Major US private equity firms have resumed graduate recruitment after delaying their traditional summer hiring cycle by around six months, following criticism from senior investment banking and private equity executives over early recruiting practices, according to a report by the Financial Times.
Firms including Blackstone, Apollo, Carlyle, TPG, Silver Lake, General Atlantic, Hellman & Friedman, and Warburg Pincus held interviews on Monday, with some candidates receiving offers the same day. Others are expected to have completed final-round interviews on Tuesday.
First-year investment banking analysts were notified on Sunday evening by private equity firms and headhunters to attend in-person interviews on Monday, which included technical assessments, modelling tests, and behavioural interviews. The compressed January process follows the suspension of the usual June “on-cycle” recruitment after JPMorgan chief executive Jamie Dimon said the bank would dismiss junior analysts who accepted future-dated private equity roles within their first 18 months of joining the bank.
Apollo Chief Executive Marc Rowan later echoed concerns about early hiring, while firms including General Atlantic said they would delay recruiting 2027 private equity associates until 2026. Private equity firms have traditionally hired candidates with at least one year of banking experience, though recent competition for talent had pushed some firms to recruit analysts up to two years before start dates.
