WSO Weekly Wrap-up

April 19, 2025

In partnership with

Hey WSO Monkey,

Some raw and real reads this week—sweatshop stories, lateral moves, missing purpose, and where the hell everyone ends up after IB. Hope you're holding up out there—take care of yourself.

Also want to quickly let you know about our two exclusive bootcamps next weekend (April 26).

  • IB Interview Bootcamp to help you crack IB interviews—covers process overview, technicals, behaviorals, and networking

  • Foundations Bootcamp to help you build on the basics, from Excel modeling to PowerPoint, accounting, and analyzing financial reports—includes practical application needed to thrive in any finance career

-Patrick

Top Discussions

  1. Baird Industrials: The Epitomy of a Sweatshop - "For a bank that talks about its “no asshole policy”, as an Analyst and Associate, you are treated as scum. You are expected to work 95-110 hours weekly… you are not flagged as having high activity unless you log 110+ hours for 3+ weeks consecutively. My VP informed me that the expectation was I am online and available until 4am every night, regardless of what my workload looked like. They would then email me with unnecessary asks at 3:30am to check in on me (hadn’t heard from them since 8pm) and follow up with a list of “best practices” for being alert and active at 3:45am..."

  2. Why Everyone Is Wrong About Lateraling. Updated Thoughts From a 2025 Lateral - "Lateraling isn't easy, and it requires a ton of time and focus. Make sure you're well prepared and have conviction that this is the right decision before you commit to the long and arduous process. However, I hope this post was able to provide some guidance and clarity on what it takes to lateral. I also hope this provides some comfort to people like me who may fear their network or cold calling skills aren't strong enough to make a successful move."

  3. What Happened to British Banking? - "Finance is the key service (alongside law) that is carrying the UK's economy, go outside of London, and it's pretty grim. For as much as people outside of London love to complain about London, they sure do leech off of us and our work. The best hedge funds in London are American. The best banks in London are American. The largest Asset Managers in London are American. If you work for an American firm as I do, you likely get paid well, but most of the value you produce goes back to America, not the UK..."

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Top Discussions (contd.)

  1. Guidelines at VP Level - "If you want the juniors to operate at a certain baseline you should explain to them how you think about things, how you check things, why this analysis needs to be different, etc. and give them regular feedback along the lines of “Good job Y task and now I want you to work on X going forward.” To be clear, you cannot fix every issue and raw talent plays a role but always bear in mind that the juniors performance is somewhat a reflection of you…"

  2. Where Is Your Analyst Class 5-10 Years Out of IB/PE?- "Just purely from a numbers standpoint there are way way more banking analyst seats than PE/HF roles, hence there’s usually a pretty broad splintering with a good amount of corporate/tech/startup. Not saying you’re wrong, it’s an interesting data point. Maybe it’s partly a function of when you start - ten years to now was a period of massive expansion of alts broadly whereas I’ve seen even in the last two years a lot of strong people in my analyst class leave finance altogether. If I look out another five years I’d be surprised if more than 40-50% are still in IB/PE/HF. Interesting."

  3. Hate My Life and My Choices. Want to End It - "I feel everything I have sacrificed for and delayed gratification by being so frugal was for nothing. I now hardly can survive. Missed out on so much for nothing. At least if I was IB PE I would have future comp growth to bank on but I am in a dead end place so far behind where I should be. Don’t have any friends or money or relationships and I don’t want to live anymore. I hate all my decisions that led me to this point. I worked hard I really did but it wasn’t enough. Now I want the pain to end God help me in what comes after this world."

New Podcasts Coming in Hot 🔥

  • Oxford to Private Equity in London | Chat with Ralph Gibson | WSO Academy

  • St. Andrews to LEK Consulting | Chat with Stella Lindquist | WSO Academy

Hot Jobs 💼

Senior Technology Equity Analyst - "This role is ideal for a driven professional with expertise in the technology industry, specifically AI and Crypto. We are seeking someone who thrives in a dynamic environment and is eager to contribute beyond a single role or task..."

Equity Research Analyst - "Buy-side research analyst opportunity with a family office. The analyst will work with the direct investment team and report to the Portfolio Manager. The team employs a fundamentally driven investment process and an owner’s mentality...."

Research Associate (Equity Small Mid Cap) - New York, NY - "This position will support the Small/Mid-Cap Equity research team and be initially be responsible for covering multiple sectors in support of current team members. Coverage will evolve depending upon interest and team needs."

On Deck - Training 🎓

All in Eastern Standard Time

Stay Strong,
Patrick Curtis
CEO and Founder, WallStreetOasis.com

WSO Mobile App: iOS | Android

PS - We're also always looking to add resume reviewers and WSO Mentors to our team. Set your own pay (from $40/hr to up to $400/hr) to increase or decrease mentee flow. To submit an application, go here.

PPS - Think you have an interesting story? Want to share it with our podcast listeners? Hit reply and let me know!


* PE Interview Bootcamp includes lifetime access to the PE Interview Course
** FMV Bootcamp includes lifetime access to the Elite Modeling Package
*** IB Interview Bootcamp includes lifetime access to the IB Interview Course