Vault’s Verdict

Houlihan Lokey is ideally looking for smart, motivated, positive, personable candidates with strong communication and technical skills. The firm runs a valuable internship program for students, providing its interns with significant live deal experience and access to senior bankers and clients. For its full-time junior professionals, Houlihan Lokey offers numerous growth and development opportunities, including a very strong training program, early responsibility, a lot of live deal experience, clear promotion paths, an emphasis on promoting from within, and excellent formal and informal mentoring.

Due to the large number of live deals and lean teams, junior bankers can work long hours and work/life balance can be hard to achieve. However, the firm’s culture is collegial, upbeat, and supportive—senior bankers support taking vacation and make a strong effort to avoid burnout among the junior team. Overall, insiders say that, given the demands of the job, the quality of life is pretty good. Meanwhile, compensation is generous. Salaries and bonuses are generally strong and in line or slightly better than competitors, and perks such as lunch and dinner stipends are good. In addition, Houlihan Lokey provides a host of wellness offerings, including massage days, health and wellness Zooms, an on-site gym in some offices, and out-of-office athletic events like pickleball, rowing, and cycling.

With respect to diversity, the firm has various employee resource groups in place and has made progress with certain groups (such as women) but still lacks diversity overall, especially at the more senior levels. As for the firm’s business outlook, it is very bright. Houlihan Lokey is positioned well compared to its competition and has a strong pipeline of deals in place. Its business model—balanced well between M&A and restructuring—ensures that it will succeed in most economic climates. As a result, confidence in the business is high.

EMPLOYEE REVIEWS

Hiring Process

“Houlihan Lokey has a very rigorous interview process, involving multiple rounds of screening involving technical/case questions, followed by a Super Day involving a live case study and written accounting exam. We focus on technical aptitude as well as fit. The ideal candidate is one who has both the technical knowledge needed to work on complex analyses in a quick and organized manner as well as the fit, personality, and emotional intelligence to handle themselves professionally in front of clients and with colleagues.”

“Analysts and associates are highly involved in the hiring process. We are seeking someone who is not only smart and interested in banking but also an interesting person and someone would be a positive contribution to the office.”

“We are looking for someone with prior banking/finance experience so that they can process complex information quickly and have strong modeling skills, great communication skills, and a good attitude that makes for a good bullpen culture.”

“We try to look for good people with technical qualifications. We look for people who will fit in with the existing group.”

Interview Questions

“Interview process typically consists of networking calls and coffee chats (pre-interview behavioral assessments), followed by 30-minute technical screens, followed by a Super Day that is three sets of 30-minute interviews. There is a significant focus on fit (i.e., ‘Why HL Consumer?’). Technical questions tend to be more theoretical.”

“Walk me through a DCF. Why investment Banking? Why [certain group]? Brainteaser.”

“Standard technical questions, written accounting questions, live restructuring case study (HoldCo/OpCo distributions).”

“General questions to ensure an understanding of financial statements and valuation.

Intern Experience

“I received significant live deal experience that prepared me to succeed as a full-time analyst. There was a strong emphasis on culture and social events during the summer. There were not any major negative aspects of the internship. I went in with reasonable expectations on what the hours would be and it was in line with what friends experienced at other prominent banks”

“I was able to do real tangible work that was actually being used for external (client) meetings (vs. internal/process stuff). The team was great about answering questions and letting interns sit in on calls.”

“I was put right into live engagements which was great for development. The culture of the office was also great. On the downside there could have been more frequent feedback on progress/likelihood of receiving an offer.”

“Live deal experience, access to clients and senior members of the firm, formal and informal mentorship, several team outings to get to know people in person.”

Career Development

“Culture is strong, growth opportunities are plentiful, reach of firm is extensive, work product is high quality, learning opportunities are great. There is a clear path for growth as a junior banker—any senior people started as analysts and associates.”

“Teams are lean, and analysts and associates are given the independence and confidence to run and manage certain items, which is helpful for development Culture in the office is very collegial and people are willing to answer questions and provide guidance as needed. Once you’ve established a reputation in the group, you can have more input (to a certain degree) on staffing assignments. Staffing and deal exposure can be dependent on deal flow and so exposure can sometimes be limited based on what deals are going on.”

“Very strong training program that is highly curated to the actual needs and role of the firm. Meritorious career progression. Heavy emphasis on execution leads to better developed bankers.”

“I have had the benefit of wonderful mentors at the firm, across industry groups and offices. I have worked for the same managing director since I was a summer intern. We have made great strides to implement formal mentorship programs to complement the natural mentorship that comes from lean deal teams and strong leaders.”

Quality of Life

“Culturally, our office encourages associates and analysts to be engaged outside of work and generally attempts to limit unnecessary work outside of normal ours (i.e., nights and weekends). Team is supportive of taking vacation (i.e., planning property to minimize disruption) and makes a concerted effort to avoid burnout in junior team. Overall, taking into account the demands of the job, the quality of life is pretty good, and the team tries to be cognizant of commitments outside of the office (to the extent practicable). Just given the nature of the job, there is unpredictability and are times where workload and hours are significant, which can occasionally be disruptive.”

