Investment Banking Recruiting

dj that was some awesome info. Would you have any further info on recruiting for non-IB functions (e.g. S&T ?)

hi all, I've been lurking on this site for a while and thought I'd shed some light on Stern recruiting for IB this fall.

It was as Audio and DJ described, a blood bath this year. Here are some unofficial numbers from recruiting for offers extended this fall for NY (and last fall for NY for a perspective):

JP Morgan - 7 (12)
Credit Suisse - 6 (10)
Morgan Stanley - 1 (2 or 3)
Goldman Sachs - 3 (4)
Bank of America (Merrill Lynch) - 2 (?)
Barclays - 6 (14 Lehman offers)
UBS - 3 (?)
Citi - 4 (8)

DB decided to pull recruiting from campus. I think this was mainly due to the fact they have such a low presence at Stern (no MBA2) and a few MBA3 (first year bankers).

Merrill was traditionally a huge Stern recruiter as were Lehman and Bear (typically 10 offers each). Bank of America hosted interviews at Stern while Merrill hosted at Columbia which put us at a disadvantage given our Merrill network.

Stern placed about 25 people in NY and another 12 overseas. Last year there were 45 Sternies going to NY BB, don't know about overseas. 100 people started recruting in the fall but that number quickly dropped to 60. Of the people who wanted banking, only about 10 (deserving) people ended up with nothing but still have shots as some smaller boutiques later in the spring.

I ended up at a BB in New York. And like Audio, I had pretty much all the BB as first round interviews but converting those to offers was especially tough this year since the banks expected 80-100% yeild. Networking definitly played a part as I ended up at the bank where I networked the most. All be said, however, networking only gets you so far as each process (corporate presentations, target events, closed list) is totally different.

Also as a side note, a lot of stern IB candidates are career switchers. I think less than a handful of people were prior analyst and only 3 went bank into banking. Just wanted to put that out there since it is a common misconception.

Lanter,
IB interviews are going on this week. We had a lot of firms on campus, but I'm hearing fewer numbers. Are you sure you're not confusing what they mean by class. 20-25 sounds about right for one bank's class of interns, but that means the class is made up of interns from various schools. At CBS, I think the number of offers that will actually go to CBS students is about 1 for every 10-15 on the closed list. Not a lot, and less than last year.

Compared to BBs, internship or work experience at boutique firms will give one more exposure/face time with clients. Since boutique firms tend to be smaller, one might get more meaningful assignment compared to BBs.

In addition, boutique firms are the ones that are hiring right now.

However, BBs have more structured training/entry programs for MBAs whether its summer internship position or post MBA career. Therefore, if you don't have any relevant experience, BBs are better option for you since you will be assigned to a group of about 35 to 40 individuals to begin your training/entry program together.

Boutique firms are more likely to hire MBAs with prior work experience in relevant field.

Are most going for BB or are there a good portion of students interested in boutique firms? From what I have been learning about the differences between the two, boutiques sound more interesting, work wise, and I was wondering if anyone could shed more light why it seems more are interested in BB internship experience?

Plus, since they have less resources in terms of manpower and access to information (and the deals are typically smaller), you might skip some processes that are important in larger deals.

For example, if a firm hires a boutique to carry out an IPO (let's use Lazard as example), the firm might not be able to distribute or sell all the shares by themselves. They bring in a second bank to help them out as secondary underwriter while the first firm stays on as lead underwriter.

Most boutiques specialize in specific areas. It's not a full bank with all the services like Audio mentioned. For example, if a firm hires a boutique to carry out an IPO (let's use Lazard as example), the firm might not be able to distribute or sell all the shares by themselves. They bring in a second bank to help them out as secondary underwriter while the first firm stays on as lead underwriter.

Other services that BBs might offer to boutiques might be back office operations/clearance. Smaller firms might outsource this function to bigger banks where they can do this cheaper and have seasoned veterans with experience.

Pretty much all banks that are not considered “bulge bracket” are referred to as being boutiques. Boutiques, while ranging in size from a few professionals to hundreds or even thousands of professionals, can generally be categorized into three types: (1) those that specialize in one or more products, (2) those that specialize in one or more industries and (3) those that specialize in small or mid-sized deals and small or mid-sized clients (generally less than $500 million).

There are boutiques that specialize in any number of the products that bulge bracket banks offer. Boutiques known for M&A, for example, often compete with the bulge bracket banks for M&A transactions. A few examples include Lazard, Greenhill, Evercore and Gleacher. Other boutiques offer many different products but specialize in one or more industries. Such boutiques often compete with the bulge bracket banks on the basis of their industry knowledge and expertise. A few examples include Cowen & Co. (healthcare), Allen & Co. (media) and Thomas Weisel Partners (technology). The third type of boutique, those that offer many products and cover many industries but compete only for “middle market” or smaller deals include Jefferies & Co., Piper Jaffray, Raymond James and Robert W. Baird. Many of these middle market boutiques are regionally focused. Some boutiques, including several of the M&A focused banks, are considered to be as (or even more) prestigious as the bulge bracket banks.