Vault Verdict:
Ranked No. 2 in Vault's Prestige Rankings and No. 3 in the
Vault Banking 50, J.P. Morgan is one of the top investment banking
firms to work for in the world. J.P. Morgan runs an efficient
interview process in which candidates are interviewed by both
junior and senior professionals. Among junior candidates, the firm
looks for leadership ability, intelligence, motivation, and the
desire to specifically work for J.P. Morgan. Interns at the firm
are given a great amount of live deal experience and the ability to
network and learn about all areas of the investment bank. From day
one, interns are given the same amount of responsibility as
full-time employees; they will also, depending on department log
just as many hours as full-time employees. With respect to its
full-time employees, the firm is very focused on developing junior
talent, and provides numerous career development opportunities,
including the ability to move between departments and locations, as
well as top-notch training. Indeed, the firm is focused on
promoting from within (but also provides great exit opportunities).
The culture is said to be extremely teamwork-oriented and social.
Work/life balance can be achieved, but it can also be very
difficult to achieve within certain groups, and vacation time is
not always easy to take. Salary and bonuses are very competitive
with the industry, and perks and benefits also receive good marks
from insiders. Diversity is another strong suit of the firm, and
the firm's business outlook remains very bright. The firm seems to
have put last year's London Whale controversy behind it. Employee
morale is high. Employees have a lot of confidence in J.P. Morgan's
leadership (especially CEO Jamie Dimon). And the firm continues to
rank at the top or near the top in all of the important investment
banking league tables.
Hiring
Process
"J.P. Morgan generally looks for associates who have strong
long-term potential (as opposed to someone who will make a great
first-year associate). In other words, attractive candidates bring
a combination of analytical skills, communication skills, and
confidence. They demonstrate an ability to work well with others
and have significant managerial experience. Attractive candidates
demonstrate strong judgment/maturity and are expected to play a
significant role in deal teams from day one."
"J.P. Morgan is very good at getting back to candidates on a
timely basis. We seek individuals who work well on teams, are hard
working, have an ability to work on multiple projects at once, pay
attention to detail, are smart, and have a positive attitude."
"For on-campus recruiting at my school, the firm stood out by
offering Super Days in their NYC offices that included desk visits
and various informational presentations."
"The firm prides itself on its extensive training program, so
the ideal candidate is someone who has shown that they are able to
learn quickly, inject themselves into situations effectively, and
ask the correct questions."
Interview
Questions
"Why Finance? Why Investment Banking? Walk me through a DCF. How
do you calculate aspects involved in the DCF (e.g., WACC)? What are
some multiples that firms trade on? Why would one multiple be
better than the other?"
"Interview questions tend to be 75 percent fit questions and 25
percent technical. It depends on your interviewer, but many
interviews start with an overview of the candidate's
resume-questions around extracurricular involvement, leadership,
diversity and ability to work on a team. Technical questions tend
to be centered around financial statements and valuation."
"Pitch me a stock. Why do you want to work at J.P. Morgan? Where
do you see yourself in 5 years? 10 years?"
"Individual interviewers have a lot of flexibility in the types
of questions they ask, so some are more technical and some are more
personality fit depending on the interviewer. I think this leads to
less cookie cutter questions that interviewees have prepped for,
and more toward an interactive dialogue with candidates."
Intern
Experience
"Great deal experience. Great care put into making sure I became
a productive deal team member as quickly as possible. Fantastic
firm support throughout my internship. Excellent training
program."
"Best parts were the high level of responsibility, quality of
work from the start, and excellent networking opportunities. Worst
part was the program was not rotational."
"Best parts: realistic experience, many social events to meet
other interns, good training. Worst part: tough hours."
"Best part was getting client exposure at a very young age.
Worst part was the amount of 'grunt work' that I had to do."
Career
Development
"I honestly believe the opportunities that J.P. Morgan offers in
terms of both training and mobility (group, line of business, and
geographic) are second to none. In addition to the extensive new
hire training for both summer interns and full-time analysts and
associates, the firm offers an extensive IB University curriculum
with mandatory training requirements. Each group also offers
group-specific training, and there are numerous other training
resources that many firms can't match. Lastly, few firms can
compete with the lead managed deal volume that J.P. Morgan
offers-that's where you really learn how to be a banker. In terms
of mobility, both geographic and LOB mobility have become an
integral part of the firm's culture that is highly visible at the
senior levels, but is extremely common and pervasive at the junior
levels. It's hard to imagine someone new to the firm not having an
international experience should they want one. Unlike most firms,
J.P. Morgan is very focused on developing its junior bankers into
well-rounded senior bankers."
