As M&A deals return, banks want to switch up their associates and VPs

efinancialcareers.com:

As we reported last week, Goldman Sachs is not short of applicants to its vacancy for a London investment banking analyst. Last time we looked, over 1,000 people had applied.

 Recruiters say they're not surprised. The market is awash with candidates, and as M&A dealmaking makes a tentative comeback, they say it's not the most junior staff who are hard to find. 2024 is all about unearthing the best mid-career players.

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«There's a lot more hiring than last year, says Brianne Sterling, head of investment banking at recruitment firm Selby Jennings in New York. „Banks are looking for experienced associates and for VPs one and two,“ she adds. „That's the level where there's a lot less talent because people have either left banking or gone to the buy-side.“

Statistics on publicly announced hires and departures among M&A bankers globally from data firm Talnt confirm that compared to 2023 people are moving jobs much more frequently. In the first two months of 2024, Talnt tracked 55 M&A moves globally. Using comparable methods in 2024, it tracked over 400. Those 400 include job cuts at the likes of Nomura, but hey — changing jobs might be back in fashion. 

Some of this year's post-bonus M&A hires are already resurfacing. Mark Glotfelty has just arrived at RBC Capital Markets in New York after over 25 years with Goldman Sachs. UBS hired technology bankerDmitry Kokhanov, from Barclays for its San Francisco office. Sterling says M&A bankers were paid down 10-15%, are unhappy and would move for the right alternative. Anecdotally, bonuses were down more at some banks than others: some of the loudest complainants seem to be at Citi and Bank of America. 

To the extent that M&A hiring is