazy but if i had both offers i'd sacrifice the prestige and take william blair. You're going to spend 100+ hours a week in a cube, you might as well be with guys who are cool
I have talked with a couple people at Lazard and everyone I've met has been really cool.
Hours depend on the group. SF Tech team is brutal, but the HC team is super chilled. I really like all the people I met in the HC team.
Are you kidding me? I'm in one of those 2 teams and nothing could be further from the truth
haha a lil late buddy they've already filled their class
Not true.
You do realize that, as of today, they haven't even done first rounds at some of the target schools, don't you?
This is all nonsense. I have a friend from college who just left Lazard for a PE shop and I asked him a number of times about the rumors surrounding Lazard's culture. It's a suit and tie place, very professional, etc., but they don't work any more hours than any of my friends at top BBs or top boutiques. He also said that he never had a problem with facetime, and that most of the rumors about the oppressive culture are completely false. He did admit that the atmosphere is a little bit intense, like you have to be on your best 24/7. But, that didn't really surprise me.
Lmao, I know this thread is old but that was hilarious.
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