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JPMorgan Chase has told its incoming graduates that if they accept future-dated job offers elsewhere within 18 months of starting their analyst programme they will be fired.
The revised policy, included in a letter sent to recruits due to start the bank’s US analyst training programme later this summer, is the latest escalation of the Wall Street giant’s battle with private equity firms over junior talent.
“If you accept a position with another company before joining us or within your first 18 months, you will be provided notice and your employment with the firm will end,” the note from global banking co-heads Filippo Gori and Doug Petno said.
While JPMorgan does not single out private equity firms, there is an implicit reference to “on-cycle” recruitment during which buyout groups hand out jobs to graduates two years ahead of their expected start dates, to allow them to complete an analyst training programme at an investment bank first.
The letter marks a hardening of the bank’s stance against the private equity firms’ recruiting tactics, and pits JPMorgan against some of its most important clients.
Wall Street banks have become frustrated by a private equity recruiting process that now begins before their graduate trainees start their investment banking jobs, though lenders vary in how much they push back.
Many recent college graduates have arrived in New York in recent weeks to begin the whirlwind recruiting process, which does not have a fixed start date but is expected to kick off fully within the next few weeks. Banks’ training programmes start in July.
JPMorgan chief executive Jamie Dimon has publicly criticised the accelerated process as unethical and argued it raises conflicts of interest for graduates who could be required to work on projects where their future employers are on the opposing side.
The bank already had the most stringent rules among its peers with an express warning to its incoming class of analysts that they “had an obligation to disclose” a future-dated job offer and its acceptance to their manager.
As a precursor to the June 4 letter, the bank had told analysts it was reviewing its policy and disclosure could lead to it “reconsidering the status” of their employment.
But the bank had previously stopped short of an outright ban on graduates accepting future-dated job offers.
Analysts will have the opportunity to be promoted to associate after two and a half years as trainees, according to the memo, a signal that JPMorgan hopes to retain young talent at the group. Previously the programme ran for three years.
Incoming analysts were also told in the letter that job searches must be completed in their personal time.
“To succeed in the investment banking analyst programme, your full attention and participation are essential,” the note stated.
Training sessions, meetings and obligations are described as mandatory, and the bank warned in the letter that analysts who miss any part of the programme may have their roles terminated.
It concluded: “We are thrilled to have you join our team . . . Welcome aboard!”
