Bear FT offers NOT being honored

I heard yesterday from a friend who is a 2nd yr MBA student with a full-time offer to Bear that many of the equity sales/trading incoming class were notified that their offers were being pulled.

He has yet to hear personally though.

For God's sake, PLEASE stop reporting 2nd hand information! Until I hear from an ACTUAL Bear employee or FT/SA hire that a recruiter called them and said they were being honored/negated, I will not believe any of this crap.

This morning, three FT Hires have been called and told their offers were not going to be honored. I'm a FT Hire and we all email each other to update any news/information. That is as real as anything.

Were all three S&T?

IBD

FT here, haven't heard anything official.

this is horrible...

its official, IBD SA offers are ALL revoked. WOW

Here is some first-hand information. Bear Stearns summer offers revoked. I was a SA for Bear and was called this afternoon.

I have been the biggest opponent of rumors - I now, unfortunately am confirming them.

Sorry guys.

wow, that fucking sucks. i'm really sorry dude.

My condolences...jesus...never trust HR...How exactly did they phrase it?

Is it just IBD or S&T as well?

ALL summer offers - IBD and S&T included.

i think now would be a good time to reach out to regional or boutique banks for IB internships. it's april so it's not too late, as some of the smaller firms will have less structured processes. at the least, you should mention in your cover letter that you received a bear offer for SA but it had been revoked because of firmwide circumstances, but that you're still firmly committed to doing IB and will do whatever it takes to prove your interest. i think this isn't a bad way to go because as a summer internship, any opportunity to work on deals or do anything analytical will be a good thing, so also consider hedge funds or asset management firms that may be more likely to do off-cycle hiring.

for what it's worth, i didn't even do a summer internship in investment banking, but i interned at a large asset management firm as a research associate and did a good amount of industry research, built a couple basic operating models and DCF's, and interacted frequently with sell-side analysts. my summer experience was clearly on the markets side rather than the transaction side, but for full-time, i ended up getting interviews at almost all the investment banking positions i applied for.

i know you're in a tough position and doing a summer internship in IB at bear would help you a lot, but it's not the only way to get your foot in the door for a full-time opportunity.

Sorry to hear the bad news. Has this been made public so to say its across all sections of the company!? I am still waiting to hear from Bear Energy on my SA status.

i think bear energy might be okay. jps actually interested in that group based on articles ive read.

FYI - there's a sticky with regional ibanks on it. may be a good place to start.

My buddy just found out that his SA position has been pulled by bear/JPM as well. He was told that he can work for this affiliate of JPM (not for profit) and would be first in line for full time interviews for full time if he wanted.

In case you ever needed a reason...this is why you should have no hesitation reneging on an offer. Ever.

Best of luck to everybody.. hope everything works out for you guys..

Wow. Sorry guys, best of luck.

For what it's worth, companies will be understanding when recruiting comes around. The trick is to get in the door to explain yourself. Start networking now. Cheers.

It sucks to lose your offer this close to the start date, but keep in mind that you're still better off than the many FT analysts who have been fired just before their 1st/2nd years ended... the cuts are going very, very deep.

Keep your head up, continue networking and consider every possible option because honestly it's 500% better to do what you want even if it's not where you want than to do nothing at all.

http://www.mergersandinquisitions.com/
Mergers & Inquisitions

sucks man. hope things turn out well for all

has not found out yet...slowly but surely...just want to say hang in there...I am waiting with bated breath...But definitely start looking other places.

ex-banker what are your qualifications?

associate offers pulled as well. not a rumor as I was set to start as an associate (IB) on july 28th. I spoke to Bear IBD hr this morning who informed me of this.

I have an FT IBD offer. I haven't personally been told that my offer has been revoked however I have heard from other FT IBD hires that their offers were rescinded. Called BSC today but couldn't get in touch with anyone. Guess I just have to wait for the bad news. Has there been any talk of any type of serverance?

JuwannaMann- thanks for the sympathy bro.

