Recruiting for Investment Banking on the West Coast

Cornell Johnson has had consistent success placing candidates in West Coast investment banks for those who want it. I grew up in Los Angeles and entering Cornell’s MBA program, my goal was to return home to specifically work in Investment Banking. Johnson’s MBA program provided the preparation and opened the doors necessary for me to make this goal a reality. This article is meant to provide insights into my experience recruiting on the West Coast and provide a few high-level considerations to keep in mind when planning your approach to recruiting this geography.

 Opportunity is Available

One concern some may have revolves around the fact that there are fewer spots available on the West Coast due to generally smaller office sizes. It is true that there are fewer spots and recruiting for West Coast positions can be competitive. However, a benefit of this dynamic is that there is plenty of opportunity for non-local schools with strong investment banking programs. This stems from the fact that there are fewer school-related politics because, from the banks’ points of view, the goal is to hire best-in-slot candidates as each member has a proportionally larger contribution to the groups’ overall success.

Given Johnson’s reputation for producing strong, internship-ready candidates, I found that banks were open to interviewing me and I was fortunate to have ended the recruiting process with multiple superday opportunities between both Los Angeles and San Francisco.

 Be Ready to Put in the Time

As with any MBA program, there is an additional time commitment attached to recruiting for internships outside of your school’s local geography. There is additional time that you will put in to have informational phone calls that your classmates will not have to do. There will be additional travel and red-eye flights for coffee chats and interviews that you classmates will not have to take. However, rest assured that if you put in the time, you will have opportunities that Johnson and Old Ezra will prepare you to capitalize on.

I came into the MBA program eyes-wide-open to the fact that I would have to put in extra time to recruit on the West Coast, but when choosing an MBA program my thought process revolved around selecting one that would best prepare me for an investment banking internship. I believed that recruiting opportunities would follow this choice and I was rewarded for the decision. In the first year of MBA before my internship, through Johnson’s Investment Banking Immersion, I had the chance to build M&A models, build LBO models, I pitched an IPO to the head of Equity Capital Markets of a bulge bracket bank, and made a strategic alternatives pitch to the CFO of a major athletic brand. These experiences not only allowed me to hit the ground running when I started over the summer, but also were strong talking points throughout my recruiting process.

 Find a Good Mentor

One of the biggest contributors to my successful recruiting process was the support provided by second year students that had successfully recruited on the West Coast. I had a support system of classmates that took my 2am calls and provided advice every step of the way. The investment banking recruiting process is grueling to say the least and there is no one that I can think of that could have done it alone. One of the greatest strengths of Johnson and the Old Ezra Finance Club is the quality of its student and their willingness to contribute their time, knowledge, and effort to pay it forward to the next generation.

By Henry Sun, CFA, MBA Class of 2020. Henry is an Associate in the Financial Restructuring Group at Houlihan Lokey.