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Roula Khalaf, the Editor of the FT, shares her top stories in this weekly newsletter.
Apollo Global Management has informed graduates that its recruitment for junior associates will be postponed until next year. This decision follows tensions between Wall Street banks and private equity firms regarding how they attract fresh talent.
Private equity firms have increasingly been hiring recent graduates with start dates that are two years away, allowing these new hires to complete a training program at an investment bank first.
This practice has led to disagreements with major Wall Street banks. For instance, JPMorgan Chase recently warned incoming investment bank analysts that they could face termination if they accepted roles from other firms that start within 18 months of joining JPMorgan.
Apollo communicated in a letter, which was reviewed by the Financial Times, that “Hiring decisions at Apollo are extremely important to our business. Therefore, we will not have formal interviews or extend offers this year for the Class of 2027.” This message was aimed at students they were looking to recruit for two years down the road.
Apollo, along with other prominent firms like KKR and TPG, had been advancing their recruiting timelines, shifting from the autumn to summer, and finally to spring—timing that now falls between college graduation and the start of investment bank training sessions in July.
The large firms assert that they were not the first to change their recruitment schedules but rather adapted in response to competitors doing so before them.
The FT previously reported that both private equity firms and students have become frustrated with the compressed recruitment timeline.
Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan, has openly criticized the private equity recruitment strategy, where firms offer positions to graduates before they even begin their analyst programs. He has labeled this approach as “unethical” and raised concerns about potential conflicts of interest for graduates who might end up working on deals tied to their future employers.
Senior executives at Wall Street banks have also conveyed their discontent with the chaotic recruitment cycle, which often leads to training analysts only for them to leave for private equity firms.
However, most have refrained from threatening analysts with job termination or voicing strong opposition due to the significant business relationships with these firms.
Marc Rowan, CEO of Apollo, commented on Wednesday, saying: “When someone speaks an undeniable truth, I feel obligated to agree.”
He added, “Bank CEOs and others have articulated what many of us have been feeling: recruitment has become earlier each year, and pushing students to make career choices before they fully grasp their options doesn’t benefit them or our industry.”
“We are fortunate to have plenty of talented candidates. However, when exceptional individuals rush into decisions, it results in unnecessary turnover, which is not advantageous for anyone.”
Apollo reassured candidates in its letter that it intends to keep in touch with them and is “seriously interested in getting to know talented individuals like yourself,” and looks forward to “reconnecting in the future to discuss Associate opportunities.”
