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What's so good about Evercore?

What's so good about Evercore?
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ithacayeti January 14, 2021 - 1:30am

Hey everyone,

I'm a sophomore getting into the full swing of recruiting and I've been browsing WSO a bit to hopefully get some insight into what to expect for this upcoming cycle. 

Before joining WSO, I'd only ever heard of the bulge bracket banks and never knew independent advisory banks like Evercore, Centerview, PWP even existed. People on this site seem to herald "elite boutiques" and the whole "I'd take EVR over GS" thing but I'm having trouble getting a grip on why (besides the pay delta). 

Can anyone go into a bit further detail about what's so good about Evercore and the rest of the EBs? What actually sets them apart from bigger bulge bracket banks?

Thanks!

 
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  • IB
  • Intern in IB-M&A
Jan 14, 2021 - 1:43am

I'm joining full time at an EB you mentioned instead of a top BB (GS/MS/JPM) and here are my personal reasons for doing so:

1. Much better compensation, plain and simple. Not only is the pay nearly $50k more for some EBs for first year analysts, but the comp also scales higher as you get promoted. 

2. Better culture and the floor felt much less hierarchical. Senior folk do form good relationships with juniors and the smaller class size (~50 analysts per year nationwide) means you're able to get a more personal experience across the board. This also is a huge advantage for my next point: 

3. Similar exit opportunities, if not better. Nowadays, the quality of analysts at EBs are highly recognized by headhunters/PE/HF, so if you plan on traditional exit opps, you definitely are not at a disadvantage for recruiting. MDs will vouch for analysts and pull connections to help with exit recruiting. 

And, just to answer your original question, Evercore specifically is killing the M&A game above other EBs (except maybe Centerview). Just glancing at league tables, they're pulling in huge deals alongside Goldman, Morgan Stanley, and Citi with less than 2,000 employees globally. If you're interested in M&A, Evercore is 100% the place to be for the pay and experience. 

Good luck with recruiting!

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  • IB
  • Prospect in IB-M&A
Jan 14, 2021 - 3:35am

Agree with all of the said above. I'd also add that the learning exposure as a junior is better at banks like Evercore. My experience with bankers from Evercore was that they are much more technically equipped and polished than the BB counterparts. One comment I often hear from folks at the independent advisories is that they typically dig much deeper in conducting analysis. Also, many people who are focused on exiting to hedge/ distressed funds prefer these banks over BBs as well due to the experience and the looks they get from headhunters. 

The reasons that you've heard of bulge bracket banks are because they're simply larger in number of employees, have longer history (before the emergence of independent banks like Blackstone, - now PJT - Evercore, Moelis & Centerview) and have retail banking presence with thousands of brick & mortar branches, which means you probably have a bank account from one of these banks. Trust me when I say that once you're in the high finance industry, more people respect M&A or Rx experience at Evercore than one at a BB. If you want to make sure that your cabbie knows the bank you work at, sure you go work for a BB. From my experience, all my buddies who chose Evercore over GS (personally never seen MS/JPM as contention) at top undergrads (Harvard, Wharton, Columbia, Georgetown, Chicago, Stern) knew themselves, weren't insecure about brand awareness amongst the entire world, and wanted the better experience. 

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  • IB
  • Summer Associate in IB-M&A
Jan 14, 2021 - 1:12pm

Has #2 still held true in the current WFH environment? With all these threads floating around about analysts not being taken care of, especially the most recent class, just wondering if you have any insights on whether your second point is still true.

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Funniest
  • IB
  • Analyst 2 in IB - Restr
Jan 14, 2021 - 1:47am

Evercore gives you solid M&A exposure and $200k as a first year analyst. That's all you need to know

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  • MFckngChimp
  • IB
  • Rank: Orangutan
  • 367
Jan 14, 2021 - 3:01pm

Wait are you serious about the $200k for an A1 out of college? I CHOSE THE WRONG FIRM! Where are you getting this info from?

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  • IB
  • Analyst 1 in IB - Ind
Jan 14, 2021 - 3:19pm

1st Yr: $95k base + $25k signing + $80k bonus

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View 1 reply
 
  • IB
  • Analyst 2 in IB-M&A
Jan 14, 2021 - 4:03pm

I can confirm the above - it's about 95k base / 25k signing / 75k - 95k bonus range

Source - Know multiple analysts in the NY office (don't know if these ranges change for satellite offices) 

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  • IB
  • Managing Director in IB-M&A
Jan 14, 2021 - 3:17pm

Funny story when my PE firm raised a new fund and asked if any of the wanted to participate, only the associates who came from Evercore made the $200k annual income for 3(?) years cut to qualify as an accredited investor

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  • IB
  • Analyst 1 in IB-M&A
Jan 14, 2021 - 3:15am

Maybe it depends on the school, but when I went to W ugrad the top finance kids tended to aim for EB (especially PJT, EVR, MOE LA, HL RX) or buyside, and those firms also recruited earlier (except for the BB women/lgbt/diversity events). 

Id echo the reasons the first commenter mentioned, in addition to EBs offering RX experience. BBs also have more uncertainty due to group placement, however the top BB kids usually got the best groups. But yeah, "elite boutique" preference isnt just a WSO thing from my experience, but it likely varies by school, though no one really says that term in real life (in fact, id advise you to never mention that term in an interview)

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  • mitmonkey
  • PE
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  • 61
Jan 14, 2021 - 3:47am

Not sure which school you go to, but network and talk with top upperclassmen that went through banking recruiting. They'll tell you the real deal is Evercore and other top independent advisories.

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  • NoEquityResearch
  • O
  • Rank: Senior Neanderthal
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Jan 14, 2021 - 9:53am

I'm a little skeptical on claims of better training and better culture. In my opinion, those are such group specific characteristics that it's hard to generalize across an entire firm unless you're talking about a very very small boutique.

However that said, have had a great experience working with Evercore bankers.

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  • IB
  • Analyst 2 in IB - Gen
Jan 14, 2021 - 12:54pm

There are definitely things that are attractive about boutiques -- namely the compensation and positive sentiments attached to working at smaller institutions, be it the intimacy / responsibility / exposure or perceived exclusivity. But the largest driving factor behind competition for independent advisory roles being high is simply that the EBs recruit first. Thus, everyone interested in finance / banking will be recruiting for those roles. The best kids will get them, and the rest will keep recruiting through the summer and fall at the other BBs and independents. The underclassmen then see the best upperclassmen sign at the EBs and are convinced that those are the best roles because that's where the best kids are going and the cycle continues. If GS/MS/JPM started recruiting in February, I guarantee all the kids, no matter how gung ho they are about EBs, would still apply and take an offer there. 

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  • managementconcentration
  • IB
  • Rank: Senior Baboon
  • 236
Jan 15, 2021 - 1:53am

People definitely underestimate the importance of stuff like seeing where seniors/juniors at your school and in your clubs/fraternities go to work. Huge level of person to person as well as social (ie Evercore has cloud at target schools) influences that not enough people talk about.

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  • IB
  • Associate 1 in IB-M&A
Jan 14, 2021 - 2:14pm

curious what first year analyst salary is looking like at Citi? Since EVR is paying $200k - i imagine maybe 150k all in?

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  • Richard.5
  • IB
  • Rank: Almost Human
  • 6,186
Jan 14, 2021 - 6:58pm

Tell me, associate.

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