.jpg)
In the Autumn of 2024, having successfully completed a number of large-scale graduate intern schemes for London-based investment banks, Freshminds undertook a confidential survey of some of the many thousands of undergraduates who had submitted their applications through Freshminds.
We looked for insights into what is attracting young people to a career in investment banking in 2025, while examining their motivations and choices such as:
What are undergraduates looking for in an employer?
Which investment banks are held in the highest regard by young people?
Who or what influences them in their choices?
How long do they plan to stay in this career?
With intense competition for the best young people, and an additional imperative to retain the very best talent to go on and add real value to a firm – this research gives useful perspective into the preferences and ambitions of Gen Z in the competitive financial services sector.
Freshminds’ Experience
Managing three internship schemes for three separate investment banks between September and November 2024 meant that Freshminds received over 8000 applications from undergraduates and Masters students, from the UK and across Europe. All applications were assessed by Freshminds’ dedicated investment banking team.
Over 750 face-to-face interviews were then conducted over the scheme period, leading to a number of face-to-face Assessment centres.
The Freshminds team also met with hundreds of prospective investment banking interns and analysts through multiple live events laid on for our banking clients in major university cities, giving us unrivalled access and insights into this rising generation of new banking stars.
Headline Findings: Young People and IB Sector
While the research covered a wide range of choices and preferences, some key findings emerged:
Evercore and Lazard topped the table of the ‘most desirable’ investment banks amongst the elite boutiques.
Candidates want longer internships, and the ability to stay in Investment Banking for a significant tenure – more than 6 years.
Telecommunications, Media and Technology (TMT) and Industrials are this year’s hottest IB sectors.
Private Equity is the biggest contender for potential IB candidates, and also the most attractive exit option for candidates.
Social media and online forums are seen as the most helpful sources of information.
Health insurance is considered the number 1 most important employment benefit, followed by annual leave arrangements.
Some of the other salient findings are summarised below. To read a full copy of the report, please get in touch.
What Attracts Young People to Investment Banking?
The research revealed that students were most attracted to investment banking as a career because of the future career opportunities that would ensue – exit opportunities scoring the highest; with the ability to develop technical and financial modelling skills coming in a close second.
Earning potential ranked third out of 8 options, and exposure to high-profile transactions was not far behind.
There has always been pressure for banks to weigh up the need to attract the very best talent, while managing their ambition and desire to move onwards and upwards. This seems to be particularly relevant in 2025, with more knowledge of other industries and more competition for the top performers.
When asked to state the banks considered to be the most desirable to join; the top five ranked in the boutique bracket were Lazard, Evercore, Rothschild & Co, Centerview Partners and Moelis & Company; with Jefferies and PJT Partners not far behind.
From the bulge bracket sector, Goldman Sachs led the ranking; followed by JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley and Bank of America.
Investment banking candidates were also asked: aside from investment banking – what other industries were they considering? The graphic below shows that Private Equity is by far the most attractive alternative to a career in investment banking, with 83.5% of respondents including it in their top 3 choices. Consulting in second is quite a long way behind, and tech, previously an extremely popular alternative, has seemed to have lost its shine for young people.
What other industries are investment banking candidates considering?
What Resources Do Candidates Find Helpful In Preparation?
The next section of research examined the recruitment and assessment cycle; how candidates prepareand what prompts students to consider investment banking in the first place; as well as what influences final offer choices.
When asked which sources of information had been the most helpful through the application process, social media and online forums topped the list; followed by guidance from the university career services. Information and events provided by investment banks were also seen as important influencing factors.
A recent round table event, hosted by Freshminds in London for investment bank talent teams, included a discussion on the challenges faced by banks in attracting a wide and diverse pool of applicants. It was agreed that reaching out more widely, far in advance of any applications taking place, would potentially prepare the ground for a more diverse application pool. This included communicating with pre-university students, perhaps through school visits.
When candidates were asked to rank sectors in order of interest, TMT topped the ranking this year, with Industrials coming a close second.
Which sectors within investment banking interested candidates the most?
What Factors Influence Final Decisions?
Candidates were asked if holding multiple offers from banks, which factors would be the most important in deciding which to pursue.
The most important factor at this stage that emerged from the research was the brand and prestige of the bank, which is very closely followed by its perceived culture.
Remuneration came third in the ranking, and surprisingly, the office location and flexible working policies did not score so highly.
This information underlines the importance of brand and communication from the very earliest stages of the recruitment process. Without knowing much detail about the inner workings of any individual bank, young people nonetheless establish a clear idea of the values and culture of that bank through marketing, messaging and any interactions they have had. First impressions are strong and difficult to dispel.
Linked to this finding was a question about in-person interactions. These were seen to be very influential, for almost half of the respondents. Only 24% saw in-person interactions as not influential in helping them to inform their career decisions.
This reopens the ongoing debate about AI’s influence on large-scale recruitment processes. The obvious benefits of AI include the fact that many more applicants can be processed against specific, pre-agreed criteria. Counter to that is that applicants without any in-person contact may fail to ‘buy-in’ to any particular company, or to sense whether the culture is a good fit. Equally, recruiters and talent teams cannot get the same insight into an applicant through screens and tests alone.
Considerations of E&I in IB Recruitment
Around half of respondents to the survey stated that they were unlikely to accept an offer of an internship if they did not see themselves represented through interactions with the firm.
While maintaining a diverse team of Directors and recruiting partners throughout the whole process is difficult, this is a stark reminder that young people may favour an environment that does not feel entirely different to themselves.
Respondents who identified as female noted that the issues that concerned them the most when considering a career in investment banking were gender discrimination, followed by work-life balance and flexible hours.
Respondents who identified as male had a different list of concerns, topped by work-life balance, but followed by job volatility and then lack of mentorship and role models.
While this only provides a snapshot of preferences and concerns, the data is a good platform for discussion as to how investment banks can attract, recruit and retain the very best students and young people. The full report is available on request here.
With over 25 years in the consulting and recruitment market, Freshminds has twenty years of experience handling end-to-end graduate and intern schemes in the financial services sector. Talk to our team about how we could support your early career hiring.
.jpg)
