Do you have a gift link? Or alternatively, can you post an extract?
Thanks
Here it is!
A brief TL;DR (with my added 2c) as well:
- Banks and financial institutions are starting to recruit college sophomores
- The way for students to differentiate themselves this early into college is either by having a “hook” (NCAA Athlete, Military Vet/ROTC) or by joining selective clubs, which leads to juniors and seniors in those clubs vouching for their hiring to their companies
- Such clubs are extremely competitive, stressful and opaque, with 18-year olds going through rigorous processes and getting selected by 21-year olds
- Importantly: they are present in every school, from the Ivys to Public Flagships, and are the ticket to “elite” careers in investment banking (Goldman Sachs), consulting (McKinsey) and the like, which pay a lot more than a finance job in a Fortune 500 or consulting in Deloitte. This leads to an extreme stress and toxicity culture among students competing for the “best” (ie. highest-paying) jobs.
The financialization of the economy means that there is more money in elite finance, hence more aspirants and greater competition.
Non-paywalled link: https://archive.ph/6wv9A
IMO, the importance of these clubs is overblown. S did not join any of these clubs but did Club sports, student gov, community service. Still got a consulting gig soph summer and an BB IB internship summer junior. It helped that he had fraternity brothers who helped prepare him for interviews. The on campus networking sessions were open to all interested students, so he made a lot of contacts there. Big advantage going to a target college.
This. I can’t help but notice the overlap between these so-called, “investment clubs“, certain sports teams and certain fraternities. Same shot, different Day.
Another example of a club that seems to be good for this type of job networking is the Yale Glee Club. A good friend told me how the club alumni would sponsor a big networking event in NYC every year so that current club members could network with the alums. Lots of business cards handed out, etc. So lots of extracurricular ways to make these connections.
This isn’t new. I posted about this years ago when my DD was in college. With the wide use of Hirevues, it’s getting worse. Sure kids outside of these pipelines get hired, but they are at a disadvantage, even at elite schools.
The article though was about students almost obsessively competing for entrance to these clubs at the cost of a whole college experience. What is true is that these jobs don’t fall in your lap. Students have to be proactive in networking and being prepared for the online and in person interviews, but this does not preclude them from participating in other unrelated activities.
Most client facing jobs require some level of EQ/people skills. Being involved in sports and/or social clubs is seen as a positive by these employers although the kid still needs the smarts.
If they are recruiting sophomores, they might as well make entry into clubs part of the college application itself. The last thing students need is to join a college only to find out entry into these clubs is impossible for freshmen.
But when entry for freshman is impossible- freshman can explore OTHER interests and engagement instead of being on the hamster wheel of JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs.
Students get hired for I-Banking who have set up programs in their college towns for disadvantaged families; spearheaded a university’s plan to reduce single use plastics in the dining halls; volunteered with the Board’s investment committee to help create the quarterly reports; expanded an existing “mobile dental van” program across the state to include elementary schools, homeless shelters and Boys/Girls clubs, etc.
Juniors and Seniors promote the fiction that unless you “make it” into an “elite club” your chances of getting a good job in business are over. It’s not true. But it is a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy because if a freshman or sophomore doesn’t have enough initiative and organizational skills to get involved in an EC if the “Investment Club” is closed to them…. well, initiative and org skills are kinda/sorta the “what counts” factors.
Y’know what recruiters are skeptical of? These “portfolio simulation” clubs where every kid loaded up on Nvidia ahead of the curve; recognized the run up on Microsoft; predicted which would be the early winners and losers in AI. Everyone is boasting the same 161% returns or whatever number seems exciting.
Y’know what they aren’t skeptical of? Actual, real life, accomplishments involving real people with real problems. Understanding that a billion dollar endowment (if that’s the case at their university) isn’t comprised of huge bets and huge (often short term) gains, but of a balanced portfolio which generates actual cash flow to operate the university and protects the endowment from short term market swings.
I think the common denominator here is the collapse of the traditional “learned professions“ as entry points for middle-class aspirations. Med school is too expensive, the labor market for even strong law school graduates has been sluggish. Same is true for architecture and certainly has been true for college teaching which 50 years ago was seen as the crown jewel of an independent, upper-middle class lifestyle. Let’s face it, the cities and suburbs of New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Milwaukee, Chicago, Los Angeles, et al have been suffering from PTSD ever since the Great Recession of 2008 and Wall Street is seen as a quick fix - it seemingly doesn’t require a grad school degree (although many people find themselves boxed into getting MBAs after facing initial rebuffs at the undergraduate level.)
I think you are right- but it does reflect the moving of the goal posts.
What is a middle class lifestyle- or even an upper middle class lifestyle? Do you need to earn the ginormous Wall Street salary- or can you exist working in corporate treasury at Pepsi? Is it “hedge fund or bust” or could a person with a college degree somehow pay the bills as a manager at Pfizer on the Government Relations team?
Somehow “normal” jobs in business are now perceived as dead end, low paying, unsatisfying prizes that go to the losers in society. Rewarding them for being losers. I won’t even address jobs in the arts, foundations, cultural organizations, human services…. but just specifically talking about kids who went to Wharton and similar. The team at Nestle which is figuring out long term strategies for coffee bean growers based on global warming– are they all losers? Even the ones taking their financial modeling skills and helping invest in the best agricultural technologies? These are well paying jobs with corporate benefits, stock options, advancement opportunities AND working for a company which invests in employee learning, higher ed, etc.
When’s the last time you read a post on CC from a kid who wanted to explore corporate roles which take on Climate Change? The teams at Coca Cola working on sustainable packaging- they aren’t getting paid as if they were at a small non-profit which worries about the environment- they get paid like regular corporate folks at Coca Cola.
Can you no longer support yourself (or your eventual family) unless you work in private equity and what does that say about the perverse view students have about money??
Is this true? Seems like a lot of recruiting has accelerated in the last couple of years. You interview in the fall and get offers after your first semester as a 1L.
My nephew recieved 3 Big Law job offers based on his resume and first semester grades and cancelled all his other interviews.
Not sure how reliable this source is.
I always find this chart particularly telling to understand at least some of the mindset today around income.
https://www.axios.com/2024/11/22/boomers-gen-z-millennials-financial-success
Wow. thank you for posting this.
I was looking in the rear-view mirror. From the article:
“The legal jobs market took nearly 15 years to fully recover,“
The NYT also had an article recently about a pick-up in law school applications, indicating an improvement in job prospects. But the subtext in both articles is that the demand for lawyer jobs has been sluggish since the Great Recession:
Interest in Law School Is Surging. A.I. Makes the Payoff Less Certain. - The New York Times
And they’re each right 