"The Pulse" -- #116 / M&A Integration

Recruiting Timeline:

Banking:

Where We’re At:

• SA 2027: Coffee chats posted for Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, and Stifel. Check your school’s Handshake!

• SA 2026: FMI Corporation and Kroll opened apps this week. 116 firms are recruiting for SA 2026

• FT 2026: Raymond James, Scotiabank, BBR Partners and more opened their apps. 39 firms are actively recruiting for FT 2026. Internships ended, return offers were distributed, and the floodgates for FT apps opened  

• If you need some interview support or just need a place to vent, check out our Coaching Program: Coaching for banking, consulting, and buyside recruiting | The Pulse. 95%+ of those coached for the summer 2025 recruiting season received offers!

New SA 2026 Applications:

• FMI Corporation: Infrastructure-focused boutique (SA 2026)

• Kroll: Boutique M&A (SA 2026)

New FT 2026 Applications:

• Olsen Palmer: Boutique (FT 2026)

• Raymond James: Large MM bank (FT 2026)

• Scotiabank: Canada-based MM (FT 2026)

• BBR Partners: M&A boutique (FT 2026)

• Piper Sandler: Large boutique (FT 2026)

• Stout: Boutique (FT 2026)

• Shea & Company: Software boutique (FT 2026)

• Kroll: Boutique M&A (FT 2026)

See below to gain access to our premium database, updated weekly, which houses the application processes for over 300+ banks/consulting/buyside firms! Gain an edge over everyone else by not having to spend countless hours tracking applications and deadlines.

Consulting:

Where We’re At:

• Hugeee application drop this week! Apply as early as possible to give yourself the best chance of landing an interview.

SA 2026 released apps:

• Trinity Life Sciences - Summer Associate Consultant (SA 2026) *only available on select Handshake platforms

• KPMG - Summer Associate (SA 2026)

• MW Jones & Company - Business Analyst Intern (SA 2026)

• Alix Partners - Consulting Analyst Intern (SA 2026)

• Teneo - Management Consulting Intern (SA 2026)

• OC&C Strategy Consultants - Summer Associate (SA 2026)

• LEK - Summer Associate (SA 2026)

• KCIC - Consultant Intern (SA 2026)

• Recon Strategy - Summer Intern (SA 2026)

• Cornerstone Research - Summer Analyst (SA 2026)

• 2nd Order Solutions - Summer Business Analyst (SA 2026)

FT 2026 released apps:

• The Bridgespan Group - Associate Consultant (FT 2026)

• Strategic Offsites Group - Strategy Consultant (FT 2026)

• Alix Partners - Analyst (FT 2026)

• Dean and Company - Analyst (FT 2026)

• KCIC - Entry Level Consultant (FT 2026)

• Recon Strategy - Associate Consultant (FT 2026)

• CIL Management Consultants - Strategy Consulting Analyst (FT 2026)

• Cornerstone Research - Analyst (FT 2026)

• OC&C Strategy Consultants - Associate Consultant (FT 2026)

• 2nd Order Solutions - Business Analyst (FT 2026)

• KPMG - Associate (FT 2026)

• Teneo - Associate Consultant (FT 2026)

• MW Jones & Company - Business Analyst (FT 2026)

• Simon Kuchar - Consultant (FT 2026)

• ZS Associates - Strategy Insights & Planning Associate (FT 2026)

• Trinity Life Sciences - Associate Consultant (FT 2026)

  

Buyside:

Where We’re At:

• SA 2026: Aldrich Capital Partners, W.P. Carey, and Garda Capital Partners opened apps this week. Currently, 128 buyside firms are recruiting for SA 2026 seats 

New SA 2026 released apps:

• Aldrich Capital Partners: MM PE (SA 2026)

• Beacon Partners: RE Acquisitions (SA 2026)

• Cambridge Associates: Investment Intern (SA 2026)

• Garda Capital Partners: Rates Trader (SA 2026)

• Linden Property: RE Acquisitions (SA 2026)

• Harrison Street: Asset Management (SA 2026)

• W.P. Carey: REPE (SA 2026)

The database is updated weekly and contains 300+ 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

• Insider 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 week with the latest banking and consulting job postings. We released our 116th update today.

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 weekly updates, you make a one-time investment of $65 Credit Card / Debit Card: (ThePulsePrep—Stripe.com) that grants you annual access to the updated database (please reach out for additional payment options). If you don’t find our services helpful, we simply ask for feedback on an area we can improve upon and will refund your $65.

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

Premium Database——>Database for banking, consulting and buyside roles | The Pulse 

Market Update: 

M&A Integration

Despite the choppy macroeconomic news, 2025 M&A activity is off to a strong start. According to the IMAA, there have been over 9,600 transactions announced for a total value of $1.4tn. The busiest months are yet to come as companies tend to rush to close deals before year end.

