"The Pulse" -- #93 / Tariffs

Recruiting Timeline:

Banking:

Where We’re At:

• SA 2026: Oppenheimer and Configure Partners opened their summer 2026 apps. 89 firms are actively recruiting for summer 2026 positions

• 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:

• Oppenheimer: Full-service middle market bank (SA 2026)

• Configure Partners: Boutique advisory and lending (SA 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:

• We have stopped tracking 2025 recruiting and SA/FT 2026 recruiting is just beginning. There are currently 4 applications open. Make sure you are attending coffee chats and consistently case-prepping

SA 2026 released apps:

• None

Buyside:

Where We’re At:

• SA 2026: Blackrock and Octagon Credit Investors opened their SA 2026 applications. Currently 72 buyside firms are recruiting for SA 2026 seats 

New SA 2026 released apps:

• Blackrock: $11tn+ AUM asset manager (SA 2026)

• Octagon Credit Investors: $35bn PC shop (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 93rd 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 pay a one-time fee 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:

What’s going on with tariffs?

With the arrival of the Trump administration, there have been large, sweeping changes across government. One of the biggest topics of late is Trump’s imposing of tariffs on trading partners.

The Trump administration has targeted China, Canada, and Mexico with tariffs. These also happen to be our three largest trading partners, accounting for billions of dollars in import volume.

Over the past two weeks, Trump has been going back and forth on the size of the tariffs. On March 4th an additional 10% tariff went into effect on Chinese goods on top of the 10% tariff already in place.

Trump has also seesawed back and forth on tariffs he intends to place on Mexico and Canada who will likely place reciprocal tariffs on U.S. goods. Many consider this a negotiation tactic by Trump who has made illegal immigration and drug enforcement a priority. See an outline of the timeline below:

As of now, Trump plans to place 25% tariffs on Mexican and Canadian exports such as steel, aluminum, and avocados starting in April. This could easily change as he has already reversed course numerous times which has caused lots of volatility in financial markets and stress on businesses.

But what is the actual effect of these on the U.S. economy?

Tariffs are extremely inefficient and also not pro-business. When we trade goods with other countries it is often because they are more efficient at producing them and therefore can be purchased for a lower price.

Tariffs remove productive efficiency advantages leaving only two options: consumers paying higher prices or companies earning less money. It remains to be seen if tariffs will be an effective negotiating tactic but studies clearly show that they are simply bad economics and hinder growth.

Businesses affected by tariffs will have to decide how to allocate the additional cost (eat them or pass them along to the consumer). The auto industry in particular could be severely affected because the inputs of their vehicles often cross Canadian and Mexican borders many times before the car is fully built.

Equity markets are feeling the heat. The NASDAQ is down double digits over the past month as investors indicate their pessimism toward earnings growth. Uncertainty is bad for business and until there is more clarity on the long-term tariff outlook financial markets will be volatile.

All of this adds additional consideration for the Federal Reserve which has been working to get us back to the 2% inflation target. We may get additional rate cuts to limit recession risk but Jerome Powell is still adamant that it is all data-dependant.

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

Don’t Reclass, This Isn’t the NBA

Lately, we have received several notes from you guys who have not found success in the summer 2026 recruiting season thus far. A common question has been “should I extend graduation to re-recruit for summer 2027?”

This is fucking crazy. Let me set that straight.

DO NOT DO THIS.

Every situation is unique, but let me lay out my rationale:

1. Tuition is expensive. Cutting another check for $40,000 - $85,000 / year isn’t easy for everyone. If you’re not paying a dollar, whatever. If you or your family is going to be remotely constrained / need to borrow money to finance another year of college then DO NOT RECLASS

2. It’s just an 8-10 week internship where you’ll maybe save $2-5k from the summer lol. Most shops have a roughly 50% return rate, so re-recruiting isn’t a guarantee to financial prosperity or a full-time offer

3. Your app is going to be flagged in the ATS systems anyways. They’ll have your rejection file from last year easy to pull up and may have reservations regarding your graduation scheme

If you actually need to extend graduation or really want to pick up a new major or something then that’s the only valid reason to extend. A summer internship is not the NBA draft. Reclassing doesn’t make sense.

Some doors close as you age, that’s just life. There is always something better to do! Being an intern at GS for a summer isn’t going to change your life, I promise.

What you can do is:

1. Continue the push for summer 2026 recruiting, there are still ~20 boutique banks that haven’t opened apps and ~40 buyside firms that are slotted to open later this season. Also, the interview season was highly condensed this year, I’ve met plenty of students who received multiple offers—which is a unique feature of this year. They can only choose one offer. So, a handful of firms will have delayed interviews after certain students reject their offers

2. Entertain 2026 consulting recruiting. This is just starting and a similar experience to banking (see above)

3. Enter a related field (corporate finance at an operating company) and re-recruit for FT 2026 jobs

The race for summer 2026 is closing, but not over yet. Do not feel like a failure if you don’t stick something. There are many factors within the recruiting process that are out of your control. Coming out of the process having learned more about navigating the job market is much more valuable than any internship offer.

Going Forward:

Are you starting your banking / consulting FT job this summer?

We are carefully rolling out our Buyside Associate prep solutions. This will be the best tool to land a job in PE, PC, HF, or VC / GE after your analyst stint. Please shoot us an email @[email protected], if you’d like to be a part of our first cohort—services will be 100% free.

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 (The Pulse) and Instagram (ThePulse)

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“The Pulse” #93

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