The annual ritual of recruiting private equity for young bankers — infamous for its late-night gatherings — is always stressful. But this year may be more “ridiculous” than ever, Insider has learned.
As Insider reported on Tuesday, the frenzied trial seems to have started Monday night when recruiters for a handful of companies sent blast emails to select junior bankers who suggested meetings ASAP — before the opportunity closes.
The emails forced these young bankers — many of whom have just started their first Wall Street jobs in places like Goldman Sachs and Citi — to think of ways to quietly leave their desks to apply for jobs that won’t open until the fall. starting in 2024.
As always, the PE recruiting rat race lets junior bankers do whatever it takes to get ahead. At mega-fund KKR, a current employee confessed to Insider that a junior banker was sitting in a conference room on Tuesday morning juggling his or her day job on their laptop while waiting for interviewers to come talk to them. The day before, the meetings did not end until 2 a.m.
Another investment banker who asked for anonymity to speak up said he had heard that at another elite boutique bank down the street, a bevy of analysts mysteriously disappeared for a few hours before triumphantly reappearing in the office, offerings in the bag.
In recent years, the PE hiring process has shifted earlier and earlier, from October to September, but never to the end of August, as it is now. It forces companies to figure out how to interview candidates with no real work experience.
“It’s ridiculous,” a plugged-in industry headhunter told Insider this week, speaking of the unprecedentedly early timeline in which some first-year investment bankers both juggled their first official weeks at work at their bank and simultaneously searched for their second job in the bank. PE.
Experts worry that the increasingly hectic hiring cycle is not benefiting anyone, forcing analysts without any professional experience to participate in a recruiting ritual that will define much of their future careers.
To learn more about which companies are recruiting, how insiders feel about the process, and other information about the private equity recruiting chaos this year: watch the full story, exclusively from Insider.
Do you work in investment banking or private equity? Get in touch with this reporter to share your experience during this year’s private equity recruitment cycle. Reed Alexander can be reached by email at [email protected], or by texting/the encrypted Signal app at (561) 247-5758.
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