"I've decided to move within J.P. Morgan, and was able to do so.
I've been very open with my superiors about what I think I want out
of my career, and they have been extremely helpful with providing
names of people to contact to explore various areas as well as
connections to specific interviews aligned with my career
goals."
"J.P. Morgan has made it possible for me to rise from summer
analyst all the way to managing director, and now it is my
responsibility to help new junior bankers to have a similar career
development path. Having been part of MD discussions, I don't
believe anybody will be promoted to MD at JPM without having
demonstrated a real commitment to junior banker career
development."
"Promotions are based on merit; if analysts perform well, they
will be promoted. If there is not an open associate spot in their
current group, the firm will find a place for them somewhere else,
but there is a big focus on not losing talented individuals.
Mobility is a huge focus, with many formal and informal ways to
pursue it."
Quality of
Life
"While coverage and product groups vary to a degree, the firm
generally places very little value on face time and invests highly
in resources/technology that allow for working remotely. There is
also a high level of importance placed on important personal events
(weddings, children, vacations), and J.P. Morgan's resource
managers spend a great amount of time trying to ensure personal
commitments are respected and that project teams receive an
additional resource to address any issues. Resource managers are
also evaluated on their ability to understand the scope of a
project and minimize Friday staffings to the extent possible in
order to allow junior resources to plan their weekends with a
greater sense of confidence."
"Too many hours, too much volatility, but is it the industry not
the firm. My group does as much as possible to keep us sane: work
from home, lots of communication, treats us well, respectful
comments at all time."
"The staffers are highly aware of the workload and ensure
that if you have had weeks where you have worked very long hours,
there is a noticeable effort to reduce the workload to prevent
burnout. The teams are also incredibly respectful of vacation and
work as hard as possible to prevent work on holidays."
"Long hours are the nature of the job, but remote
capabilities have improved work/life balance immensely. Instead of
having to come into the office on a weekend, it is frequently the
case that I can work from the comfort of my own home. While hours
can sometimes be erratic, and planning can be challenging at times,
this is what I signed up for. Despite sometimes challenging hours,
the work put in is very fulfilling."
Salary and
Benefits
"Salary and bonus are commensurate with the Street and a
function of the market. I've never felt as though I was paid less
than what the Street was receiving. While hours are long, remote
connect allows for flexible hours, particularly on the weekends.
Vacation time can sometimes be challenging to take, but my
experience has been that if you take it at certain seasonally slow
times, you are able to use it more than what the public perception
out there really is."
"Best: Salary and bonus are competitive with the Street. Worst:
Gym and other personal benefits are limited."
"Downward pressure on compensation has been the trend across the
sector, and J.P. Morgan is not immune. But overall package is
compelling and highly competitive."
"We pay on par with the Street. But, consistent with our
teamwork culture, we do not have significant outliers in terms of
pay (at least in my area). A star performer only gets somewhat more
than a good performer."
Diversity,
Philanthropy, and Green Initiatives
"Tremendous focus on diversity in all its forms. This is one of
the best parts about the firm."
"J.P. Morgan has a strong focus on diversity. They host special
programs to attract women, minorities, and gay individuals. In
addition to special conferences, there are webcast seminars for
recruiting and special groups within J.P. Morgan that receive
funding to host events and foster a welcoming and supportive
environment."
"Strong commitment to military veterans. We've also made some
real progress on attracting more senior women, although we can
still improve in this category."
"The firm converted 270 Park to a green building. Also, there
are some good programs to link up employees with volunteer
opportunities in their communities."
Business
Outlook
"Financial services is becoming increasingly regulated. It's
starting to feel like the utility sector. But we have the best
leader in the sector in Jamie Dimon and that gives the employees
great confidence."
"It's true, we really do have a lot of confidence in Jamie
Dimon. The guy is a rock star."
"There is high employee morale, and J.P. Morgan is consistently
on the largest deals currently being done. Strong in all groups,
J.P. Morgan is able to leverage relationships across industries to
continue to win deals that provide an incredible learning
experience for analysts."
"I see no indications of business slowing, outside of global
trends. We're either competitive or have an edge in every deal I've
been a part of. Employee morale is relatively high. I haven't heard
any complaints."