The Pulse
Posts
HH "The Pulse" -- #20

HH "The Pulse" -- #20

The Pulse
October 15, 2023

We Hired! Due to strong demand for the Premium Database, we hired another Helper and now have some more availability. Follow the instructions below to lock in your spot and simplify your recruiting process. Have any questions or want to meet the team? Write us an e-mail ([email protected]) with your availability.

Recruiting Timeline:

Banking:

Where We’re At:

SA 2025: RBC is still the only bank that has released its app. We predict a few more banks to officially open up their apps throughout November/December. I know this sounds crazy, but we have been accurately predicting this since last year and are not surprised. We expect ~1/3 of firms to open their apps over Winter Break.
SA 2024: This process is 95% complete. Some smaller boutiques/regionals are still recruiting and some EBs/BBs may briefly reopen apps if different groups need to hire. If you’re still recruiting for SA 2024, shoot us an email and we can help you out.
FT 2024: We are about ½ complete with this process. Banks have been pretty reluctant to hire due to economic uncertainty and investment banking revenues down considerably from 2021. In fact, some firms like BofA and Citi have indicated hiring freezes.

Want access to an updated database of 200+ banks/consulting/buyside firms? Venmo @HoosHelpers $50 and shoot us an e-mail @[email protected]. Additional details of the database can be found below. Gain an edge over everyone else by not having to spend countless hours tracking applications and deadlines.

Gameplan:

SA 2025: NETWORK. Cannot stress this enough, but you need to be reaching out to bankers now before their inboxes get flooded with thirsty college students begging for their time. Put yourself in their shoes. After working 80+ hour weeks, how likely would you be to pick up the phone and listen to some kid ask “Can you describe a day in your life” for the 50th time?
SA 2024: At this point, you should have applied everywhere and if you receive an interview you need to absolutely be on your A game. Recruiting is pretty much over for SA 2024 so you need to capitalize on all opportunities.
FT 2024: You need to have a clear understanding of what banking entails and why you want to work in the industry. Your preparation should be focused on mastering behaviorals + technicals. Check out our Premium Database for a vault of resources to ensure you’re fully prepared for any question.

Interview Questions of the Week:

-Behavioral: Tell me about a time you worked with a bad partner. How did you handle the situation?

-Technical: What is a P/E multiple and how is it used?

Feel free to write us your responses and we can provide feedback on the quality of your answers!

Consulting:

Where We’re At:

SA 2025: So far only one firm has released its 2025 application. Recruiting will start a little earlier than it did for 2024.
SA 2024: We are in an in-between time for consulting recruiting. Almost all firms have released their applications for 2024 internships and jobs. But SA 2025 hasn’t quite kicked off yet. Companies are in the process of conducting interviews and some have given job offers. By November, recruiting will basically be done with the exception of smaller/niche firms.
FT 2024: Full time roles are a little less structured than SA roles because firms like to see how many SAs accept their return offers so they know how many people they need to hire. The fact is consulting firms are hiring fewer entry level associates due to economic concerns. Most firms have released their applications, but some smaller firms will continue to release applications into December.

Gameplan:

SA 2025: At this point you should just be networking, researching firms of interest, and making sure that resume looks good.
SA 2024: If you’re still recruiting for SA 2024 roles make sure you’re networking so that you can get a referral to the firm of interest. Do lots of case prep so you can crush them in the interview. It also helps to do cases with a study buddy to see if they take a different approach. Don’t forget to send a thank you email after your interview.
FT 2024: Hopefully you’ve been networking so your main focus should be on case prep so you can crush them in the interview. Do cases with a study buddy!

Interview Question of the Week:

-Can you tell me about a challenging situation with a tight deadline?

This question is gauging how you deal with stressful situations, problem solve, and stay organized

Feel free to write us your answers and we can provide feedback on the quality of your answers!

Buyside:

Where We’re At:

SA 2025: Insight Partners and GTCR have opened their apps. We expect other prominent funds to kick off apps throughout November and December as internships are becoming more popular at these firms.
SA 2024: This process is 75% complete. As we have specified before, buyside SA recruiting is very fragmented, yet becoming increasingly popular amongst funds. Similar to banking, many funds have been reluctant to hire with uncertainty in the economy.

Gameplan:

SA 2025: Once again, NETWORK. Build a list of good questions to ask investors. Where do you see opportunity in the market? How are 2021/2022 investments performing? Etc. Also, ask yourself why you want to work on the buyside vs. the sell-side.
SA 2024: You should have a pretty clear picture of what it means to be an investor and the type of investor you want to be. Have a good reason for why you want to work in PE or VC or Credit or HF.

