Unlock Editor’s Digest Lock for Free
FT editor Roula Khalaf will select your favorite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Apollo Global Management has told alumni that it will delay hiring junior associates until next year after adhering to the way that it secures young talent between Wall Street Banks and private equity companies.
Private Equity Group has been increasingly hiring recent graduates on their start date two years later, allowing them to complete their training program first at the investment bank.
However, the practice has become a source of friction with Wall Street’s Top Banks, with JPMorgan Chase saying last week that if they accept future roles elsewhere within 18 months of starting with the bank, they will fire them.
“The employment decision at Apollo is one of the most important things for our business. With that in mind, we will formally interview and will not expand this year’s offer for the class of 2027,” wrote Apollo that he had targeted what would begin two years later in a letter seen in the financial era.
Apollo, like KKR and TPG, was one of a handful of top-notch investment companies, from fall to summer to summer to summer, and from the spring window between college graduation and the start of the investment banking training session in July.
FT previously reported that private equity companies, headhunters and students reached breakpoints on truncated schedules.
JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon is openly speaking about his views on the private equity recruitment process, which offers graduate work before launching the Investment Banking Analyst Program.
He called the process “unethical” and claimed it created a conflict of interest among graduates who could find themselves working on a transaction that involves a future employer.
Senior Wall Street Banks executives have personally expressed their dissatisfaction with the enthusiastic recruitment cycle. There they are basically losing their best talent to train analysts and acquire groups.
However, in most cases, analysts stop threatening by firing or opposing. This is because these companies are important clients.
Marc Rowan, CEO of Apollo, said Wednesday:
“The bank CEO, along with others, says what many of us have been thinking. Hiring creeps up early and early every year, asking students to make career decisions before they really realised that it would not serve their options or our industry.
“We are in a lucky position to see a wealth of talent. But when a great candidate rushes to make a decision, it creates an avoidable turnover – it does not help anyone.”
In the letter, Apollo predicted he would remain in touch with the candidates, saying he “is deeply interested in knowing talented individuals like me” and “looks forward to reconnecting the paths to explore associate opportunities together.”