Sorry? The writing has been on the wall. Sucks, to be sure, but what did you expect?

bear energy full time offers are being honored, a friend of mine just got the call

i had a summer offer for Bear Prime Brokerage and I just received my official offer letter today, it was post dated on april 1st, and it says i got a summer analyst offer for the global equities division. I called up HR because I was baffled by this and they said that they gave me a general offer for equities because they don't know where they will be placing me yet, although it will likely be in PB, and they also said if and when the JPM deal goes through, that my offer will be honored. This info was as of this afternoon.

My condolences to everyone who got the their offers pulled, both FT and SA. I'm sure everyone worked hard to get their positions. I imagine you are all sharp and resourceful and will land on your feet.

As previously noted, this proves that one should never feel bad about reneging on an offer.

My condolences. Until now, I thought that reneging on an offer was the wrong thing to do, but I think that was because I believed that companies would have the same attitude towards us. After seeing what the people at Bear are going through, it definitely drives home the point that this is a business. They will do what's best for them, and so should we.

Feel terrible for those who had offers revoked today; I truly hope alternative jobs/internshps are found. Rest assured, having gotten an offer to begin with says a lot and I'd think come FT recuiting, it will definitly stand for something.

On a different note, having just recieved a phone call from HR, here's first hand confirmation that Bear Energy is in fact honoring it's SA offers.

just got a call, my FT IBD offer has been revoked

does this mean that JPM is just going to dilute BSC's IBD division in NY?

Totally agree. I remember some other thread where Bear summers felt guilty for accepting another offer and reneging if the Bear offers came through- complete horseshit. I was in a similar situation (not on such a large scale) and I will be the first to say that the firm doesn't owe you anything beyond the salary and benefits that it promises and you don't owe the firm anything beyond a reasonable amount of dedication and ethics.

Also I am shocked that JPM is even offering something that is paying a similar wage. You guys need to get perspective- you may not take the offer because it isn't finance but they EASILY could have given you the finger. Be thankful you have the option this late in the internship game, if anything else just for a paycheck. 5k/month is a shitload for an undergrad internship.

One thing you guys should realize who got your offers revoked- you are going to be lower on the totem pole than those with IBD summers but higher than those without. The fact you managed to get an internship with Bear Stearns, a top-notch bank, shows interest, dedication and a certain degree of pre-selection and that will go a long way come recruiting time. You have a big leg up and a very tight and focused story for your interviews over all the other kids who couldn't get there in the first place.

So how do I put that on my resume?

Work Experience: Bear Stearns Investment Banking Summer Analyst 2008
-oh, nevermind.

Bear Stearns & Co.
Investment Banking Summer Analyst

-Wathced stock price, along with my hopes of making it on the street fall
-Had offer rescinded 7 weeks before my start date, leaving me with nothing
-should have built DCF models
-Could have done comparable analysis

any word on the fixed income summer analysts?

Word from HR is the fate of Fixed Income hires will be decided by early next week at the lastest.

I think some firms like raymond james are still hiring. Not sure though.

First of all, I want to offer my heartfelt sympathies to those of you who have been affected by this decision. It is an incredibly difficult position to be put in, and I can only venture to imagine the frustration, anger and disappointment you feel at this moment. I am sorry that I was unable to warn you beforehand, despite knowing that this was the likely outcome. Some of you who have corresponded with me somewhat regularly by PM may have guessed by now who I am, or at least generally where I sit, and hopefully you understand why I've had to remain silent on this topic to date.

While it is difficult to place in context now, this is not the only setback you'll face in your career. It will (hopefully) not be the last catastrophe of your investment banking career either - the only way it will is if this represents the end of the line for you and this business. Many of your predecessors had the same thing happen to them in 2001, 2002, and 2003. Adapt, improvise and overcome.

You will likely not be the only ones who will go through this. Other firms are actively reviewing whether their hires exceed any reasonable near term business opportunity. You should not be surprised to see other summer and full time hires across the entire spectrum of Wall Street join you before training ever starts. Take the only positive you can from this, which is that Bear's implosion may give you a head start on finding an alternative. Finding a new home will only get harder from here.