Interview Questions of the Week:

-PE Question: What is your understanding of the investment process? Describe it.

Feel free to write us your answers and we can provide feedback on the quality of your answers!

Premium Database:

The database is updated bi-weekly and contains 200+ Investment Banking and Consulting internships/full-time positions along with:

Interview tips for specific companies
Interview prep material
Applications and deadlines linked so that you can apply with one click
Information about the application process
Professionals to network with
Buyside deadlines, interview prep, and people to network with for the sweatiest of students

We send the updated dataset every two weeks with the latest banking and consulting job postings. We released our 18th update last week.

Students we have been helping have already landed roles at Blackstone, Goldman, J.P. Morgan, Jefferies, Citi, and Solomon.

To get access to the database and the bi-weekly updates, you pay a one-time fee of $50 (Venmo @Hooshelpers) that grants you annual access to the updated database (You can enable purchase protection if concerned). If you don’t find our services helpful, we simply ask for feedback on an area we can improve upon and will refund your $50.

This is a small investment for a huge payout when you secure your dream offer!

Video of Premium Database——>HH Database Preview--Video

Market Update:

CPI holds steady at 3.7%. Nobody is happy about it.

For the second consecutive month, the CPI has not budged. Don’t get me wrong, 3.7% YoY inflation is a huge improvement from 9%+ that we experienced in June 2022. However, the target number is 2%. If October’s CPI also prints 3.5%+ then the FED may need to hike rates AGAIN.

What are some of the drivers behind September’s sticky CPI? Cost of housing and energy prices are two of the largest contributors.

—Housing: Housing supply is at historic lows and is going to stay low. The cost of materials is high and construction financing has been difficult to access with rates at the highest levels in 15 years. This low supply is keeping home values near all-time highs.

—Energy: Namely oil and gas. The Russia-Ukraine war and now the Israel-Hamas war has led to reduced global supply of oil and gas, leading to higher prices. To make matters worse, production from other regions, like the US, is near record levels! Russia is a huge supplier of oil, but many countries are refusing to buy their oil as they wage war in Ukraine. Iran is a much smaller oil supplier, but a supplier nonetheless, and evidence revealing their support of Hamas in the recent attack against Israel would likely lead to sanctions against purchasing their oil as well. So, with production from non-conflict regions near all-time highs and traditional oil supply locked away, prices are going to remain elevated. The energy index rose 1.5% in September on behalf of a 6.5% increase in August.

Ok, so everything is expensive but if consumer spending remains elevated then the economy won’t go to shit, right? Yes. However, it is important to know where consumers are actually spending their $. Take a look at some charts provided by Deloitte tracking where people spend their money.

August 2023

September 2021

Notice anything different?

Consumer spending has completely shifted to spending on necessities such as housing, groceries, and everyday goods vs. discretionary goods such as recreation, entertainment, and restaurants.

Inflation is kicking everyone’s ass and right now consumer sentiment is not great.

Maybe people are being financially responsible and saving more instead of splurging on bullshit? No! The personal savings rate in August 2023 was only 3.9% vs. 9.4% in August 2021.

So, people are not only spending more on necessities, but they are also saving way less money then when they were spending on discretionary goods.

That does not paint a pretty picture for the economy.

For interviews, it is really important to understand the state of the economy and how business needs change. In today’s high-rate, low savings environment, access to capital is much more difficult to achieve.

Learning Point of the Week:

Agency costs. An agency cost is when the incentives of two partners are not aligned. For example, if bankers were never paid bonuses then no one would be willing to work the 80+ hour weeks. I’d simply collect my check and work 9-5 because there is no incentive to perform better.

This week, I want to discuss the HUGE agency cost between limited partners and general partners in KKR & Carlyle’s new, no performance-fee private credit funds. Take a look at the article I attached: KKR & Carlyle

Essentially, raising money has become so competitive in the private markets that funds are forced to reduce fees to incentivize institutions to invest. However, taking 0% carry on a fund is crazy. As a general partner (employee of X fund), what is my incentive to make the highest quality investments if I don’t get any % of the profit? Why not just make a few conservative investments and then sit back and collect the management fee?

This is an agency cost. As a limited partner, I’d actually want to know that the general partners have some skin in the game and are working to maximize returns even if that means they take a chunk of the profits (typically 20%).

Going Forward:

Please reach out to us with any questions about recruiting or if you’re interested in meeting the team! ([email protected])

We are happy to chat, review resumes, or help set up a coaching session.

Check us out on LinkedIn too! HoosHelpers

Happy to help,

Hoos Helpers

HH #20