Lazard Reviews

Former Employee – worked at Lazard

Pros – Very prestigious M&A shop with an ability to take on more responsibility as an analyst than most other Firms on the street. Having worked at more than one bulge bracket, I found the most rewarding and best learning experience at Lazard. The financial modeling experience is very high at Lazard and the breadth of projects worked on was good.

Cons – Leverage workforce more than other Firms = more hours, more work, more stress. As with most investment banks, the better an analyst you are, the more you will work because every manager wants you to do their work,

Advice to Senior Management – My advice to management is to keep the good training experience but try not to run kids into the ground

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Lazard

Pros – Wonderful people and great environment, people are respectful towards each other and the work done is very interesting and challenging.

Cons – Long hours in investment banking and not enough time off for vacations. I have to do 100+ weeks very often.

Advice to Senior Management – Be more considerate towards your employees so it will be better to the work environment and also hire more people

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Lazard

Pros – Well recognised brand name
Strong franchise
Truly international organisation
Strong senior management

Cons – Difficult to balance work and social life
Salaries below market average
Unfair promotion policy

Advice to Senior Management – More focus on meritocracy
Wide product range

Former Employee – worked at Lazard

Pros – -Bulge-bracket feel but with generally smaller deal teams
-good deal experience

Cons – -Experience is very different between regional offices vs. headquarters (analysts at regional offices tend to work a lot more hours but are not compensated as well due to less analysts and just as much if not more work; also office politics more prominent at regional offices)
-Usual cons of banking: facetime, general lack of care for your quality of life

Advice to Senior Management – -People learn in different ways -- not all learn the best when they are constantly yelled at; some investment in structure of on-the-job training would be well-received