Evercore Careers & Interview Tips

Are you considering a career or internship at an elite boutique investment bank? I hope you will find the following information on Evercore careers and interview tips helpful.

Evercore: An Overview

Evercore Partners is founded by Blackstone and U.S. Treasury veteran Roger Altman in 1996 and went public with a $83 million IPO in 2006.

Evercore is seen as a classic elite outique investment banks. However, the firm now offers full banking service including both advisory and capital raising businesses as well as sales & trading and research.

The firm is expanding rapidly in the past 3 years, riding on a series of high-profile, franchise-building deals.You can check out their Evercore website for specific transactions.

There are around 800 employeese with offices in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, Houston, Minneapolis, Monterrey, the District of Columbia, and Waltham, Mass.

Internationally, it has offices in UK, Hong Kong and Mexico as well as alliances in Japan, China, Brazil, India, and South Korea.

Roger Altman remains as Chairman and former co-founder Ralph Schlosstein is the current CEO. Altman and Schlosstein both worked at Lehman Brothers and served the Carter administration.

The Evercore Careers, Prspects and Culture

As a senior banker at Evercore said, the firm is “Inwardly supportive, outwardly competitive”:

The firm is still small enough that you are on first-name basis with everyone at the firm, from partner to analyst, and you still see and interact with the chairman and CEO on a regular basis — the firm hasn’t lost its personal touch. There is no competition among junior folks whatsoever, and it is an extremely collaborative environment. People are dedicated to the development of junior bankers.” ~ Vault Report

From what I know, Evercore put a big emphasis in picking the candidates who fit the culture of the firm. In this regard, you won’t be surprised that all the Vault reviews (written by existing employees) think Evercore is the greatest place to work. My opinion is not to rely too heavily on these reviews.

Pros

• The place is relatively laid back with friendly, open and non-competitive culture.
• Very flat organization where bosses know each staff.
• An “unusual” banking environment that is more accommodating with entrepreneurial ideas. They see junior bankers as part of the team to build the franchise together.

Cons

• Although the place is generally considered “collegial”, I heard of situations where more senior bankers are tough on certain junior bankers.
• The hours can be brutal. This is the same situation in any small-scale / boutique shops.
• Expect to spend a lot of time with your colleagues (golf days, holiday parties) despite the fact that you may prefer to spend more time with your family.
• If you don’t fit in, you will be frowned on and I would think the only way is out.

As the firm expands, it will remain to be seen where Evercore is able to hang on to its boutique culture and feel.

The Evercore Interview

Evercore generally looks for graduates from a few selected “target schools” as well as experienced bankers in i-banking and private equity. They expect these people to stay as career bankers.

For summer internships, they look for those with very strong finance and accounting skills, because they expect interns to perform on Day 1.

Whether it is for full-time work or for internship, Evercore typically looks for candidates with these qualities:

1. Strong Technical Skills

Again,this is obvious because they don’t have time and manpower to train junior bankers. You’ll need to be the “Wharton types”.

2. Cultural Fit

The candidate must be seen to be able to fit in their unique culture because they plan to hire people long-term (instead of the analyst programs in the bulge brackets). The new hire must be able to feel comfortable in the working environment in order to contribute.

In general, if you love a close, “fraternal” culture, you will likely fit Evercore. Interviewers also look for traits on maturity and good work ethics.

The Target Schools

Evercore is a smaller firm and is quite specific in the technical and the fit. Therefore, they tend to hold interview sections in a few selected schools only.

The firm is surprisingly transparent when it comes to information on recruiting. According to their website, Evercore targets the following schools when conducting interviews. These are either Ivy Leagues or colleges with strong business programs.

Undergrads:

• Columbia University
• Harvard University
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• New York University
• University of Michigan
• University of Pennsylvania
• University of Texas
• University of Virginia
• University of Western Ontario

For MBAs:

• Columbia Business School
• Harvard Business School
• Kellogg School of Management
• University of Chicago Booth School of Business
• The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania

Tips For Lateral Hires

Evercore does have lateral hires. There is typically a phone interview, followed by an office visit.

According to an internal source (who has worked in Evercore for 9 years), they pick resumes in this pool upon recommendation from headhunters and fellow bankers in the industry.

If you have a good network and manage to get a recommendation from an existing Evercore banker (or other well-regarded people in the industry), you have a much, much higher chance to get picked for interview.

Quick Feedback

The guys at Evercore are very efficient. You can expect the two rounds of interviews to be done within a few days. Decline and callback messages are provided via phone the evening of the interview, and at the latest, the following morning. Please note that the process typically takes longer for lateral hires.

Your Next Step

If you really want to give Evercore a try, you should at least demonstrate that you are happy to work in a small firm and you are excited to work and stay at Evercore.

Another thing you can definitely do to increase your chance is to brush up your corporate finance. If you shine in the grueling interviews, you get to stay for the super days.