Rates are still high and private equity firms still cannot sell investments from 2021 and 2022 vintages, so the bulk of transaction volume is coming from strategic acquisitions. Company A buys Company B vs. sponsor-driven acquisitions where PE firm A buys Company B.

Strategics are less driven by price and financing to close a deal. Their concerns are primary wrapped up in other considerations such as: will 1+1 =3, will this merger lead to meaningful growth, will revenue synergies be executed, and will cost synergies be executed. In other words, positive M&A outcomes for strategics are primarily driven by the ability to quickly integrate both companies.

Integration is historically difficult. It’s highkey like going on a field trip and seeing a rival school—and then putting everyone on the same bus home. There used to be so much beef seeing a rival school on a field trip, hell would have broken loose if we all got thrown on the same bus at the end of the day.

The markets typically anticipate these integration challenges and will sell down stock to preserve defensive positioning. However, something is different about 2025. Company stock performance is doing really well post-acquisition announcement and deal close.

Don’t get me wrong, most of the positive performance shown has been driven by tariff swings. However, each of these companies announced or completed acquisitions after April and continue to see remarkable performance.

What’s different now?

Before unpacking that question, let’s break down some of the challenges of M&A integration.

1. Getting everyone to play for the same team

2. Systems migrations (data, software, booking processes, record keeping, etc)

3. Hiring and firing

4. Communication style

5. Teaching others

All of this takes time and historically these processes have only gotten better with experience. Brad Jacobs, current CEO of QXO, has made over 500 acquisitions to date and by default has a tactical edge over someone like a startup looking to acquire a competitor.

Brad knows two key elements of M&A: speed and clarity. The faster you integrate, the less time employees have to bitch and complain about how shitty the integration process is. The clearer the instructions, the less likely everyone is to fuck up the process.

Regardless, integration is really difficult because separate companies have entirely separate cultures, people, and processes. The most successful integrations blend the best components of Company A and B, while trimming the fat on inefficiencies. In the case where Company A forces Company B to adopt all of its processes and systems— you often see breakage because people are largely unaccepting of change.

-What’s Different Today-

Today, we are seeing less forceful integration where core frameworks of different companies are blended immediately. Instead, we are seeing a trend of companies paying large prices to essentially just incorporate a business under its umbrella—Scale AI for example is pretty much just a plug-in for Meta’s in-house AI team. This allows Scale AI to effectively operate BAU, while Meta calls the shots on direction. This method is totally different from what we see from prominent acquirors like Brad Jacobs, but it definitely allows for fewer immediate growing pains.

This is like acclimating a pet fish to a new tank. You insulate it in a bag and slowly introduce the new water to get the fish accustomed to the salinity, acidity, temperature, and flow.

Eventually, the honeymoon will end and full integrations will need to take place to maintain corporate organization.

I don’t want to sound like too much of a preacher, but another new way to ease integration pains will be through AI. After going through internal mergers myself I’ve seen first-hand how awful these processes are. A huge help would be to have an AI integration coach trained on both companies’ systems + processes to answer basic questions such as: where should I save new files? What does [X] platform do? Who should I speak with about [X].

Not a perfect solution by any means, but even this iteration will drastically save time wasted spinning wheels about integration displacement.

Disclosure: Nothing written here is financial advice or should be used for investment decisions.

Preparing for Investment Banking and Consulting Interviews

You can’t just wing it.

Preparing for investment banking and consulting interviews should be treated as a 6th class. It should also be your most important class.

For many of you, refining behaviorals and learning about technicals is totally new. Cutting corners significantly impairs your chances of landing the job.

A few items to consider:

1. Are you good at math? Can you do mental math?

2. Do you have a schedule to approach technical learning?

3. Are you comfortable speaking with strangers?

4. Do you crack under pressure?

If you answer ‘no’ to any of these questions then you’re not going to interview successfully. 

To get yourself in the best interviewing shape possible, you need to a). find a buddy going through the same process and b). spend 30 minutes every morning and night reviewing technical information.

Having a buddy to bounce ideas off of and conduct mock interviews makes your life 10x easier. Their different approaches to answering questions and studying material can be leveraged to efficiently navigate your own prep. Pair a friend with personal dedication to studying material and you’ll be super sharp at crushing difficult interview questions without paying for courses or coaching.

Thousands of people have walked the same path before you, the successful ones followed these best practices.

Going Forward:

Recruiting for Buyside Associate Roles?

Peep our Buyside Associate Recruiting Platform: Buyside Recruiting & Interview Prep Platform | The Pulse

15+ Real Models / Case Studies with solutions + a database of jobs directly from headhunters. The Pulse gives IB analysts the access needed, plus the modeling prep to stand out.

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.

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“The Pulse” #116