Resource Center
Resource CenterRecruiting news and insights on the current job market.
Bonus Season Preview: Record Profits, Rising Pay and the Strongest Hiring Since 2000
New York’s securities industry earned $45.9 billion in the first half of 2026, up 51.3%, and is on pace to top $90 billion. Comptroller DiNapoli expects the bonus pool to rise from 2025’s record $49.2 billion. Here is what it means for bankers weighing a move and firms planning to hire.
Citi Moves to a Two-Year Analyst Program: What It May Really Mean for Junior Bankers
Citi is shortening its investment banking analyst program from three years to two. Here is what the move may mean for analysts, buy-side employers and banks, and the signals worth watching as Q3 earnings approach.
How to Read a Bank Earnings Report Like a Recruiter: The Lines That Tell You Who’s Hiring
Headline EPS tells you how a bank did, not whether it is hiring. Ahead of Q3 bank earnings on Oct. 13 and 14, here are the five lines recruiters read: IB fees by product, the comp line, headcount mix, pipeline commentary and AI or efficiency remarks.
Citadel’s Two-Year Non-Competes: What Bankers Should Know Before Taking a Seat at a Multi-Strategy Fund
Citadel now asks some staff to sign non-competes of up to two years. Here’s what that means for bankers weighing a move to a multi-strategy hedge fund, and what to ask before you sign.
Why Applying Directly Can Hurt Your Lateral Banking Search
For investment banking professionals exploring a lateral move, one of the biggest mistakes we see in the market is applying directly to every interesting opening that appears online. It may seem like the obvious approach: it’s 3 a.m., you’re miserable, and you’re...
The Middle-Market Squeeze: What a Megadeal Market Means for Bankers on the Outside
2026's record M&A totals are coming from a few dozen giant deals. The middle market runs on a different engine: sponsor-backed processes with repeat professional buyers, lenders and add-ons. Deal counts there are down, deal sizes are shrinking and fees per deal...
Your Gateway to Finance: Early Insight Programs for 2027
A practical guide for college freshmen and sophomores seeking early career opportunities in investment banking, sales & trading, asset management, private equity and consulting.
Exiting Is a Decision, Not a Default: Rethinking the Banker’s Exit in the Year of the Bank
In a year when investment banks are outperforming and the buy side faces slower exits and rising rates, leaving banking is no longer an automatic next step but a decision bankers should weigh on its own merits.
Rolling Layoffs and Talent Upgrades: Are RIFs a Thing of the Past?
Banks are still cutting jobs in a record M&A market, but mostly through quiet performance-based exits, promotion gates and attrition instead of announced RIFs, which lets them upgrade talent more cheaply and out of the headlines while the stigma of the cut lands on the individual.
Bankers Can Spot AI in a Heartbeat: Why It’s a Minefield in Investment Banking Interviews
Banks aren’t screening candidates for whether they can use AI — they’re screening for whether they can catch its mistakes, since even the best AI models still fail nearly half their evaluation criteria on real banking workflows and require someone senior to check the output. Leaning on AI for take-home models or live technicals interviews signals the wrong skill entirely, and with junior classes shrinking and recruiting shifting toward seasoned lateral hires, that gap is only getting more visible and more costly to have.