"I've been getting three recruiter calls a day": the junior bankers back in fashion
UK M&A activity is picking up, and in some areas of the market there are signs that junior bankers are being picked up too.
The London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) says UK targeted M&A activity was up 72% year-on-year through to June 25th. London's junior bankers say they've noticed the change.
"Last month I was getting two or three calls a day from recruiters, and it seemed that everyone was hiring," says one investment banking associate. "The recruiters calling were representing the big banks - Goldman, JPMorgan, Lazard, Moelis & Co..."
The pick-up in interest comes as banks show signs of releasing new jobs. Goldman Sachs is currently looking for four associates in London, covering its industrials, real estate, the financial institutions group (FIG), and its UK cross markets group. JPMorgan is looking for at least six investment banking associates in London, including for its German and French speaking FIG teams (the German job can be in either Frankfurt or London) and for its EMEA Financial Sponsors Group. Lazard is looking for telecoms bankers (albeit in Paris). Moelis has been hiring new London associates from UBS and experienced analysts from Barclays and Canaccord.
Some banking recruiters say they've noticed a difference. Lazo Cetnik, managing director at Pretrega Partners, says there's been more hiring activity in the past few weeks. "Q1 and Q2 M&A activity has been good, which will increase confidence and therefore hiring. In September, I expect that hiring will be noticeably stronger." It helps, too, that there's renewed awareness of junior bankers' sometimes extreme working hours following the death of a Bank of America associate last month, meaning that banks are perhaps more wary than before about piling work on existing staff as deals increase.
However, some junior bankers seem to be feeling the move more than others. While one industrials banker says he's noticed a pick-up in recruiters approaching him, another energy junior says he's seen no change - but that this is mostly because energy hiring didn't drop off as much as the rest.
Globally, LSEG says the biggest increase in deals by sector this year has been in telecoms, where activity is up 172%, followed by media and entertainment (158%) and financials (70%). The increase in recruiter calls, unsurprisingly, corresponds to the teams with the biggest increase in deal activity. Experienced associates and junior VPs seem to be the sweet spots. "The pipeline is full, so everyone is rushing to hire more capacity," says one experienced associate who says recruiters have been calling about jobs in banks and boutiques.
A headhunter who deals with more senior roles, tells us activity isn't back as much as expected, simply because deals haven't increased by as much as was hoped. Bloomberg reported yesterday that global deals are still lagging the 10-year average. “The year has been good so far, but all indications suggest it should have been great," said Eric Rutkoske, global head of M&A at Guggenheim. One London M&A recruiter told us he's really holding out for 2025.
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