It sounds insultingly contrived and disengenuous I'm sure, but there is real truth in it. Remember that many people at Bear today will be receiving similar news, after seeing a substantial portion of their net worth disappear along with their jobs. Elsewhere, the pain will be intense. UBS is about to hand pink slips out to a very, very large number of bankers. Citi has gone through its markets businesses with a scythe, and will soon begin killing off bankers. No firm will emerge unscathed.

The best advice I ever got from my senior bankers when I was a junior banker was that the only real important thing in this business is to make it through the downturns. Look at it as a marathon rather than a sprint. Chances are that you will see a number of these abysmal markets in your career span. Have confidence that you can overcome this, or take comfort that you will see worse than this in the future. If you can't, this wasn't a good profession for you anyway - the inherent volatility isn't for the faint of heart.

Some people have counseled that this situation displays why you should have no remorse in reneging upon your acceptance of an offer. In other threads, I've already expressed my view forcefully, and don't intend to repeat the argument. I will say this: my conclusion is the exact opposite. Think it through and you'll understand why.

Once again, I'm sorry this has happened to you. I wish you all the best of luck, and hope that you don't let this setback destroy your prospects in this business.

Well said, GenghisKhan.

Got a text tonight from an analyst in my former group - 4 people got the axe today. Mostly associates. I know exactly why because I contributed to their reviews, but for all their shortfalls as co-workers, they were good people, and it's always tough to see good people let go.

Genghis, great post. Out of curiousity would you mind summing up your argument against reneging? I promise I won't argue, I just do not recall your thought process.

Genghis, as always, has presented a well-written piece of advice. Thanks.

Who is GenghisKhan?...Jamie Dimon?

My opinion isn't that you should never do it, but rather that you shouldn't do it for the reasons most people do.

My first warning is always that if you choose to do it, be diplomatic. Bankers, like people generally, can be irrational, vindictive and volatile. Strike the wrong note and you may find that someone takes it personally enough to call an old friend or classmate to torpedo your new job. It's not common, but it's happened before. It's also a small business, and you never know when someone you told "hey, I decided to do consulting instead" will see your name on a DM or a working group list, and take offense. So if you choose to do it, do me a favor and tread lightly (rather than the big neon "fuck you" approach that many people seem to advocate).

I've said before that I've seen us pull offers before ('01-03 mostly), so I can't in good conscience tell anybody that they should never reneg. Still, my advice is that you may simply be jumping from the frying pan into the fire. Dumping Bear for Morgan Stanley is silly. How do you know you upgraded (other than "prestige", which won't even pay for your coffee). If you dumped say, Houlihan Lokey, for Bear you'd feel pretty bad right now right?

My view has always been that experience means everything. Brand counts for something, but not that much.

Whether you love it or hate it at the firm you join will likely have very little to do with anything you control. You want to know a secret? I think I'm pretty good at picking analysts and associates. But the truth is that I'm wrong as much as I'm right. Same thing goes when you're interviewing at our firms. You have no idea if you're really picking a good group to live in, or whether you just signedup for the biggest shitshow in Manhattan.

And the truth of the matter is that the biggest determinant will be something you have not one iota of control over - your staffing. Whether you are deliriously happy or suicidially depressed usually is most related to the vagarities of the luck of the draw on who you got staffed with. All reneging really means is that you potentially pissed off someone, without any real assurance that you improved your lot in life. Would being unhappy at Goldman be better than being unhappy at UBS? Maybe a bit. But being happy at Credit Suisse is a hell of a lot better than being miserable at Morgan Stanley. And the truth is that you have no way of knowing.

With respect to this particular situation with Bear revoking offers, I can say this: I'm sure nobody's happy about it, and within the limits of reason I'm sure they'll do whatever they can to soften the blow. They're certainly not being vindictive about it. But let's say you reneged on someone to take Bear's offer. I'm pretty sure you'd prefer to not have ill will hanging over your head from anyone right now.

In good markets, everything is forgiven. In bad ones, people remember perceived slights with a vengeance - and this business is a small and incestuous one.

I am, I hope you'll agree, far more humane than Jamie is.

perhaps you ought to consider changing your screenname