Stifel 2021 London Graduate Programme and Reputation
Got a final round interview at Stifel for their London graduate programme. I'm attracted to the good salary (50k base) and smart analysts (1st class imperial / lse grads as seen on LinkedIn). I have some related questions I hope someone on here can clarify, which will help future London applicants.
Due to COVID, I've not had the opportunity to speak to any of their analysts; unsure how the culture is in the London office - how are the hours / relationship with seniors / career development?
Having only read online, US rep is somewhat poor, but I've seen ECM league tables and they are strong; heard the FIG and tech groups are decent too for M&A, but obviously alot less reputable than US / EB firms. Looking to just get foot in the door, will think about lateraling later as this is fairly common in UK right?
For background, I did an IBD summer at a BB but did not convert, even though I received good feedback. I enjoyed the internship (albeit virtual) and would consider a long term career in finance. VP said he'd help with a reference, unfortunately the team I was in didn't convert any of the interns.
TL;DR - I'm looking for a general recent insight of Stifel in London.
Thanks
I’m in the same boat. How soon is your AC? I didn’t get converted from my SA internship and the Stifel programme seemed good, so I applied. However, I haven’t heard much about the company and idk how easy it is to move somewhere else / exit to PE after. Are you undergrad or grad? If you’re undergrad, you could always do Stifel for 2 years, then do a Master’s and then go to another company. But that’s just me, feel free to PM me. Also if anyone knows anything about Stifel hours and work/life balance that would be very useful.
Thanks for the reply. I'm not massively invested in the whole IB -> PE route, I don't speak many languages and I am comfortable with the idea of working in IB for a longer period.
I'm currently on an integrated masters course, however I think it's extremely uncommon to do two years as an analyst and then do an MSc. I'd consider an MBA later, however I don't think it's necessary for a career in IB, provided you start out in finance.
My AC is in a couple weeks but no idea what to expect, bright network are handling it. I agree, very little info on Stifel in London. Glassdoor reviews are mixed.
Hey man congrats on the AC invite, I’ve been shortlisted for the programme by bright network (haven’t heard from stifel) and was wondering when did you apply for the grad role?
when did you apply to Stifel?
Analyst at a rival mid market firm based in London here - Stifel's rep is very middle ground. It's not Numis but it's also not a bucket shop - don't really come across them in tmt.
Interesting, I had not really come across them. Who would they compete with?
Main competitors would be Numis, Investec, Peel Hunt, Panmure Gordon, Shore Cap and other small/mid cap broking firms, rather than any bulge.
Didn't realize Numis had such a bad rep in London lol, I think they've been acquired by Laz? Know a guy there on their venture capital broking team, he always asking me about other opps
Numis has the best rep of any mid cap firm, they're really strong and only ever getting stronger, and still listed fwiw
50k base is pretty much the standard... for all the banks
Still an impressive amount for a graduate based in London, compared to other industries where average is 30k you can see the appeal
It’s good enough, you get your foot in the door and will get good exposure. If you care that much about rep, work hard and you’ll be able in a good place to lateral to more “prestigious” boutiques or MM shops e.g. greenhill, William Blair, RBC
Anybody actually come into contact with someone from Stifel?
how big is their analyst class?
Can only judge from LinkedIn, looks like a handful not people (10). We need someone with actual contact to comment lol
.
yep, they haven't sent out ACs yet
Have they opened for summer apps in London? Checked a few days ago and it only says 2020 apps are closed.
*deleted*
Hey, did you get the AC invite directly from Stifel, or are you referring to the shortlist from Bright Network? I got shortlisted on Fri 8th Jan and then got an email yesterday about the AC being delayed to early Feb. Also yesterday's email also mentioned that Stifel were now starting to look at the shortlist.
anyone hear anything recently?
Nope, most likely going to hear back next week as they said. What are your profiles by the way?
pm
Is bright network handling Stifel London recruitment now???? LMFAOOO
I believe Stifel will be notifying us, not BN
I'll answer your questions in the order of your post:
1) Culture: relatively good, most people are nice and not many d**ckheads like other banks
2) hours: typical IB hours but on average a lot better than the BB/EBs; it also depends on the team
3) relationship with seniors: flat structure so exposure to seniors is better than almost every other IB
4) career development: you'll receive a lot more responsibility than other banks especially the BBs; the graduate analyst programme is longer than usual so progression to associate will take longer as Stifel have a 3.5 year analyst programme instead of the normal 2 years BB/EBs have in London; also career development depends on the team as some teams have better deal flow than others, some teams focus on ECM and others focus on M&A so this will impact skill set learned and exit ops; also worth noting Stifel do a lot of corporate broking so best to familiarise yourself with that
5) reputation: depends on each team, Tech M&A is very good (competes with Jefferies/Arma etc), Real Estate ECM is very strong (mainly competes with JPM, Jefferies etc), KBW (FIG) is also good they did the $800m tilney/S&w transaction
6) lateralling: most don't leave because of the good culture but lateralling to other IBs is very possible and easy to do, half the people at Jefferies came from Stifel and half the people at Stifel come from Jefferies.. they're eachothers main competitor, other competitors include other corporate brokers such as numis etc
Hope this helps and good luck with the process
Shshs
Any thoughts on Stifel Tech M&A vs HSBC TMT for exit opportunities? thanks
For London? The Mooreland team (acquired by Stifel) is really good at Tech M&A. However, in general, I would still say definitely choose HSBC for exit ops.