“Our bankers are on lots of live deals, and we work on lean teams. The tradeoff of substantive experience and client interaction is a reduced ability to take time off. Nobody begrudges you for taking vacations or expects you to stay in the office until midnight, but the nature of the projects and our staffing model does not always support work/life balance. However, the culture is upbeat and approachable, so this is a good place to spend a lot of hours. People here don’t take out their stress on their colleagues and generally don’t take themselves too seriously.”

“Very collegial culture—seniors and juniors are all in the trenches pushing forward on deals and client development. Small deal teams deliver high level of ownership. Various initiatives deployed to improve quality of life.”

“There is an unlimited vacation policy, so it is confusing how much one can really take. I personally had no issues on my vacation when I took mine. Hours are very variable. Sometimes I can work 80 or more, sometimes it's less. WFH policy is good for my group—no big deal if you work from home. Everything culture related is going to be group dependent. It differs in every group.”

Salary and Benefits

“The overall compensation package is strong. Management has made efforts to keep junior comp competitive. Salaries and bonuses are generally strong but not top of the Street range. Lunch and dinner stipend is good, and there are snacks around the office.”

“Comp is very strong and competitive during strong cycles. Base salary is slightly below top end of Street. Bonuses are paid in May vs. near year-end. In down years, the firm cuts bonuses, which is frustrating at a bank that does not have to manage balance sheet risk. 401(k) match is essentially nonexistent.”

“Compensation is very strong relative to other IB jobs. However, it is lagging behind some other restructuring teams. Free lunches are a great perk, and our dinner policy of $40 is good. However, recent cutbacks in the flexibility of the dinner expense policy have made it much less usable.”

“I am satisfied with compensation package. Salary is competitive with peers. Bonus tends to reward high performers (which I am) and tends to not fluctuate as much as other banks depending on deal flow/market conditions for associates. In lower deal flow periods (as the past year or two have been), bonus has been satisfactory. My complaints would be less with a specific number for bonus and more so on longer timelines to promotions for analysts and associates than peers. Perks are good as well—in-office gym membership is big for me, free lunch three times a week, flexibility on work from home (I work from a ski condo for a week each winter).”

Wellness Efforts

“Broad array of wellness programs, including a wellness committee. Programming for promoting mental health awareness. Ways to remain active. Various partnerships with third-party resources for employee access.”

“Various wellness events, including massage day, health and wellness Zooms, in-office travel fairs, in-office H&W fairs, out-of-office athletic events (pickleball, rowing, cycling).”

“I am very satisfied. The building has a gym that the firm covers membership for. The firm pays for lunch three times a week, which is big for being able to afford more expensive healthy lunch options. There are snacks and beverages throughout the office. The firm has allowed me great flexibility to workout daily to stay in great shape.”

“This has become a focus of the firm. They have brought in speakers, provided wellness resources, etc.”

Diversity and ESG Initiatives

“Various employee resource groups to promote engagement. Have seen efforts to improve women in banking, including dedicated programming and actual results.”

“The firm tries but we don't get resumes from diverse groups very often. Lack of diversity at higher levels makes it challenging to retain diverse talent. Lesser focus on MBA recruiting will likely affect military vet mix going forward.”

“We definitely don’t have much diversity. I’m the only woman in my group. Even though I’m the only woman, it’s never been an issue. I feel like I’m well-respected.”

“The firm does make an effort on diversity, but I haven’t really seen the benefits reflected in our office. As for ESG, HL Foundation is very generous, including matching donations up to a high cap and the opportunity to donate two days a year to a firm-approved cause through the Give-a-Day program.”

Business Outlook

“The firm has created a proven path to success with its strident focus on M&A, capital raising, and restructuring. Dedicated sector coverage and a business model built around owning your categories. I feel very strongly that we are on the right path to success.”

“Overall, I view our positioning favorably compared to competitors. Especially on the Restructuring side, very few other firms have the depth of experience that we have, which has been and continues to be a competitive advantage. Senior level leaders in restructuring have come up through the ranks here, which has helped culture remain consistent over time, built strong industry relationships, and allowed institutional knowledge to be passed along. Houlihan Lokey has a very strong brand in restructuring and is involved in some way on almost every large assignment. However, competition for restructuring mandates continues to be extremely tight, and we continue to see the same set of competitor banks pitch for similar opportunities, threatening market share.”

“We are stronger than the competition and have a good pipeline, good growth, and a good platform. Employee turnover is high, though. This has had a negative impact on culture—having to re-train other associates and other analysts takes time away from other required work.”

“Our business model is built on deal flow, so we will always have things to work on. With regards to restructuring specifically, given its sheer scale relative to competitors, Houlihan Lokey is set to thrive in times where restructuring activity is high and be somewhat less profitable during times of slower restructuring activity. Overall, though, the business model is balanced well with M&A, so confidence in the business is high.”