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“There has been a considerable dissatisfaction over the last couple of years from buyside firms not being able to fill their associate classes through on-cycle recruiting, driven by how early the process started and how unprepared firms found the bankers they met to be,” said Anthony Keizner, managing partner at Odyssey Search Partners.

“Since the bankers being interviewed now have had five months’ deal experience, they are typically much more competent, able to pass financial modeling tests, and understand deal mechanics better,” Keizner added. “This year’s initial take is that PE firms are happier as a result, and seem to be filling a higher proportion of their associate class from this process.”

“It’ll be interesting to see if they again wait till the new year, or return to interviewing even earlier in the career of the first-year investment banking analysts,” Keizner said.