If you were hired into a banking job in 2021, you may be a little mediocre
As banks cast around for additional costs to cut in the absence of a big rebound in revenues, a particular kind of person is at the top of their chopping lists: the one who was hired at the height of the pandemic.
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Insiders say standards were dropped as banks rushed to fill seats during the pandemic boom. Now that fewer staff are needed, those pandemic recruits are the first to be let go again.
«In 2021 they added a tonne of people to work on execution,» says one senior associate in M&A at a US investment bank. «There were a lot of ad hoc hires who came during the peak who've turned out not to be very good. These are the people we've thrown out first.»
The allegation that pandemic hires were weak comes after private equity firms have been complaining that the juniors hires and trained in 2021 aren't able to complete their assessments. «People's technical skills simply aren't as well-developed. They don't do as well on financial modelling tests as a result,» said US recruiter Anthony Keizner last year. Pandemic hires are more likely to use modelling templates, said another recruiter; they're less able to build models of their own.
Banks aren't the only ones with an issue. Consulting firm McKinsey & Co. also went on a hiring spree during the pandemic. Like banks, McKinsey hiked pay, with MBA pay at the firm going from $175k to $190k over the period. Now, the firm is being forced to cut back again. “I do think that the firm has been harsher with ratings and feedback, but it probably is more of a return to the mean," one partner told the Times. «Hiring standards were probably a bit more lax because [managers] wanted to get people through the door [during the recruitment
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