Has anyone heard back now that it's the first week of Feb?
Nope, it’s early days though. Will probably hear back by end of the week
maybe none of us got it haha
I swear I better get either an invite or rejection tomorrow
Hahaha yhh, hopefully we get the news in the next few hours
Still no news 🥲
Yeh, wondering if they just haven't been sent or everyone on this thread and tsr have been rejected
The person who started the thread had an invite but it’s getting tense now tbh
still havent got a reply myself. looking at all the comments idk if i should consider myself rejected or if i should still be hopeful. but the fact that some applicant have already got an online test and some havent been reject is unsettling.
Anyone heard back?
Nope
still nothing ffs
There’s still tomorrow lol
Deja vu from last week
Yhh it’s getting really weird now, surely they’ve made the decision already
I think we'll get an email around 4ish, BN seems to email around that time
This didn't age well
Yhh 5pm now hahahah
Let’s hope it arrives today, if not, no news is good news
00
Same here, we’ll probably hear back when COVID’s over at this rate
You kinda called it, I'm impressed
No update as of yet :(
Anyone heard back?
have not heard back, but i think we will later on in the year (most likely early summer period) when people are allowed back in offices
The Ides of March are come.
Anyone had an update?
Delay
most likely they will cancel at this rate if they can't set a date before June, which is unfair as large majority of other firms are not looking to host in-person ACs anytime soon. their persistence to do so is very weird/confusing i must say.........................
Decision by 19th April according to the latest email.
yep, they should be reviewing from tomorrow according to the email. Hopefully we can attend the AC in person in May if selected....best of luck everyone!
Invitations for zoom interviews sent out today
Any update?
Yeah interview email sent at 11am
How'd the interviews go?
Hard af, but just got off the back end of a 90 hour work week in my current role so did zero prep rip. Very technical based, got the sense one of the VPs did not like me very much lmao. You?
I also struggled. Any idea on when we can expect to receive feedback?
Really?? I barely got any technicals lol was mostly fit based
On the plus side they did stress to me that there was less importance places on technicals since they would teach it anyway
I had about 15 minutes fit, 25 minutes technicals. Really tried to trip me up. IMO, I tried to be honest with my fit questions and I don't think the main VP liked my answers. RE feedback, they said we can expect to hear sometime next week. I'm 90% sure this is first round and there is an AC after, but I have a small feeling this potentially could've been final round since today was the only day of interviews...
Any news?
000
Interesting. Did anyone else get the form?
No I haven't received anything yet. I'd guess an email with a form to fill out sounds positive?
Guess we know who did well 😂😂😂
Yep😂😂
Odishs
What does the form actually include? I'd assume those who are getting an offer would get the form, and in my experience usually hearing back first is good news
Alala
Sounds like an offer - congrats!
Sksks
Did anyone actually hear back lmao?
Nope
Is it worth moving to Jefferies from Stifel Tech team for better exits?
Stifel exits are usually limited to other MMs
Do you have an idea of the type of questions that came up
Hey mate,
I got an offer for an Analyst position at Stifel and declined it.
Reputation is unfortunately rather bad, think Big 4 corp fin, Truist, Lincoln and similar. Exit opps seems to be non-existent, just do your Linkedin research and you'll see that analysts exit to better UMM banks such as Jefferies, HL, WB, Baird etc or smaller boutiques (Arma or similar). Also, the 50k base isn't really something to be attracted by, right? Good MM players pay c. 70k for Analyst 1 after this years increase in compensation. Lastly, the analyst class does not seem to be that impressive, based on previous experience and education.
I do know that their tech team is growing though and win some impressive mandates in Europe, however still not worth in my opinion.
Let me know if you have any questions!
Hi Guys,
I have an online pre-recorded video interview with Stifel for their graduate position through Bright Network. Seems like you guys have gone through the entire process, would greatly appreciate some tips and pointers on what to expect from the pre-recorded video interview and the AC (final stage).
Many thanks
Hi Bud,
I also have the prerecorded interview through BN. How did yours go?
Any advice to someone who's currently prepping for theirs? Would really appreciate any insight you can share.
Thanks!
hey did you get insights for this? If I can ask how did this go?
Tumbleweed in response to my question but from my experience it was a straight forward video interview.
No technicals whatsoever, competency questions and a brain teaser
Anyone hear back on the assessment centre for 2022 I.B summer roles
Got my invitation this morning.
How did yours go?
Did you get an AC invite or shortlisted? If so when is it?
For ER they said AC invites out 1st week of Jan
Anyone know the 2022 grad starting salary? Still £50k or have they bumped for this year?
has anyone received update about last week's AC?
nothing yet, what date was your assessment centre?
same. mine was on 20th Jan
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